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• 1 2025-12-15T18:37:25+00:00 Fires on Campus 3 Bicentennial celebration - details about fires on campus plain 2025-12-15T19:01:19+00:00 Throughout its long history, CWRU has faced its share of disasters. Among the more notable are two fires which destroyed campus buildings over 100 years apart: the Case Main building in 1886, and Adelbert Hall in 1991.
  
  
  Case School of Applied Science was originally located in downtown Cleveland, occupying the Case family homestead. The school moved to University Circle in 1885 when the Main building was partially completed. In the early morning hours of October 27, 1886, fire was discovered by a passerby who then ran to the closest fire station. Fire consumed the building leaving only the outer walls and the interior brick partitions. For the school, there was a heavy loss of books, curricular material, apparatus and equipment. Students lost drawing instruments and a number of books. According to the local Cleveland paper, The News and Herald, Henry G. Abbey, secretary of the board of trustees, estimated the total loss at $165,000. The cause of the fire was undetermined, but some blamed the Chemistry Department.
  
  
  On October 27, the same day the fire destroyed Case Main, the trustees of Adelbert College met to “consider what could be done to express sympathy and give aid to Case School of Applied Science.” Ultimately, the faculty and trustees of Adelbert College offered the temporary use of their own facilities, namely Adelbert Main and Pierce Hall (a dormitory). The following day, President Staley penned a letter thanking them and accepting their help.
  
  
  In 1888, a rebuilt Case Main building was completed and the faculty, staff, and students moved back.
  
  
  In 1991, Adelbert Main, by then called Adelbert Hall, housed central administrative offices of the university including the president, provost, vice presidents, and controller. The building had been in continuous use since 1882 when Western Reserve College moved from Hudson to Cleveland. (After the move the college was renamed Adelbert College of Western Reserve University.)
  
  
  On June 23, a fire alarm was tripped twice before the fire was located and the Cleveland Fire Department was called at 1:57 pm. The firefighters arrived five minutes later and first tried to fight the blaze from inside the building. When the roof collapsed, they evacuated and continued the struggle from outside, ultimately declaring the fire under control at 3:43 pm. Sixty firefighters and 10 trucks from 3 battalions fought the fire. The cause was undetermined but a problem in electrical wiring in the attic was thought to be the source of the fire.
  
  
  Salvage began the next day, after the Fire Department allowed entry to the building. Staff working on the direct salvage of materials from the building included staff from Plant Services, University Archives, University Libraries Preservation Department, Administrative Information Services and Development Information Services, and University Movers. Personnel from the twenty displaced offices were on hand to help identify records, computers, equipment, and belongings. Wet paper records were first frozen and then underwent a vacuum freeze-drying process to remove the water. Paper records that were not wet were deodorized to remove the smell of smoke. Many paintings were restored by several art conservators or recreated. More than 130 personal computers were retrieved from  Adelbert. Most information was recovered by backing up the hard drives to tape. The total loss from the fire was estimated at $10-$15 million.
  
  
  President Pytte was resolved to rebuild Adelbert, "We are definitely rebuilding. All the evidence we have is that we can do that, and we want to keep the exterior stone walls. They're historic." Some changes were made to Adelbert in its reconstruction including a different tower, redesigned central hall and staircase, an expanded skylight, central air conditioning, wiring for CWRUnet, a modern elevator, and 9 new conference rooms. Some offices, like the Controller, never returned to Adelbert. Other offices, such as Student Affairs, were added as new tenants. The process took two years at a cost of $12.4 million. 
  
  [photo of Adelbert post-reconstruction?]
  
  Sources
  For more information about disasters on campus, see the CWRU Archives Sources page. More information about the campus buildings referenced in this post can also be found in the Buildings and Grounds section of this Scalar site.