Mansfield Borough has a long, distinguished and colorful history. Fortunately, we've had and continue to have good historians who have recorded events from Mansfield's inception through its more than 150 years of life and growth.
Note: This site was created by Steve Orner in 2007 and has not been regularly updated. We will update as time allows.
One of the enduring debates in the history of Mansfield has been the legal sale of liquor in the borough. In the 150 years of the borough’s existence, liquor has only been legally sold for 39 years.
There is evidence, though, that liquor was sold before the incorporation of the borough.
With the support of such notable figures as Mansfield State Normal School Principal Fordyce Allen and former state Representative Simon B. Elliott, the state legislature banned the sale of intoxicating beverages within two miles of the school. That effectively banned liquor, beer, and wine sales within the borough.
The Wellsboro law firm of Cox, Stokes, and Lantz, P.C. located a copy of the law, which was approved by the state Legislature. The law read in part: “That from and after the passage of this act, no license of shall be issued to any person, or persons, to sell any spirituous, vinous, malt, or brewed, liquors, for drinking purposes, within a radius of two miles of the Normal school at Mansfield, Tioga County, Pa.”
Section two of the act set a fine of $50 to $200 for a violation. A second violation also provided for imprisonment of up to three months in addition to the fine. Section two did exempt anyone who previously held a license from the provisions of the act until the license expired.
At least one person was convicted under the act. Mansfield resident Thomas Hatfield was indicted of violating the act in November 1886. He appealed the ruling and in 1888 the state Supreme Court found a “writ of error” in his favor. Specifically, according to a Wellsboro Agitator article and the opinion in the case, the court found that the title of the act did not mention an exemption for licenses. The court reasoned that, since the point about licensing was in the same section with penalties, the section was unconstitutional. Therefore, while Hatfield may have been guilty, he could not be fined.
We have not uncovered how the Legislature followed up on the ruling.
Prohibition did not appear to have stemmed drunkenness in the town. In 1981, Phyllis Swinsick, a local historian, wrote in the Wellsboro Gazette that the Mansfield Borough Council found the problem of drunkenness so intolerable that it passed an ordinance providing for a fine of $1-$10 and 48 hours imprisonment for public drunkenness.
The ban did not stop those who wanted to drink. In the 1880’s, folks could take the Blossburg-Corning Railroad to Blossburg. One night, four Mansfield State Normal boys went to Blossburg to drink. On the return trip, boisterous boys annoyed the other passengers. They wound up in a fight with a very strong brakeman.
The brakeman won. The boys reportedly were thrown off the train and were not heard from for two days.
The rest of the U.S. followed the lead of dry towns like Mansfield when the 18th Amendment was approved December 18, 1917. The Amendment empowered the U.S. Congress to pass laws restricting the “manufacture, or sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquor” in the United States. Nine months later, on Oct. 28, Congress passed enabling Legislation, the Volstead Act.
The New York Sun opined in 1919 that 1 million men “would be thrown onto the labor market.” While alcohol was officially banned, people continued to drink illegally. It was not unusual for otherwise law abiding citizens to patronize illegal “speakeasies” while police looked the other way. The two major problems of the period were the rise of organized crime to make and distribute alcohol and the number of deaths that resulted from dangerous concoctions like “bathtub gin.”
There is no evidence that a speakeasy ever existed in Mansfield.
The 21st Amendment repealed Prohibition. It was fully ratified by the states December 5, 1933. However, subsequent legislation allowed municipalities to decide whether to allow the sale of alcohol, which is what Mansfield did. However, alcohol could be brought into a dry municipality and legally consumed. People who wanted to drink at taverns often went to Wellsboro, Blossburg, Troy, and New York.
In 1973, Mansfield Borough held a referendum asking voters to decide whether or not liquor and beer or just beer could be legally sold in the municipality. The beer only sales proposal failed 439-358 and the liquor and beer sales question was defeated 437-359. The vote was held after the Mansfield State College students had left for summer break. Eight years later, in 1981, Mansfield held another referendum. Unlike the previous vote, the students were in town and many registered to vote on the question. The local ordinance was changed as voters approved liquor and beer sales by a vote of 407-348.
