TOWN AND GOWN

HANOVER FIRES

The sound of the fire alarm in Hanover still brings town and gown together in a community of interest and concern as it has for nearly 200 years. Loyal Dartmouth men have through the years always remembered the disastrous fire on the morning of February 18, 1904 which destroyed old Dartmouth Hall and so removed from Hanover Plain one of the two or three buildings linking Hanover with the time of the Wheelocks. And that loss can never be mentioned in Dartmouth circles without remembering Trustee Melvin O. Adams '7l and his appeal for a mass alumni gathering in Boston with the inspiring call, "This is not an invitation, it is a summons." The old wooden building was replaced in brick with slightly enlarged dimensions, and was ready for occupancy two years later in February 1906.

In the College's early days Hanover, particularly in the winter time, suffered great risk from fires, as did most frontier communities. Wells were the chief source of water supply and both water and equipment were quite inadequate for extinguishing any major blaze. The entire settlement on Hanover Plain was threatened in 1790, though happily the fire did not spread as was feared. A fire society was organized in 1801, and a more formal company in 1824. By 1828 the village seems to have boasted some sort of primitive hand engine and in case of a bad fire help was called from neighboring communities. There were many small conflagrations through the years and Lord's History of Hanover lists some 25 sizable fires between 1800 and 1883. In the latter year the so-called Lebanon Street fire destroyed thirteen buildings and was brought under control only with aid from Lebanon.

One of Hanover's worst fires occurred a few years later, on January 4, 1887, when a large section of the east side of -Main Street was burned out. It started at 2 a.m. in the Dartmouth Hotel, on the site of the present Hanover Inn, and burned south through the chief business structure of the town, the famous "Tontine" block. Once again the Lebanon Fire Department saved the day, this time coming by special train from White River Junction and then up the long hill from the Norwich station.

A few other fires, since the great Dartmouth Hall fire of 1904, merit special mention. Incidentally Dartmouth Hall suffered damage again by fire in 1935 but this was easily repaired. A first-class conflagration which old-timers in Hanover still remember was the Inn Stables fire on May 13, 1925. Many alumni will recall that large barn on Allen Street where horses and conveyances were rented for forays into the countryside or to neighboring towns. At the time of the fire Progress had reached our village and the barn was used chiefly for the storage of automobiles. Big and old and dry as it was, the barn furnished a tremendous blaze right in the heart of things. Fortunately no lives were lost and the net result was that a terrible fire hazard was safely eliminated.

One of the most spectacular fires of this century occurred in the early evening of May 13, 1931 with the total destruction of the historic old White Church at the northwest corner of the Green. This structure had been dedicated on December 17, 1795 and for 135 years had been a center of life and worship in the village. It had been built larger than necessary for church purposes in order to accommodate the College commencements and other academic exercises and it was not until 1908, when commencement shifted to the new Webster Hall, that it had been abandoned for this purpose. The fire started in a trash barrel in the basement and for a time it was not regarded as serious, but soon the flames spread up the dry partitions and across the dusty, hugetimbered attic, and the whole structure was doomed. Failure at the start in getting a decent stream of water from Sanborn House added to the difficulty. It was a still evening and fortunately the flames shot directly skyward. Folks for miles up and down the valley witnessed the tower of smoke and flame that marked the passing of the old meeting house which for so many of them was a Hanover landmark.

The burning of the old Nugget Theater on January 28, 1944 was also quite a fire and marked a passing more tragic to the student body than the destruction of the White Church. This conflagration occurred during World War II and the V-12 units were out en masse, particularly the Marines who rendered valiant service in moving nearby things to a safe location. The theater stood next to one of the oldest surviving houses in Hanover - the old Wheelock Mansion built in 1773 - which was moved from the site of Reed Hall and now houses the Howe Library. The oldest house in Hanover, incidentally, is the old Garon Storrs Tavern built in 1771 which stands next door to the Howe Library and houses Delta Kappa Epsilon. Concern was felt for the library, but though the Nugget was completely gutted, happily the old Mansion, after a good wetting down, stood unscathed. After the fire temporary provision for movies was arranged in Webster Hall, lasting until 1951.

Fire-fighting in Hanover, following the traditional American pattern, was for many years on a volunteer basis and still is in a way, though there are now, of course, several full-time firemen and a full-time Fire Chief who has both professional training and experience. The fire company treasures a photograph of the fire-fighting group of 1903 grouped around the hand-drawn wagon of that day. It represents in the flesh town and gown in action and includes such familiar figures as Dave Storrs '99, Harry Storrs '07, "Skinny" Morse, Jake Bond, and Roland Lewin.

Hanover still has its fires but today it has a modernized alarm system, excellent equipment, and at least a semi-trained volunteer force to aid the regulars. Heating and lighting systems are much safer and the populace, starting with the children in school, is well educated along lines of fire prevention. It seems indeed a far cry from the college regulations of 1822 which warned students to bank fires when they left their rooms or retired to bed, not to deposit ashes in wooden vessels, and to provide themselves always with a bucket to be filled with water every evening for use in their own rooms or to be carried to an outside conflagration for use in the bucket brigade. Chief danger now would seem to come from oil-burning space heaters or cigarettes or careless smoking in bed.

The fire alarm still sounds and once again, as one hundred years ago, the whole community - town and gown stirs in common concern. The stilted but characteristic query of old Professor "Dude" Colby, "Could you inform me of the location of the conflagration?" still echoes on the street, though in less formal terms, and "Where's the fire?" is still a common query in Hanover life.