December 24, 1924: The Babbs Switch Fire

December 24, 1924: A fire kills 36 people in a one-room school house at Babbs Switch, Oklahoma, about 125 miles southwest of Oklahoma City.

The death toll wasn't high due to kids still being in school on Christmas Eve. Rather, the fire started during a Christmas party attended by over 200 people. A Christmas tree decorated with lighted candles stood at the front of the room, and presents were placed on the tree to be distributed to the children in attendance at the end of the program.

The fire began when a teenage student dressed as Santa Claus was removing presents from the tree to give to the children. The flames ignited paper decorations, tinsel, and dry needles and spread quickly to the tree, stage, and the greater structure of the building.

People rushed to the building's single door, which opened inward, and was soon jammed with people. Escape through the windows was blocked because they were covered with secure metal screens to prevent vandals from breaking into the school.

The day after the fire, 25 children from Muskogee, Oklahoma sent a box of their new Christmas toys to the children who survived the fire.

A month later, the National Fire Protection Association (NFPA) released a report, stating, "It is hardly conceivable that conditions could have been worse, even in so rudimentary a structure as this one-story building."

A new school was built on the site in 1925 but closed in 1943 when the Babbs Switch district was annexed into nearby districts. A stone monument, which bears a short description of the fire and a list of the dead, currently stands on the site of the former school.

Eleven years to the day earlier, the Italian Hall Disaster occurred on Michigan's Upper Peninsula. It was rumored that the death toll there was boosted because the exit doors opened inward, but this was not true.

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December 24, 1924 was a Tuesday. Singer Lee Dorsey was born.

Baseball was out of season. Football season was over, except for some Christmas Day games and the Rose Bowl. The NBA hadn't been founded yet. And no games were scheduled for the NHL. So there were no games on this historic day.