Under Pennsylvania Liquor Control Board rules, one liquor license was available for every 2,000 residents, based on the 1980 census, which showed Mansfield had a population of 3,327 people. Within a week of the May 19th 1981 vote, four establishments applied for licenses. “Now everyone is in a tizzy as to who will get a license to ply the populace with legal libations,” Phyllis Swinsick reported in the August 5, 1981 issue of the Gazette. Mark’s Brothers Restaurant received the only available license Dec. 22.
Mark Brother’s owner, Scott Bixby, recalled that he was on his way to see family in St. Louis when he received the news. He received his official copy of the license in January, 1982. After some remodeling, Mark’s Brothers started selling alcohol legally in February. He sold his first drink to his father, Britton Bixby on Friday evening, Feb. 5. The Wellsboro Gazette ran the photo on the front page of the Feb. 10 issue.
The Comfort Inn and the Main Street Lounge restaurant, (later named the Edgewood Restaurant) had bars under the hotel exemptions. These bars did not count toward the 2000 resident limit, the May 27, 1981 Gazette Article explained. The Edgewood Restaurant (which saw further incarnations as Jimmy Crackers, then the University Club) later stopped serving alcohol when ownership of the adjacent motel, the Mansfield Inn, was split from the restaurant.
New PLCB rules allowed for liquor licenses to be transferred among municipalities within the same county with borough council approval. In February 1981, the Mansfield Borough Council approved a transfer from the Tioga Borough. In March it also approved a transfer from Wellsboro. The University Club served for a few months before discontinuing sales. The restaurant closed in early 2007. The Wren’s Nest Restaurant which was built by early settler Dr. Joseph P. Morris as one of the earlier homes on the western side of the Tioga River, served alcohol until its closing in early 2014.
Dr. Rick Lucero, professor of education at Mansfield University, acquired the license that was held by the former University Club. In November, 2007 he opened Changos (Spanish for Monkeys) on North West side of Main Street. The establishment became the second bona fide bar in Mansfield.
For better or for worse, the Mansfield Borough was dry for 111 years.
When the leaves turn golden in the Northern Tier, the town of Mansfield gears up for the Fabulous 1890’s Weekend. The annual festival celebrates the world’s first night football game played at the 1892 Great Mansfield Fair.
The first Mansfield Fair was held in 1879 at the Smythe Park, reported George Retan in his 1957 History of Mansfield and reposted on Tri-Counties Genealogy and History by Joyce M. Tice.
The last year of the Mansfield Fair was 1956.
Dr. Herbert G. Smythe moved from Canada to Covington in 1831. He later purchased the physician’s practice at 82 South Main Street, Dr. Dexter Parkhurst. Today it’s the site of the Pump and Pantry.
The purchase included an island that was bordered by the Tioga River to the west and a small stream to the east.
Even before 1879, small picnics and reunions were held on Dr. Smythe’s Island as it was a convenient large, open area and Dr. Smythe didn’t seem to mind. Indeed, the island was used for a fundraising event after the first Seminary building burned in 1858. A track for horse racing was built in 1877. Some early Normal School graduations were held at the island as well.
In 1879, Smythe sold a little more than five acres to the Mansfield School Board to build a graded school which is the site of Mansfield High School today.
Mansfield decided to host a major fair on the island, primarily to allow local farmers to display their livestock. Mart King, a blacksmith and later owner of a furniture factory, took the lead in establishing the fair.
Dr. Retan noted that the town officials approached the County Agricultural Association, which held shows in Wellsboro, to consider holding shows at the planned fair of 1879.
The Association apparently said no because later, Fordyce Allen, with the help of the Soldiers Orphan School students, cleared the brush and debris from the Island to make a large recreation area for venders and exhibits.
Mansfield residents built an exhibit building, 400 stalls for livestock, and a railroad switch to allow the Blossburg Corning Railroad to drop off visitors at the new park, which officially opened during the July 4 celebration in 1879.
The first fair was held October 1-3, 1879 and was a success. Sixteen carloads of stock arrived from New York. The crowd was estimated at around 5,000.
Admission was 15 cents per person. Children under 10 were free. Season tickets were $1 and meals at the fair were 25 cents.
