Volume 18 , Issue 24

NW Okie's Journey

Remember the stories your folks, grandparents might have told about "Black Sunday," 14 April 1935, when the sun was blacked out during the black dust storm during the Spring of 1935?



This PBS video on "The Dust Bowl Episode" was published on Nov 13, 2012. Ken Burns and Dayton Duncan discuss making "The Dust Bowl" and the myriad hardships facing those in the Panhandle during the 1930s. The Dust Bowl aired November 18 and 19, 2012.

It seems about a month before the dust bowl era hit in April 1935, that 1st of March 1935 brought a devastation to northwestern Oklahoma, Alva particularly when the "Castle on the Hill" (Northwestern Normal School) burned to the ground.

It was in The Iola Register, Iola, Kansas, 1 March 1935, Friday, page 1, that we found this headline: "Fire Guts School Building At Alva." Oklahoma's largest educational structure was mass of ruins.

Found on Newspapers.com

Alva, Okla., March 1 (1935) -- Fire destroyed the main administration building at Northwestern state teachers college here early today (1 March 1935), causing damage estimated at more than 1/2 million dollars.

Origin of the fire was not determined. The building, built i 1898, was constructed in the form of a Spanish castle and was the largest educational structure in the state of Oklahoma.

Three students, sleeping on the top floor of the three-story building, were trapped when the flames started and were rescued by firemen.

They were Floyd Anthis, and Clyde Friend, both of Cushing , and Tom Anderson, Picher.

To Petition Legislature
A mass meeting was called for 10 o'clock that morning to prepare a petition to the legislature requesting an emergency appropriation to replace the razed building.

Students, instructors and townspeople were asked to attend the gathering.

The huge, rambling administration building housed 40 large classrooms, in addition to the college library, the music department, the museum and the fine arts and industrial arts departments.

The library contained 60,000 volumes, valued by L. S. Ward, librarian, at $180,000. All were destroyed. br />br /> Instruments valued in excess of $10,000, soared int he music department, were a total loss. Value of the museum contents could not be determined.
In Good Condition
Present value of the building, built of heavy stone at a cost of $110,000, was estimated at $200,000 by contractors. It was in excellent repair, they said.

The walls were still standing, but everything inside them was destroyed. The fire started at 3 a.m.

Bill Noah, who operates a restaurant (Noah's Ark) across from the building, turned in the alarm.br />
The Alva fire department was summoned to aid the college fire fighting organization and hundreds of volunteers quickly gathered.

The flames, fanned by a strong wind, had gained considerable headway when the three boys sleeping on the third floor were spied on the roof of the building, where they had climbed. Ladders were hastily thrown against the side of the building and firemen climbed to the roof and led the smoke-blinded youths to safety.

The fire was brought under control only after it had spread to nearby buildings, destroying a tneroom home and damaging two smaller houses.   |  View or Add Comments (0 Comments)   |   Receive updates ( subscribers)  |   Unsubscribe

---