Once during a chilly February afternoon in 1879 in Greencastle, students frantically ran in to a burning building rather than out of it. The only types of people that I believe would run into a burning building would be crazy cat ladies, desperately seeking to save their furry little friends. But this happened at our university many years ago as students frantically tried to save a historic campus monument.
The burning building was called the Edifice, and it was the very first structure on DePauw’s campus, which was at the time still called Indiana Asbury University. The estimated $20,000 construction of the Edifice had been completed in 1842, five years after the university’s cornerstone was laid on June 20, 1837.
The laying of the cornerstone marked a momentous occasion for the new university. It was celebrated accordingly with a grand ceremony with several speakers, including Calvin Fletcher and Reverend Henry B. Bascom. The cornerstone held within it a small Bible and two freshly-minted coins for good luck.
The Edifice was located where Roy O. West Library stands today, but rather than facing east as the library does, the Edifice faced north. The Edifice was considered to be a relatively high-quality building for its time, and had more than enough space to meet the needs of the university. The three-story building consisted of various classrooms, a chapel and rooms for the popular literacy societies of the time to meet in. The most notable feature of its structure was its bell tower. In 1852, a clock with faces in all four directions was installed as an addition to this tower.
Sadly, the bell, tower, and clock, along with the majority of the building, were all destroyed in the fire of 1879. The fire was the third in a string of devastating Greencastle fires. Although the fire started in the middle of the day, it took the fire department a half hour to arrive to the flaming building. Gathering horses for their carriages took a little bit longer than the present-day method of jumping into a speedy fire engine. To add salt to the wound, the closest water container quickly ran out. The Edifice burned for four hours until the flames were fully extinguished.
While the aftermath was sorrow and devastation across the entire campus, but the most frenzied scenes took place at the start of the fire, as students ran in to the burning building. Perhaps they were so committed to their education that they could not bear the thought of losing their precious books.
Captain Wheeler, who was the head of the student cadets at the time, instructed students to enter the building and prioritize their efforts on rescuing the armory and explosives stored there. Those were the first items retrieved from the burning Edifice. A few books were retrieved later, but the guns and explosives came first, even before the students’ safety.
One student attempted to rescue a large-scale portrait of Bishop Roberts, but when he found it to be too heavy, he decided to cut the head off and only take that portion. This part of the portrait currently resides in a hallway outside of Meharry Hall.
Once the chaos of the day had settled, the Edifice had disintegrated. The cause of the fire was never fully understood, but it was assumed to be a result of a mishap with one of the ovens used to heat the rooms, since there was no electricity in 1879.
Trustees and administrators didn’t hesitate to replace the Edifice, and by October, what would then be called West College stood in its place – this time facing east. West College served its function for several years as the campus’s main building, but lacked the adoration that students and faculty had of the once stunning Edifice.
– Freestone is a junior from Brownsburg, Ind., majoring in biology and art history.