A year later, more than 10,000 people attended on the second day. The fair had doubled in size.
The following year, the ladies of Mansfield had raised $520 toward the $1,150 cost of building a women’s pavilion at the park. By 1881, the Mansfield Fair was attracting 9,000 people during the peak days.
Flooding in the late 1880s and early 1890s caused the borough to decide to dam the small stream that cut the island off from the rest of town. As a result, the park was now attached to the borough and was no longer an island.
Throughout the years, the park served as the site of many civic gatherings. A large grandstand dominated the park for many decades and the old entrance house is still standing.
The Great Mansfield Fair, was the site of historic events, like the first night football game in 1892, and tragedies like the death of “Dare Devil” Tony Castellane.
With the elimination of passenger trains stopping in Mansfield, and the gradual
transition to cars, crowds at the fair began dwindling after World War II. The Fair Association disbanded in December 1957.
The land comprises Smythe Park, along with some other properties in town, was purchased by the Army Corps of Engineers in the 1976 for flood control. The Corps then built a dike that keeps the park from flooding, which was happening about once every two years. During high water events, the park is intentionally flooded and the water released back into the Tioga River slowly to ease some of the pressure on the dams downstream. Other than that, the park is open to all kinds of public and private recreation.
Smythe Park currently has a baseball field and soccer fields for high school and youth athletics. The college also used the park for sporting events from the 1890’s until suitable fields for football, soccer, field hockey and softball were built on campus starting in the early 1960’s
The idea of a fall festival, to be held at Smythe Park, was revived in the early 1990s. General Electric, the company that supplied the lights for the 1892 game, in 1992 conducted a massive marketing campaign revolving around that first night football game. The commercial included a shot of a player lamenting the fact that no one would remember what happened that night.
Some people did remember, though, including the football coach and town librarian Karl Van Norman. As late as 1935, he wrote newspaper articles recalling the game.
In 1992, Mansfield University and the Greater Area Mansfield Chamber of Commerce held the first Fabulous 1890s Weekend. The Festival features period entertainment and a museum of local history. The highlight is a half-hour long reenactment of the first night game. The script comes from actual newspaper accounts of the game. The players are young men, and sometimes young women, from the university and community.
The reenactment features now illegal mass formation plays like the flying wedge. There are also stage fights since real fights were common at the time. The players did not wear pads and the reenactment features a play where a player is “revived” with a bucket full of cold water.
Just like the original game, the reenactment ends in a 0-0 tie between Mansfield State Normal School and Wyoming Seminary.
The 1890s Weekend, along with the Fourth of July Celebration which is also held at Smythe Park, are among the area’s biggest attractions.
Nearly every fire that destroys a building touches the lives of many other people. Mansfield has certainly had its share of disastrous fires. From the very beginning, though, the borough has bounced back from every tragedy. Here are some of the more memorable blazes.
Mansfield Classical Seminary’s enrollment had grown to about 150 students when the institution’s second term started April 16, 1857. Six days later, April 22, at 10 a.m. the seminary building caught fire and burned to the ground. The origin of the fire was never discovered. Some furniture, doors and windows were saved, but many items were ruined. On that day, there was a foot of snow on the ground and many of the furnishings were damaged when they were thrown into the snow.
The building was insured for $12,000, but a financial crisis in 1857 caused one of the insurance companies to close and another refused to pay. A few days later, some of the original founders met and resolved to rebuild. They raised about $4,000 for the effort. However, little was done for the rest of the year and the institution remained closed.
The citizens of Mansfield invited the members of the East Genesee Conference, under whose auspices the school was run, to a free picnic on the “Island” (now Smythe Park) in hopes that the conference would offer financial support for the rebuilding effort. Conference members refused, but the local crowd that had assembled raised about $4,000 in subscriptions and pledges of goods and labor. Work resumed immediately. One of the seminary founders, Simon B. Elliott records that only 50 cents was paid to the laborers in 1858. That sum was paid to a “chap who came along and represented himself as a bricklayer, but he was not.” That person was discharged that day, but paid his 50 cents.
The seminary reopened Nov. 23, 1859 with 30 students. By 1862, the institution became Mansfield State Normal School.
