About 1:30 a.m. early Christmas morning in 1947, alarms blared out at Muncie’s downtown fire station No. 1 and at south-side stations no. 2 in Heekin, No. 3 in Avondale and no. 4 on the city’s southeast side.
Despite the early hour, dozens of Munsonians in Industry and South Central had spotted and reported a massive fire at Garfield Elementary. The school was located on the southeast corner of Madison and 9th streets in Heekin Park.
About 50 of the city’s firefighters braved cold, snowy weather to fight the blaze. The Muncie Star reported that the MFD poured thousands of gallons of water on the school for over 2.5 hours in an effort to save it. By 4:30 a.m., the fire was out.
On account of the holiday and the hour, no one was in the building at the time. The inferno was concentrated in the school’s center, engulfing the belfry and clock tower, auditorium, main hall and attic. The Press mournfully concluded that Garfield’s “649 students awoke today to the realization that, besides toys and dolls and Christmas trees, a grimmer Santa Claus had sent them an extra dispensation.”
Despite the damage, most of Garfield School remained intact. The fire fortunately didn’t reach the north and south classroom wings. But in the center, the Evening Press reported that the floors on the east side had “caved in from the basement to the third floor ceiling, leaving a welter of debris.”
At the time of the fire in 1947, the old 1880 Muncie (Central) High School clock and bell were in Garfield’s tower. They had been relocated to the elementary after the original Muncie Central building at High and Adams was demolished in 1913.
Local lore claims the bell crashed into the basement during the 1947 fire and remained miraculously undamaged. But this isn’t true. According to the Press in ‘47, though wrecked, Garfield’s belfry “containing bells moved from Muncie’s first (high school), remained overhead.” This bell still exists and is now located in the Field House.
State and local fire investigators later discovered that faulty insulation near one of the furnaces had caused the conflagration. The damage was estimated at $300,000, about $4.2 million today. Inspectors also determined that the building was structurally sound, concluding that 14 classrooms in the north and south wings were fit to open.
Muncie Schools’ Superintendent Roscoe Shaffer, Garfield School board President Walter Haymond, and the elementary’s Principal Arley Johnson had a dilemma. The building was already overpopulated, mirroring conditions at nearby Wilson, Blaine, Roosevelt, Harrison and Lincoln schools. There wasn’t really room elsewhere to accommodate additional students, nor their teachers.
Garfield’s 348-member Parent Teacher Association was outraged after the fire. Parents had complained for years about overcrowded conditions at Garfield and other south-side schools. Muncie’s population had grown slowly during the 1930s but picked up during the war years because of manufacturing jobs and annexation. This created a slow-growing strain on Muncie’s school system. There wasn’t much money to build or renovate schools during the Great Depression and World War II.
As a result, school overcrowding became a serious problem in the late 1940s and a downright crisis in the ‘50s when Muncie’s Boomers began entering elementary schools across the city.
In January of ‘48, after the fire, Garfield’s PTA also publicly doubted investigators’ claims that the building was structurally sound. They hired their own inspector, Clyde Morris, an engineer and former department chair at the Ohio State University to conduct an independent investigation.
Morris came to the same conclusion as state and local inspectors. Despite the damage, Garfield’s wings were “structurally sound and absolutely safe,” the Star quoted Morris. Parents’ fears assuaged, school resumed in late January. The center part of the building and the tower were sectioned off and restored within a year.
A major addition was added around the east side of the original building in 1950. A tunnel connected the new wing and old school, while a courtyard stood in the middle. Garfield’s districts changed in postwar decades but generally served kids living in South Central, Avondale, Industry, Congerville, Fair Lawn and Arcadia neighborhoods. The students’ mascot was a Bulldog. Unlike most post-war elementaries in Muncie, Garfield’s student body was racially diverse.
The old school was built in 1901 for $40,000 (about $1.5 million today). The original structure had 16 rooms, an auditorium and “more floor space than any other school building in Muncie,” the Star wrote.
When it opened in mid-November 1901, the paper reported that 523 students were “enrolled in the various grades, and the accommodations are not yet crowded.” Garfield’s first pupils transferred in from nearby Harrison, Lincoln, Jackson and Blaine schools.
The old building was demolished in 1976 during a second major remodel. A larger single-story structure was built in its place. The new Garfield had 55,000 square feet of space, 16 classrooms and a media center. The school could accommodate up to 700 elementary students.
Garfield eventually closed in 2009, though the 1950 and 1977 buildings still stand. Its closing was sad for thousands of former students, as several generations of Munsonians had attended the school.
It’s perhaps comforting to know that Garfield’s history is well preserved in local newspaper records. I found 3,149 references to “Garfield Elementary” from 1929-2023 and 18,102 references of “Garfield School” between 1900 and 2024. The legacy of its teachers and students are well recorded.
To all readers of ByGone Muncie, happy holidays! I’m especially grateful this season for all first responders working this season. Your sacrifices aren’t forgotten.
Chris Flook is a Delaware County Historical Society historian and senior lecturer of media at Ball State University.
This article originally appeared on Muncie Star Press: ByGone Muncie: 1947’s Christmas fire at Garfield Elementary