Henry Raymond
Fairfax News => Current News & Events => Topic started by: MikeF9 on January 06, 2016, 12:56:18 PM
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I made a mistake on the date of the Remembrance. It is the 17th, not the 27th.
It was a bitter cold Friday evening, January 17, 1941. People were gathered at the Town Hall, also called the Amuse-U Theater, and eventually referred to as The Old Grange Hall, for a pair of BFA-Fairfax High School basketball games. The girls team was playing Highgate with the Boys team to play Milton afterwards.
Partway through the 3rd quarter of the girls game, the building shook. People thought they heard an explosion. Suddenly someone came running in from outside, hollering, "The school's on fire!"
The game was halted and people gathered at the school to witness the unthinkable. Bellows Free Academy was being gutted by fire.
On Sunday January 17, 2016 at 7pm, the Fairfax Historical Society will mark the 75th anniversary of that night by gathering in the Old Gym, aka the Middle School Gym, to remember that night. If you have any stories of the fire or remembrances of that night, we invite you to come and share. If you are new to Fairfax and want to learn about an historical moment in the town's history, please attend!