George Retan, in his history of Mansfield, published in 1957, notes that a fire destroyed all of the wooden buildings from Center Street south for some distance. As a result, the borough council decided that a zone between Sherwood and Railroad (now East Main) streets should be only brick stores. Existing wooden buildings were exempt from the ordinance. The area was rebuilt by 1885.
A fire destroyed two businesses and the homes of the business owners Saturday, Jan. 26, 1884. The fire leveled two wooden buildings between the Pitts Block and the Brundage Hotel on South Main Street.
The fire started in the upper level of a grocery store owned by G.N. Welch, probably from a defective chimney. The Welch family lived in the upper level of the building. The fire also damaged harness shop owned by William Hollands, whose family also lived above the store.
Most of the stock of the stores and personal belongings were saved. The buildings, owned by A.M. Pitts, were valued at $3,000 and were insured for $2,100. The Wellsboro Agitator credited the fire company with saving the adjacent buildings.
Just after Postmaster Thomas Bailey of Mansfield leased the Hotel Allen from M.S. French, landlord of the French Hotel in Mansfield, the Hotel Allen burned. Just days before the fire, the Allen was occupied by a person named E.A. Thomas. The fire broke out early Friday morning, Oct. 14, 1904. The hotel, located at the northwest corner of Wellsboro and Main streets, formerly served as Prof. Fordyce Allen’s Soldiers’ Orphans School, built in 1867 and remained in service as a school until 1889 when the remaining students were transferred to Harford, Pennsylvania were one of the last remaining Soldier Orphans Schools was located. This image is from cira1875.
At the time, the cause of the blaze was unknown. The second and third stories of the wooden building were destroyed and two ground floor rooms sustained damage. Mrs. Bailey, who was ill at the time and living next door to the hotel, was moved to safety. A Normal School student named Jackson fainted from all the excitement. It was later determined that the cause of the fire was arson, with an incendiary device thrown through a rare window.
The image below is looking from the rear of the orphan school looking towards main street around 1877.
Losses totaled $8,500 with $3,000 insurance on the building and $1,000 on the contents. Just before the fire, Bailey dropped $1,000 insurance on the building. A portion of the building that escaped the blaze was purchased and used as a print shop for the Mansfield Advertiser.
The Opera House was a major entertainment venue for the community between the time that it was built in 1888-1889 and the day it burned on May 19, 1913. Before that, the major venue was Union Hall, located on the third floor of the bank building across the street. Some of the area’s first moving pictures (movies) were shown at the Opera House, as were dances and socials.
Located on East Wellsboro Street (Route 6), the grand building also housed the switchboard for Citizens Mutual Telephone Exchange, a barbershop owned by R.W. Dann, and the home and office of Dr. Edith Flower Wheeler, the Troy Gazette-Register reported. The report is posted on Tri-Counties History and Genealogy by Joyce M. Tice.
The fire broke out in the early morning hours and firefighters were able to contain the blaze before it caused major damage to the nearby borough building and Presbyterian Church.
The building was owned by Charles Ross, who was also part of the Williams and Ross Bank across the street. Williams and Ross is the forerunner to First Citizens National Bank. The cause of the Opera House fire was probably arson. It was the third of Mr. Ross’ buildings to burn in the recent months. The Wellsboro Gazette speculated that someone was intentionally targeting Ross’ buildings.
Ross valued the building at $9,000 and had $1,000 insurance. Dr. Wheeler lost everything and had no insurance. Dann’s losses totaled $300 with no insurance. The telephone company lost $600 in property but the switchboard was saved.
Today the building hosts an ice cream shop, a coffee shop, a craft shop, and a beauty shop downstairs. There are about a dozen apartments, mostly housing university students, on the second and third floors.
The Wellsboro Agitator called the fire at the Mansfield Novelty Works, just south of Corey Creek, and the Mansfield Electric Light plant the town’s “Big Fire Loss.” The fire also burned several barns, causing a total of $100,000 damage.
The fire was caused by a hot box just after the women’s shift ended. The men working at the time all managed to escape, though Herman VanNess broke a leg jumping from a window. Had the fire started earlier, many lives could have been in danger.
