Tyler, Texas
Tyler College Fire
December 13, 1903
Tyler College Burned
Commercial and Shorthand School Destroyed –
Building Cost $12,000, Insurance $4,206.
Special to the news.
Tyler, Tex., Dec 13 – Tyler College, a
commercial and shorthand school, was burned to
the ground this morning, the fire starting at 8
o’clock from a defective flue in a member of the
faculty’s room. Within less than an hour the
building and contents were smoldering in ashes.
There was $2,700 insurance on the furniture and
fixtures and $1,500 on the building.
The building was originally erected for the
Texas fruit palace in 1896, at a cost of
$12,000. It was a massive three-story frame
structure, and being of inflammable material,
burned quickly. There were many narrow escapes
by the students who roomed in the building. Only
a few of them saved their trunks, while others
lost everything, coming from the building in a
half-dressed condition. Four hundred students
are in attendance at the college, coming from
all over the Southern States.
This afternoon a meeting of citizens was held
and the faculty was tendered the armory for
school purposes, and work will be resumed
tomorrow morning at 9 o’clock as usual. Nearly a
hundred students who roomed in the burned
building were given temporary homes with
citizens of Tyler until they can make other
arrangements. The fire was the largest in Tyler
in years, and the fire company only by heroic
efforts kept the flames from spreading to
adjoining buildings. One of the heavy losses was
the burning of fifty typewriters, on which there
was not a cent of insurance. Hundreds of
citizens viewed the smoldering ruins this
afternoon.
Dallas Morning News, Dallas, TX 14 Dec
1903
Transcribed by Sue Yerby.
Thank you, Sue!
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