University of Iowa - Hawkeye Yearbook (Iowa City, IA)

Page 30 text:

THE BURNING OF OLD SOUTH HALL AND THE MEDICAL BUILDING |T last the five or six girls remaining in Irving Hall had finished piling up the dishes in the corner with the ice cream freezer all that was left of the annual spread given by the old Erodelphians to their freshmen mem- bers. They turned out the lights, and, banging the door, which locked hehind them, trooped down stairs, busily talking of the success of the spread and declaring it the best they had ever had. After a burst of applause, the door of Zet hall was thrown open, and the audience began to flock out, discussing the farce, and trying to decide whom they thought had done the best. The Hesperians and Zetagathians stayed in the hall, and, as soon as the last outsider was gone, they set about having a general good time, and making away with what was left of the Christmas dinner of the farce. Then there was a great rush among those who had taken part, hunting up their belongings. After some dispute as to whose duty it was, the lights were turned out by one of the tallest ones, who stood upon a chair with arm raised, and called, Are you ready? I ' m going to turn it out now. Then they groped down the stairs, uneven from long use, with their hands upon the balustrade, which bent and seemed about to break under the slight weight. Soon the last person had passed out of the long echoing hall. When all had become quiet, a short old man with a pipe in his mouth came out from among the shadows of Central Building, went over to South Hall, closed the door with a bang, and, pulling out a bunch of big rattling keys attached to a chain, locked it, as he grumbled, Phat the divil d ' yez be afther wantin t ' stay so late fer? Then he went slowly back to Central Building and sat on watch. Gradually the few stars, which had shone in the early part of the night, were hidden by the fast gathering clouds, making a murky blackness over all which seemed so thick as even to shut in the rays from the gas lights in the campus so as to make them only dim, struggling, yellow spots- A drizzling rain mixed with sleet began to fall, and froze as soon as it reached the ground, covering the streets and walks with a glassy sheet. The wind, which had sprung up, rattled the ice-coated branches of the trees together, often with such force that the ice upon them broke and fell with a clear crack upon the frozen ground beneath. Suddenly a flickering light shone through one of the windows of the Medical Build- ing. For an hour or more it gradually grew larger and larger, but the town wassleeping the rain fell and the wind blew. Then the light began to grow more rapidly until it

Page 29 text:

guests, and of the people. Governor Cummins said, as he unlocked the door; In the name of all the humanities to which this building is now forever devoted. I declare it open and ready for the purposes for which it was intended. We now enter and take possession. Then all that afternoon the university kept open house until evening came and the guests were compelled to leave for their homes. The building is now a part of the university. Within its walls there will be a per- petual home for searchers of wisdom. It belongs not alone to our state but to America and to the world. With all due respect to Old Central, we must honor the new building built to harmonize with the old in color, in form, and in architecture, the magnificence of the new can not detract from the loved and storied memories of the old. The one marked the beginning, the other marks the progress of the university. In place of the cheap fire traps of the past, there will be modern structures of enduring steel and stone. Structures capable and fitting to be the home and the treasure house of the intel- lectual activities of the state of Iowa. Progress too often ruthlessly breaks the heart strings of nature; and to make room for this product of man ' s art, it was necessary to sacrifice a product of nature. The students of the past will remember that old oak styled The Pride of the Campus. ' ' Its sturdy trunk and its spreading branches will ever linger in their memories. It needed no botanist to admire it; the natural within man readily responded to its beauty. Those who loved it in the past will be content with the sacrifice, if the things that made it to be remembered are magnified in its successor. H. M. PRATT.

Page 31 text:

was a blaze, and just as it burst out of the windows and doors two men came in sight of the campus. In a minute the alarm had been given and a crowd beg-an to gather. The hose carts soon reached the place, but the building was entirely enveloped in flames, and there was no hope of saving anything in it. The main attention of the fire company was directed to the new Liberal Arts Building, which was finally nearing completion. The people stood about in helpless groups, some judiciously seeking the shelter of buildings across the street, while others stood out in the open the men curled up with their hands in their pockets and their faces drawn far down in their coat collars to protect them from the driving sleet, which stung as it struck some unprotected spot. The women wore all sorts of wraps from table covers thrown about their heads to seal-skin coats. A few still clung frantically to umbrellas, which the wind often almost tore from them, but most of them held their umbrellas dripping and stiff at their sides. Every now and then some one fell, in trying to change his position, and got up again with a grim, enduring expres- sion upon his face made more grim lit up by the blaze mixed with the gloomy blackness of the night. The fire seemed to have about died out. and many had already started home, when the cry was raised that South Hall was on fire. They hurried back, and saw that the south side of the brick building was already ablaie. Students hurried out from the midst of the crowd into the building. Chairs were thrown from the windows, men came out with desks, pictures, busts, pianos, and finally with a carpet from the society halls on the third floor. Others, of the in- structional staff, appeared with armfuls of books, papers, etc: handed their burdens to any one stand- ing near and hurried back again into the quickly burning building. It is said that a great explosion was heard when the orations of the Zetagathians and Irv- ings caught fire, and that the Irvings began to tear from the walls the paper wh ich had been put on at the beginning of the term. When the top floor fell in, a sigh went up from some of the society members, while some turned away for a minute. The rest of the building burned, quickly, and gradually the flames, reflected in the water and ice, became less fierce, until only a blaze shot up now and then. The crowd had gradually thinned out. and the last few stragglers went quietly away. When day came it was still dark and rainy, but groups of people kept coming and going to look upon all that was left of the two well known old buildings four charred brick walls, with parts fallen away, and, in the middle, a black smoking heap. The townspeople looked almost with satisfaction declaring that it was well the old buildings were gone, that they had been condemned years ago and were no longer fit for use. The students at first seemed inclined to rejoice that this was the last of those