March 4, 1908: The Collinwood School Fire

Before the fire

March 4, 1908: A fire breaks out at the Lake View School in Collinwood, on the East Side of Cleveland. It is one of the deadliest school disasters in American history.

The Lake View School was vulnerable to fire, as were many similarly designed buildings throughout the nation. The school's masonry exterior acted as a chimney, sucking flame upward as the wooden interior burned, and open stairways and the absence of fire breaks enhanced the "chimney effect."

The building had only two exits, and fire quickly blocked the front door. Children rushed to the rear door, but in a vestibule narrowed by partitions, they stumbled and climbed on top of one another, forming a pile that completely blocked the exit. Although later accounts sometimes described children pinned against inward-swinging doors, Lake View's doors opened outward.

However, the vestibule created an impassable bottleneck for the crowd trying to rush through it. Collinwood's small volunteer fire department and horse-drawn engines arrived too late, and were ill-equipped to battle the fire. In less than an hour, the three floors and the roof of the Lake View School collapsed into the basement, leaving only a hollowed-out brick ruin. There were 175 deaths, including 2 teachers and almost half of the children enrolled there.

A quickly completed coroner's inquest concluded that heating pipes running next to exposed wooden joists ignited the building. The coroner blamed the fire on "conditions," and held no one legally accountable for it. Many parents condemned the speed of the inquest, and objected to its refusal to hold anyone responsible.

The State of Ohio purchased the land where the Lake View School had stood, and the town converted it into a memorial garden. The new Collinwood Memorial School, built to the highest standards of fire resistance at the time, was constructed on an adjacent lot. That building has also been replaced by a newer school.

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March 4, 1908 was a Wednesday. Baseball was in Spring Training. Football was out of season. Professional basketball barely existed. The Stanley Cup Playoffs were about to begin, and would be won by the Montreal Wanderers. But no games were played on this day, in any major sport.