Cooperstown, NY State Normal School Fire, Feb 1894

STATE NORMAL SCHOOL BURNED.

There Was an Insurance of $75,000, and Temporary Quarters Will be Provided.

COOPERSTOWN, N. Y., Feb. 15.---The State Normal and Training School at Oneonta was burned this morning. The fire was discovered by the janitor at about 5:15 o'clock in a waste-paper room in the basement. The building was constructed in the form of a double L, and the fire originated in one of the inside angles, under a point where the staircases converged. The spread of the flames was rapid, and by 7 o'clock the structure was a mass of blazing ruins.

The Oneonta State Normal School was opened in the Fall of 1889. The building was erected at an original cost of $114,000, which has since been increased by additional appropriations for improvements and apparatus to about $180,000. It was a handsome brick edifice. The school had been prosperous since its opening. There were about 350 normal students and 150 intermediate students in attendance the present term.

A citizens' meeting was held to-night to ascertain whether sufficient accommodations cannot be secured about town for the use of the school, in order that it may continue its work in temporary quarters and graduate its senior class. The State Armory, the Board of Trade rooms, and the Stanton Opera House can probably be secured, if they will answer the purpose.

An insurance of $75,000, it is said, was carried on the building.

The New York Times, New York, NY 16 Feb 1894
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Transcribed by Linda Horton. Thank you, Linda!