The fire forced about 50 people out of work and the owners, A.R. Decker and Leon Baynes had no insurance on the building. Several weeks later, it was announced that the plant would be rebuilt. Mansfield Novelty Works opened in 1892 for $20,000 and was devoted to making toys from native woods.
Additionally, Mansfield was without power for some time due to the destruction of the electric company. The paper also reported that, due to high demand for electrical equipment, it might take months to restore power. In the meantime, Mansfield negotiated with Blossburg and Wellsboro for power.
The former Mansfield Advertiser reported that the company ceased operations in 1971. The article is reprinted on Tri-Counties History and Genealogy. The story noted that the company endured several fires, including the devastating one of 1920. The Borough Street Novelty Place pays testament to the old factory.
A major Mansfield landmark was destroyed by fire Friday, April 13, 1934. The old Paisley Shawl Factory, owned by former First National Bank President Charles S. Ross, caught fire in the early morning hours.
The fire was likely started by a spark from a cigarette or an acetylene torch.
The factory was built in 1892 and was one of the leading industries in Mansfield. The factory closed in 1900 and was vacant until 1918. That year, the Blake Manufacturing Company and Brady Brass Works were located there.
They remained in operation until 1924. The building was used for storage at the time of the fire.
A fire destroyed a historic grist mill, owned by Charles S. Ross Friday evening, April 27, 1934.
The original mill was built by Terrence Smythe, in 1852. Terrence was brother to Dr. Henry Smythe for whom Smythe Park is named.
The grist mill was 82 years old and had undergone numerous expansions and renovations until it was abandoned in 1918.
The mill was located on the western side of the Tioga River, a short distance from the Wellsboro Road and a little south along Brooklyn Street. Firefighters could not save the structure which burned some trees on the opposite side of the Wellsboro Road (Route 6).
After losing the first three football games of the 1954 campaign, Mansfield State Teacher’s College coach Ed Rushin was seriously injured in a gas explosion. Rushin was putting the finishing touches on his new home in October when a leak in a line filled parts of the house with natural gas.
Something, possibly a cigarette, sparked an explosion which blasted the coach into the cellar. The house was located on Brooklyn street.
Rushin suffered third degree burns and was sent to Robert Packer Hospital in Sayre. The explosion destroyed the home. The Wellsboro Gazette article detailing the incident noted that the explosion rattled windows two blocks away, but did not say where the house was located.
Following that explosion, the physical education director, Marion E. “Spots” Decker, took over the team and posted a record of 2-1-1 for the remainder of the season. That record included a 30-6 win over Edinboro and a 42-7 drubbing of Millersville.
The shoe store located at 21 North Main Street, owned by Frank Fish of Mansfield, burned Saturday morning, Nov. 29. Firefighters from Mansfield, Wellsboro, and Blossburg contained the fire before it spread to other buildings in the business district.
Tenants living above the store escaped unharmed.
Dense smoke from the fire spread to VanNoy’s furniture store next door as well as the Masonic Lodge rooms upstairs from the furniture store.
The blaze marked the first time that the Wellsboro firefighters used a new Cascade System to battle a major fire. The system allowed firefighters to refill oxygen tanks while fighting the fire. The old system only provided enough oxygen for about 30 minutes.
On Saturday afternoon, Aug. 21, a fire broke out at the house occupied by the Lambda Chi Alpha fraternity. No one was injured. The house had been unoccupied for two weeks while students were away on break.
The fire, which caused about $8,000 in damage, was contained to four rooms. Investigators later learned that the fire was caused by an inflammable liquid substance that was poured on beds.
A 14-year-old Mansfield youth was later charged with arson. According to the Aug. 25, 1976 issue of the Wellsboro Gazette, the boy also admitted to burning a house in Texas and setting several smaller fires locally.
The same issue of the Gazette also included a story about a fire that damaged several Wellsboro businesses and left 10 people homeless the previous Thursday. Also on the front page was a story about a house fire on Newtown Hill Road near Mansfield.
The paper noted that it was the fifth major Tioga County fire in a week.
A house owned by the Tau Kappa Epsilon (TKE) fraternity burned in the early morning hours of January 12, 1981 on a particularly cold night. The house at 19 College Ave. was valued at $50,000 and was insured.
