Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Baldwyn School Disasters


The original BHS building was built in 1929. It faced North Second street on the East then. A fire destroyed the school in 1939. It was rebuilt and turned to face West toward the highway and was also enlarged. Someone jokingly said that the only thing that was needed to make the necessary change of frontal direction was to move the flagpole to the front and the outhouses to the rear.

TOP: On a hot Summer day in 1942 the downtown elementary school was destroyed by a fire of unknown origin. The brick sides were left standing but later demolished. All elementary grades were eventually moved to the North Second Street buildings.

The tabernacle at the left of the school in the photo was used for the lower grades until suitable provisions were made. This building sat on the corner of Main and US 45 where the Caldwell Hospital was built 8 years later (1950).

It was built in 1904, replacing another destroyed by fire. It was destroyed by fire in 1928, rebuilt and used until this fire.

LOWER: The school that most of us attended was destroyed by a fire that was presumably set by an individual, a student. This photo shows the early stages of the fire. Several fire units were called in for assistance from as far away as Booneville.

Both structures were damaged by the April '42 tornado. Students from the Second Street school attended classes in local churches and other places until the current school year ended. That school building was hurriedly repaired for the 42-43 semester, and remained in use until the '91 fire.
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Top photo courtesy of Simon Spight. Lower from Betty Smith Massengill.

17 comments:

  1. I wonder how many Sears catalogs were needed for the outhouses at the school during a semester?

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  2. I started first grade in the CCC barracks. I think 1-3 grades were in one barracks and the cafeteria in another one.

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  3. The CCC barracks was the one room structure that was the Boy Scout building in the late 1940-s and through the early 1950-s.

    I remember it well.

    BB

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  4. A friend called me that October afternoon in 1991 to say that "the school" was on fire. I was working in Tupelo but dropped everything and immediately headed toward Baldwyn. I remember coming down the hill by the highway department on North Gloster and the column of black smoke was clearly visible on the horizon. By the time I got to the campus, the fire departments were simply working to contain the blaze because the structure was completely engulfed. An overwhelming sadness was the prevailing mood of all the Bearcats who gathered in the field just west of the old school. To watch the death of "our school" and to know that so much history was dying with it was just heart breaking!

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  5. My Dad died two days after our school burned so it was a particularly sad time for me. I still regret that I don't have more pictures of the old school the way I remember it. mc

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  6. Wasn't one of the CCC barracks buildings moved to north Second and used for the Primer and First grade plus the lunchroom?

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  7. When I started to school in 1945, the building that housed the "primer" and grade 1 was an old structure, possibly an old surplus barracks. The classroom was in the North end and the cafeteria in the opposite. Mrs. Vandiver was our first teacher.
    I recall we had a small alligator in an aquarium along with some frogs (no fish).

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  8. I remember the old building, Miz Halley, the lunchroom, but not the alligator!

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  9. Carl, I started school on September 7th in 1952. I remember the date because it was my 6th birthday.

    I believe the building you are referring to was being used as the lunch room during the early fifties. The lunch room was on the extreme northern end and there were at least two or three apartments on the other end. The apartments were used by faculty.

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  10. I started first grade in one of the three classrooms that were attached to the east end of the gymnasium. I think there were actually 4 classes that we knew of as the "primer", then first, second and third grades. I don't know where the third grade was. These classrooms were later converted to the concession area and I think had two offices in each end. I grew up almost directly across the street from the gym and have lots of memories of the old gymnasium and the school grounds as they were our playgrounds after school and in the summer break.

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  11. Jim, in 1948/50 third grade was in the main building on the east side but I can't remember how far down the hall. mc

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  12. Milton you are exactly right. The 3rd grade was in the last room on the left and the teacher was Mrs Shirley. We moved to the new elementary school before year end. My brothers, Bobby and Billy and myself would all ride to school on the same bike because we were all in the same building for the first time. I was on the handle bars, Billy on the back and Bobby diving. What a hoot that must have been to see.

    I remember starting in the First grade and skipping the second straight to the third. I thought it was because we were smart, but now I know it was because there was no room for us... lol

    Milton, did you start to school at Baldwyn or enter later during the second grade???

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  13. Yes, now I remember. We had the shortest trip to the lunch room.
    Jimmy I started first grade in Nurnburg Germany in Aug 1948. By Oct 1948 the Berlin crisis had heated up and all civilians had to return to the states. Mrs. Vandiver was nice enough to let me skip the primer in order to stay with my age group. As far as I can recall, I went to the first and second grades in the gym classrooms.

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  14. Milton, Yes I remember the first day I saw you at school...we played in the ditch in front of the old gym at recess...that was our fort. Do you remember when someone flushed a wad of tissue paper down the commode in the gym. Mr Baker had all the boys in the bathroom and threatened to kill us if we didn't tell who did it. No one told...but I KNOW WHO DID IT !!!!

    We lived in the Mckay house next to the gym and I went to school with my brother Billy. So by the time I was old enough to start to school, I was ready for the third grade...lol

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  15. Jimmy I don't remember the tissue in the john....probably a good thing! I do remember playing in the ditch and there were a lot of games played between the Gym and the hedge on the north side.
    I can imagine that living next door to the school and having an older brother, you should have been allowed to skip at least one more grade! That way you could have graduated with Joe, Herb, Doug, Wyatt, Harold and the rest of that distinguished bunch. mc

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  16. Distinguished might not be the first adjective that comes to mind, Milton. All of the women distinguished themselves after HS, however. I am always amazed at how well they did. Must have been the trip to State basketball tourney gave them lots of confidence.

    Joe C.

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  17. Now that you mention it Joe, Gloria did get a bit uppity after that trip. But I was extremely proud of them.
    Those were the days when the ladies played half court....seems strange now. mc

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