Early one morning in November 1900, around 150 young women at Virginia College near Roanoke awoke to a frightening discovery. Smoke had already filled the hallways of the large school building, and there was little time to determine how serious the situation had become.
The rising bell had only recently sounded when the fire was discovered. Students were immediately warned to leave the building and, more importantly, to stop for nothing. There would be no time to gather clothing, books, keepsakes, or other possessions. Many of the young women escaped wearing only their nightclothes or the simplest garments they could quickly put on.
Despite the danger, contemporary reports noted that the evacuation was carried out with surprisingly little confusion or panic. All 150 students managed to get outside safely.
Once the young women were clear of the building, another problem quickly became apparent. Many were standing outside in the cold with very little clothing. Men arriving at the scene reportedly removed their overcoats and gave them to the students, while neighbors brought blankets and opened nearby homes to those who were most thinly dressed.
Meanwhile, the fire moved rapidly through Virginia College.
Believed to have started in the boiler room, though the exact cause was unknown, the blaze consumed the buildings in less than two hours. Almost nothing could be saved. A few desks from the business office and several pieces of furniture were reportedly all that escaped destruction.
Virginia College For Young Ladies Burned
ROANOKE, Virginia. — Virginia College, an institution for young ladies, situated just outside the city limits of Roanoke, was totally destroyed by fire at an early hour Wednesday morning. It was a short while after the rising bell had been rung, when it was discovered the hallways of the big building were filled with smoke.
The young ladies were notified to lose no time in getting out of the building; to stop for nothing. The word was quickly passed around and the young ladies, 150 in number, made their way out, many of them thinly clad, hardly any with anything more than the simplest costumes of the bedroom. There was little confusion and no great excitement.
As soon as men reached the scene they cheerfully loaned their overcoats to the girls in light costumes.
Some of the neighbors in the meanwhile brought blankets, and the girls who had the least clothing went into nearby houses.
The fire started in the boiler room, exactly how is not known. It made quick work and in less than two hours the buildings were entirely destroyed. The desks from the business office and a few articles of furniture was about all that was saved.
Source: The Caucasian. Clinton, N.C. November 22, 1900.