About 60 firefighters battled both the flames and 20 degree below zero temperatures. The fire may have been sparked by a space heater in an upstairs bedroom. After firefighters from Mansfield and neighboring communities doused the flames, 11 students found themselves homeless. Mansfield State College helped them to find housing.
The fraternity vowed to rebuild.
In November of that year, the fraternity proposed relocating to a house at 71 College Ave., which stirred protests at a meeting of the zoning hearing board. They had to go before that board to request permission to open a “private dormitory.” Neighbors even filed court cases to halt the action. When that plan fell through, TKE resided for a time in a large home in Richmond Township on Ore Bed Road. The home was owned by Dr. Charles Seidel, a long time Mansfield University Professor. After that TKE resided in various apartment houses in and around Mansfield.
On Friday afternoon, May 17, 1991 a major fire broke out at Tioga Petroleum on Seventh Street. The state police reported that the fire was the largest in Mansfield’s history. Oil and gasoline on the premises fed the fire that shot out thick, black smoke. Students at Warren L. Miller Elementary School, half a mile away took cover just in case. There was concern that the school buses housed next door to Tioga Petroleum would be damaged.
Firefighters from every department in Tioga County responded to the scene as did rescue workers from Lycoming, Potter and Bradford counties. It was also the first time that a unit from Chemung County, N.Y. responded to a fire in Mansfield.
The fire was sparked when some gasoline leaked into a catch pan and splashed into a trouble light that a mechanic was using to fix a gasket on a truck. The trouble light exploded, igniting the gasoline.
Firefighters had trouble entering the steel building in an effort to keep the fire from spreading to barrels of oil in the building. One explosion inside the plant created a huge fireball. Local residents were evacuated as firefighters brought the fire under control after about an hour. They used water from the Tioga River to douse the flames. Eight firefighters were hospitalized, but no major injuries were reported.
The business had moved from Canoe Camp in 1987.
On Monday morning, Nov. 18, 1996 fire destroyed the 101-year-old Rose Building on North Main Street. It housed a beauty shop and a fitness center. Eight university students and one former student were also displaced.
Firefighters from as far away as Southport, N.Y., battled for several hours to extinguish the blaze. The building was completely ruined and the remaining debris was later removed. A cause was never determined. The fire figured prominently in subsequent borough council discussions regarding building codes. The borough currently inspects all rental units at least once every four years.
As for the tenants, two left for the holidays early while the rest managed to find other housing. Several campus and community organizations as well as friends helped them to get back on their feet after they lost everything.
The original building was constructed by G.N. Welch and later became known as the Rose Building. Over the years, it housed a grocery store, S&H Green Stamp Store and retail businesses. The site of the fire is now used as a parking lot for Ten West Espresso Company, which moved to that location from its first home at 10 West Wellsboro Street.
Editor’s note: This article, written by Diane Eaton, was adapted from the April 18, 2007 issue of The Mansfield Gazette
At 12:14 a.m. on Friday April 13, 2007 the Tioga County Communications Center dispatched the Mansfield Hose Company to the scene of a reported fire at the rear of the Warren L. Miller Elementary School on Dorsett Drive, Mansfield.
The caller was Miller Head Teacher Sam Rotella who lives on Brooklyn Street, on the other side of the Tioga River directly across from the back of the school. “My wife saw the flames and woke me up. At first I thought she was telling me that our house was on fire. Then, I realized she was saying the school was on fire." Rotella looked out the window to see flames roiling through one of the first floor classrooms located at the rear of the building. He immediately dialed 911.
Said Fire Chief Jim Welch, “When I arrived at the school, I noted heavy smoke coming from the building's ventilation grates and eaves. Only when I went around to the back of the building could I see flames. One entire classroom on the first floor was involved. I radioed the communications center and asked them to dispatch more departments."
In addition to Mansfield, two other fire departments had been immediately dispatched - Wellsboro and Blossburg. The communications center then dispatched Tioga and Lawrenceville. In addition, five other fire departments were dispatched to stand by in case another fire was called in while the Miller Elementary School fire was in progress.
