Source: News-Journal, February 27, 1941

FIRE ENDANGERED COLLEGE LIBRARY

Fire started in the second story of the Manchester College library about midnight Monday night and but for the timely discovery of a student watchman, might have destroyed the entire building. The fire started in the speech department room, and by the time the firemen arrived, had burned a hole in the floor, part of a window casing, and the heat had caused part of the ceiling plastering to fall, exposing the lath and joist. It was put out with a loss of probably $200.

The library, with many thousand books, is directly below, and had the fire reached the lower part of the building, there would have been a heavy loss in books in addition to the loss of the building.

The cause of the fire has not been determined definitely. There was an electric hot plate that had been on a shelf. A tea kettle that had been on the hot plate melted, until the metal had settled on the heating element. A hole had burned in the shelf below the hot plate, allowing it to drop down to the floor, and as the floor burned it had fallen into the hole, next to the ceiling of the library. Some think the hot plate had been left turned on accidentally, although all who use the room deny it. Others say there was a leaking radiator or steam pipe that might have caused the wiring to short circuit. Whatever the cause the college is very lucky that the building was not destroyed.