Century-old stone library destroyed by blaze
The Associated Press
TARRYTOWN, N.Y. - A raging fire apparently ignited by a lightning strike Saturday destroyed a century-old stone library and damaged a half-dozen classrooms at a prestigious prep school once attended by Malcolm Forbes and Keith Olbermann, authorities said.
The blaze at the Hackley School, which opened in suburban Westchester County in 1899 and sends many students to Ivy League universities, caused more than $1 million in damage, said school headmaster Walter Johnson. The flames started on the library’s roof around 4:15 a.m. during a violent thunderstorm, said Tarrytown police Officer Jose Ojito.
Despite the gutting of the Kaskel Library and the adjoining classrooms in Goodhue Hall, school will open as scheduled on Sept. 4, Johnson said. He credited the quick response by scores of firefighters from 21 departments around the Tarrytown school with saving more campus buildings from destruction.
Only one other building was affected, suffering some broken windows and other cosmetic damage, he said.
A member of the school’s buildings and grounds crew spotted the burning library during his rounds and called for help, Johnson said. There were no injuries reported in the blaze, which left fire equipment and firefighters scattered about the lawn of the smoky campus.
The Kaskel Library was one of the first buildings constructed at Hackley, opening during the 1902-03 school year. The library lost its entire collection of over 30,000 items, including books, periodicals, videos, CDs and audiobooks, Johnson said.
The school headmaster said the decades-old stone walls of the library withstood the blaze, and new construction will use the old framework in creating a replacement facility.
“It’s a great old building,” he said.
The exclusive school, located about 30 minutes north of Manhattan, educates students from kindergarten through high school. Among the institution’s better-known students over the years are television newscaster Olbermann, actor George Hamilton, journalist Joe Klein and the late billionaire Forbes.
The leafy campus, founded on property once owned by widowed philanthropist Francis Brewster, was featured in the 1990 Harrison Ford legal thriller “Presumed Innocent.” The Hackley School is a member of the prestigious Ivy Preparatory School League.