“Everything at the school was locked so we had to break the glass doors in the front of the building to get inside. We made an aggressive attack on the first floor fire.” Welch said, “Classroom #4 on the first floor was fully involved. The fire had already spread to the classroom right above it. The heavy smoke and heat conditions inside the structure made it difficult. We essentially contained the fire to four rooms - two classrooms - and two small rooms, one on the first floor and one on the second floor, which each housed the small elevator and provided storage. The fire was contained to those areas but there was heavy smoke damage throughout the building. It was an amazing amount of smoke."
He continued, “The fire was declared under control about two hours after firefighters arrived on the scene but they stayed there until 4:30 a.m." Between 4:30 and 8 a.m., several fire chiefs, maintained a fire watch, staying at the school to make sure there wasn't any smoldering debris.
“There were only two classrooms affected by the fire – the one on the first floor and the one directly above it on the second floor. Due to the significant structural damage done to that area of the building, the eight classrooms and music room located in the wing involved in the fire will remain closed. The school is a steel bar truss construction - typical of the type of construction done in the 1960's. The first floor ceiling serves as the second floor. The steel joists in the immediate area, and surrounding area of the fire received so much heat damage that they warped into a downward arch. That end of the building needs to be made structurally sound before students and staff are allowed back into that section. The other parts of the school building have to be cleaned up because of the smoke and soot…”
Welch noted that the school did not have smoke detectors, a sprinkler system, an automatic fire alarm system or fire doors. "They have pull box alarms but someone has to be there to work them. And, of course at that time in the morning no one was there to get off the alarm. The firefighters who responded made an exceptional stop to save that building. But even so, the damage was extensive."
Welch continued, "My understanding is that they may be able to re-open the Miller School next week." Southern Tioga School District Director of Human Resources Penny Crowell would neither confirm nor deny whether the district will be able to re-open Miller next week for classes. She said, "We have several options that we are discussing but no decision has been made." She went on to say that Superintendent Joe Kalata is hoping to make a decision about where Miller students will be attending school and when they will be returning to school and announcing those plans at the Miller Elementary School parents meeting being held at 7 p.m. this Thursday, April 19, at Straughn Auditorium on the Mansfield University campus. Mr. Kalata is expecting to make the decision tomorrow morning (April 19) as to when we will bring students back to school and where."
In a separate press release, issued by State Fire Marshall Norm Fedder who is stationed at the Pennsylvania State Police Barracks at Milton, Fedder declares that $1 million in damage has been done to the school, “The fire is believed to have originated in or around a portable CD/radio player and an extension cord. Due to multiple items within the area that could have caused this fire, this fire is being listed as undetermined in origin."
Immediately on Friday, April 13, Superintendent Joe Kalata, Business Manager Jim Rakoski, Principal Doris Sargent and Assistant Principal Sam Rotella, with the assistance of many other district personnel began working to see what could be done. Also involved right away was Quad Three Group of Wilkes-Barre, the architectural/engineering firm that has been working closely with the district on the $10 million renovation project at the Warren L. Miller Elementary School.
Crowell said that the first thing Friday morning, April 13, the district was contacted by Mansfield University and offered the use of the university's facilities. She noted that the district had an administrative council meeting that same morning and that the decision at that time was to plan on having school at Mansfield University for the rest of the school year. In a separate press release it is stated, "Mansfield University is working with officials from the Warren L. Miller Elementary School and Southern Tioga School District to determine what university resources can be used to assist the district in light of this morning's fire. President Maravene Loeschke said that the University is ready to help and is making preparations to respond to space and other needs."
Sargent and Rotella met with Mansfield University's Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs Michael Renner who gave them a tour of the campus and discussed the logistics of moving the Miller classes to the campus by Monday, April 23, where it was anticipated they would remain the rest of the year. Mansfield University's graduation ceremonies are set for Saturday, May 12, so, even if Miller students are moved to the campus to attend classes, it should not create any problems. The college and elementary school students would only be attending classes together on campus for about three weeks.
Kalata said the Miller teachers were going to meet at Straughn Auditorium on Monday, April 16, but that meeting was rescheduled to today, Wednesday April 18, due to Monday's snowstorm. The purpose of the meeting, according to Kala
