St. Mary's College of Maryland Preservation Master Plan

St. Mary’s College of MarylandPreservation Master PlanHistoric St. Mary’s City February 2008Ruins of Seminary, January 1924 (Courtesy ofSMCM Archives).Frame T-Barracks brought from Ft. Meade tohouse Seminary students in 1924 (Courtesyof SMCM Archives).Miss France was at the midpoint of her first year when theoriginal Seminary building, caught fire on the evening ofSaturday, January 5, 1924. The school was in recess, andthe fire was first spotted by Rev. C. W. Whitmore, rector ofTrinity Church. Despite the efforts of Rev. Whitmore andtwo school maintenance workers, the fire spread from thebasement furnace room and engulfed the building. Thefire was fought by local citizens, who had been summonedby the Whitmore family . Other volunteers attempted toremove what furnishings, books, and records they couldfrom the first floor. Rev. Whitmore was injured, but therewere no deaths or other injuries. By morning, the oldSeminary was a smoking shell, and most of its contents hadbeen lost. The books and furnishings retrieved from thebuilding were moved into the Music Hall, and Miss Franceand the trustees met to discuss their next moves, uncertainwhether the State would allow the school to rebuild andcontinue. Fortunately, Gov. Albert Ritchie soon authorizedconstruction of temporary housing on campus, and all 60students returned a few weeks later to complete the year.Thirty students were housed in a crude wooden buildingcalled The Barracks, which also contained the kitchen,dining hall, and bathroom facilities. This building wasactually a repurposed temporary frame T-shaped militarybarracks from Fort Meade, which was brought in by bargeand erected near the vegetable garden (Fausz 1990:62-66;Haugaard 2007). The remainder of the students boardedwith local families, including former principal Mrs. AnnieElizabeth Thomas Lilburn and Rev. Whitmore, who housedMiss France and 24 students in the Trinity Church Rectorythroughout the spring semester. Community and politicalsupport coalesced to help the school survive the crisis, andnot one student left the school (Fausz 1990:62-66; Haugaard2007; Whitmore and Keen 1981:9-11).Front of Barracks, 1924 (Courtesy of SMCMArchives).Page 2-22By the end of January, a $100,000 state appropriation,approximately half of what was needed, had been approvedto rebuild Calvert Hall on its old foundations. A $20,000insurance payment provided additional money, and afundraising campaign spearheaded by alumnae andprominent Baltimore citizens helped to raise the remaining$100,000 needed. Nostalgia and patriotic fervor to restorethe Monument School in time for the state Tercentennial,as well as the clever idea to offer donors the opportunityto furnish dormitory rooms for $200 apiece in honor ofloved ones, made the fundraising campaign a success.As fundraising proceeded, the St. Mary’s trustees securedthe services of Stanislaus Russell, a Baltimore architect,to design the reconstruction, and Hastings and Parson ofSalisbury was chosen as the general contractor. Work beganin June to clear the site and salvage bricks for reuse. The