■V6 



HARVARD'S OLDEST HALL DAMAGED 



Ma»sachu»e«» Hall at 



(Photogrraph by Harvard Crimson) 



ird. Oldest College Building In North Amerlc«r 

 iged by Fire Yesterday. 



HALL DAMAGED 

 ATHARVARD 



Historic 'Massachusetts' Is 

 Visited by $10,000 

 Blaze 



COLLEGE VALUABLES 

 SAVED FROM FLAMES 



Fire yesterday morning swept 

 through the top floor of Massachu- 

 setts hall at Harvard, the oldest col- 

 lege huilding in North America 

 Bamage -was $10,000, mostly from 

 water that poured through the two 

 main iloors of the structure. 



President A. Lawrence Lowell, one of 

 the first to arrive after the blase had 

 been discovered, gave what aid he could 

 ir r'r;i --al\i.nbleR from the lower 



s. Dcivinr rescued 

 :,n floor before the 



MUCHiV/ATER LOSS 



The bla^e If! 

 from d'f-- 



believed to have started 

 ■ ivig-. A man passing 







luare discovered It 



at ar.. 



and called William 



Moslv: . 



idir'tor of Matthews 



hall. -Vn aiai 



ri ivaa sounded from box 



51 beforE the 



special box alarm could 



jM^^lven. 





"When Uie apparatus arrived the flames 

 were brealtlngr throueh the slanting 

 wooden shing-Ies of the roof. A hole 

 several feel square was burned throug-h 

 the roof, but other actual damage from 

 the flro itself was .flight. It was three 

 hours before the blaze had been extin- 

 gui.-il.cd. Most of this time was spent 

 in chopping away woodwork to get at 

 the flame?. 



Tlie blaze did not spread beyond tti» 

 projecting garret where It originated. 

 The rest of the top floor is occupied as 

 a s-tatistical laboratory of the Harvard 

 business school Tn keeping the flames 

 confined to the jiai-row attic firemen 

 were forced to pour tons of water Lnto 

 I it, and this soaked Hiroug-h the vhole 

 ised the greater part of 



I building 1 

 the loss. 



Seve 



1 tho 



lollars worth of ne-w 

 scenery constructed for Saturday's pro- 

 duction of the "47 Workshop," had been 

 removed Saturday night. The Work- 

 shop occupies most of the ground floor 

 for Its production work, while the Eng- 

 lish department takes up the second 

 floor, which extends only halfway 

 through the building. 



SQUIRREL TRAPPED 

 The fire attracted a huge crowd of 

 students and Cambridge residents. The 

 antics of a tiny gray squirrel on the 

 roof of the burning building caused the 

 crowd more concern than did the Are, 

 especially after it had been determined 

 that the blaze would not cause serious 



The squirrel first appeared on the 

 ridge-pole and was Immediately spotted 

 by everj-one. The students shouted 

 words of encouragement and one o( 

 them took off his coat and held It as 



a miniature life net, but the squirrel 

 refused to jump. Fiually, an Ivy -i-lne 

 at a far corner of the structure at- 

 tracted the squirrel-B attention, and Jte 

 sped across the roof, down the vine and 

 over the yard out of sight. 



Massachusetts hall . is 204 years old 

 and stands In the college yard faclnff 

 the site of the original Harvard hall. 

 It was built from a grant of 3500 pounds 

 from the province of Massachusetts 

 From 1750 until 1S71 it served as a 

 dormitory, and the Continental soldiers 

 used it as a barracks after the battle 

 of Lexington. 

 In 1S71 the whole building was given 

 fer to general university uses. Until 

 icent years it was in this building 

 that the Harvard president welcomed 

 the Governor and other guests on Com- 

 mencement day. The commencement 

 procession still is formed in the roa.d 

 in front of the building. 



James Russell Lowell was among the 

 many famous n^en who roomed in 

 Massachusetts during his college course. 



