The 1956 Marple-Newtown High School Fire

History Spotlight by Doug Humes

Photos courtesy of the Marple Historical Society

On April 9, 1956, just past Noon, the Marple-Newtown High School custodian, George Earle, was eating lunch in a basement room. He smelled smoke, opened the door to an adjacent storage room, and found it in flames. At the same time, teacher Anne Campbell saw smoke and instructed her class to leave the building. The fire alarm sounded. A contemporary news article noted that 750 pupils and 38 teachers filed out in two minutes, in orderly fashion.

The original 1914 school building

The fire alarm was supposed to alert the nearby fire companies, but someone noticed that the phone wires from the building had burned. Two students jumped in their cars and raced to the Newtown and Marple firehouses, to give the alarm.

When teacher Harry Harvey ran to his room to get records and money from a safe, he found himself trapped by the fire. Several students grabbed a nearby ladder and put it up to Harry’s room window, and he climbed down.

Students and teachers worked together to try to rescue records, musical instruments and furniture from the building. Eric McGillicuddy, great grandson of Hall of Fame Philadelphia Athletics' Manager Connie Mack, was hit in the arm by a chair, and was taken to the hospital for treatment.

Firemen responding to the fire at the high school

The firemen who responded from 13 local fire companies sprayed water on the fire, and several suffered smoke inhalation, including Marple Chief Newt Kerber. At 3:05pm, Newtown Chief George Mackey declared the fire under control.

The fire destroyed the original 1914 portion of the building, causing $500,000 worth of damage. The silver lining? The million dollar addition then under construction, largely escaped damage. Classes were suspended that week while the school board met to devise a plan for getting students back to the classroom. (At that time, the high school included students in grades 7-12.)

Cleaning up the debris from the fire

The Haverford Junior High building had been recently closed for renovations. Haverford offered that building for use, so students in grades 8-10 temporarily went there. Students in grades 11 and 12 were relocated to the incomplete new addition while work continued all around them. And 7th-grade students were split up: Some attended classes at Garrett Williamson Lodge, others at the Marple grade school.

Aerial photo of new MNHS campus in 1960

Photo courtesy of MNHS 1960 Yearbook

In the fall of 1956, the 10th-12th grade students had classes every morning in the old high school’s intact portion, and 8th- and 9th-graders had classes there afternoons 12:00-4:15pm. Double sessions continued that way until January 1958, when the new high school (grades 10-12) opened and the renovated old building became the new junior high (grades 7-9).

For more on the history of Newtown Square, Delaware County, and membership information, please visit our website: www.NSHistory.org.

YOUTH ART EXHIBIT

Saturdays in April 11am--4pm

Artwork by Local Youth Will Be on Display at The Square Tavern (Rte 252 & Goshen Rd)

For details, email Info@NSHistory.org

Sponsored by Newtown Square Historical Society