By William “Skip” Deegans
One-hundred years ago, this month, Lewisburg’s Greenbrier Military School (GMS) suffered a devastating fire. At 1 a.m., February 21, 1925, Captain John F. Langford, a teacher, smelled smoke in one of the barracks and immediately alerted the sleeping students. A bugle sounded the alarm. The boys, some clad only in pajamas, made an orderly exit from the burning barracks. A roll call indicated there were no missing or injured students. The cause of the fire was then – and may still be – a mystery.
Nearby town residents went to the school to assist, and the Lewisburg and Ronceverte fire departments followed. Students helped the fire departments with a bucket brigade. It was a windy night, and the fire spread rapidly. Although the building was built of brick, it had a wooden shingled roof and was trimmed in pine. Fearing the fire would spread to nearby homes, fire departments from White Sulphur Springs and Hinton were summoned. Fortunately, the winds shifted and the fire did not spread beyond the school. An adjacent wing and the gymnasium were damaged but saved.
At some point during the fire, volunteers rushed into one wing and removed the school’s piano. Students were reported standing around it singing songs.
The building was totally destroyed in under two hours. Local families, Greenbrier College, and The Greenbrier Hotel rallied to take in students. The next morning, Col. Houston Moore, the principal, assembled the students and asked them if dismissed until March 5 would they return. “Yes” was the overwhelming response. Upon their return, the infirmary had been converted into a dormitory, and the gymnasium was set to be used for classrooms. Some students were lodged with local families.
The school had three reels of water hoses in the burnt wing. One newspaper reported that the hoses had not been used for some time and burst as soon as they were filled with water. Another newspaper reported that the hoses had been cut. Colonel Moore said he had a recently inspected the hoses. After the fire, the Hinton Daily News reported the state deputy fire marshal indicated the fire had started in a classroom, and several students were under investigation. Another newspaper reported the fire started when the boiler blew up, and yet one newspaper reported a fireman saved the boiler by cooling it with water. Damage to the building and its contents was estimated at $200.000, and it was insured for $125,000.
While there was some thought about relocating the school, the Moore family, owners of GMS, elected to carry on. They engaged Charleston architectural firm, Wayne, Tucker & Patterson, to design a new addition at a cost of $275,000 (about $5 million in today’s dollars). When completed, the front of the school measured 462 feet and was thought to be the largest, single private school building in the United States. Today, the building is home to the West Virginia School of Osteopathic Medicine, and the front looks very much like it did when completed in 1925.
Shortly after the fire, Lewisburg’s City Council tightened its building codes.
Sources: Greenbrier Independent, Green-Briars, Hinton Daily News, Independent Herald, The Roanoke Times, The Daily Review, Covington Virginian.