Remembering the 1924 Old Sem fire

By Dee Ann Rexroat | November 1, 2024

Early on Saturday morning, Feb. 16, 1924, an alarm summoned a rush of students and townspeople to the center of the Hilltop, where they found a fire taking over Old Sem.

As the crowd and a volunteer fire crew worked, chemicals exploded, a brisk wind whipped the flames, the town’s water pressure failed, and the fire reached the fourth floor, made entirely of wood. 

Within six hours the building was gutted, leaving only four brick walls. 

The blaze in the college’s original building, then known as Science Hall, left the departments of chemistry, biology, physics, home economics, and art homeless. 

Even as the fire burned, the faculty met. By Monday morning locations for all the classes were found “and not a single session was lost,” according to The Cornellian. The faculty issued a formal thank you to the students and others who helped fight the fire and save enough equipment and materials to allow classes to continue. 

Despite appearances, President Updegraff and Trustees reported that “the walls of the building are in first-class condition, and might be used if desired.” After considering tearing it down and building a larger building, Old Sem was reconstructed. 

The Cornellian described the scene artfully: “All that is left of the old building, erected in 1853, around which many of the happiest traditions of the college cluster, is four empty walls, sadly and strangely beautiful with ice-covered ivy still clinging to them.”

  • A view from the King Chapel tower of Old Sem after it was gutted by the 1924 fire.

    A view from the King Chapel tower of Old Sem after it was gutted by the 1924 fire.

  • Flames and smoke burst from Old Sem during the 1924 fire that gutted the 1853 building.

    Flames and smoke burst from Old Sem during the 1924 fire that gutted the 1853 building.

  • The front page Cornellian newspaper coverage immediately following the 1924 Old Sem fire.

    The Cornellian newspaper coverage immediately following the 1924 Old Sem fire.

  • Old Sem, with damaged materials on the ground to its east, after the 1924 fire. King Chapel stands in the background.

    Old Sem, with damaged materials on the ground to its east, after the 1924 fire.

  • Beakers and other damaged chemistry equipment following the 1924 Old Sem fire.

    Damaged chemistry equipment following the 1924 Old Sem fire.

  • Flames engulf the fourth floor of Old Sem in 1924.

    Flames engulf the fourth floor of Old Sem in 1924. That floor, added later, was never replaced.

  • The Cornellian described the ice-covered ivy clinging to Old Sem as

    The Cornellian described the ice-covered ivy clinging to Old Sem as "sadly and strangely beautiful."