In February or March of 1935, Ila wrote her parents to tell them about the big excitement . . . a fire on the 6th floor of Hinch Hall where she lived. If you look closely at the postcard image below you can see her notation for the location of her room between two columns, and the nursing student classrooms in the lower level.
Hinch Hall Nurses’ Residence, 1935
The Letter
Hinch Hall
Sunday P.M.
Dearest Folks:
. . . I suppose you’ve heard about the fire by now. It was quite a bit of excitement and I was in on all of it.
The Fire
I was off [work] and was trying to sleep. At first when I heard the girls hollering, I got mad and couldn’t imagine what in the world was wrong, and then I heard them say, “call the operator!” so I jumped up and ran up stairs.
The smoke was so thick you could hardly breath. One little old probie had the fire hose trying to do her best, but the smoke about laid her out, so I grabbed the hose and in a second the engineers and wall washers1 got there and I got out!
And then in a few minutes here came the fire works — and the engineers and wall washers turned it over to them!
When the fire was out, and all the water mopped up, and the place pretty well cleaned up, the fire chief herded his men out and just as they left, he hollered, “Well, folks, the fire wasn’t so bad to get out, but I had a hell-of-a-time getting all my men out of that girls’ dormitory.”
When the reporter came up, to take the pictures, Miss Froehlke2 fairly fumed. She sent him right out of Hinch Hall just as fast as he came in, and he wasn’t takin’ his time getting up here.
So Mr. Dent, the assistant superintendent, saw a chance for some fun, so he sent the poor guy in to see Dean Wahl and he got permission from Dean Wahl [to take photos], sooooo, Miss Froehlke couldn’t do a thing about it.
Was she burned up!
We had a lot of fun out of it anyway.
1Wall washer = custodian
2Henrietta Froehlke was the Superintendent of Nurses for the Department of Nursing. Men were not allowed in the nurses’ residence, other than University employees and then only for specific work-related tasks. Miss Froehlke was incensed by the comment of the fire chief, the attempt by a male reporter to enter the residence, and Dean Wahl’s permission for the reporter to not only enter but take photos, too.
Hi Cindy! I have been remiss in not writing to you until now.
I haven’t finished reading/listening to everything on your wonderful website but did download your book a couple of weeks ago. I didn’t put it down until I finished it. So so very interesting, everything! The details make the story. It gives me such a flavor of her daily life as a nursing student. I especially noted, in your blog, the washing the newborn with olive oil. Huh–who knew!
Congrats on a job well done, a labor-of-love achievement, and a great addition to the history of Lincoln, Ks. I still plan to attend the book signing, whenever that takes place!
LaDonna, I’m thrilled by your comments, especially that you said you “didn’t put it down until” you finished it. Honestly, there isn’t a greater tribute to a new author than that and I can’t thank you enough. I really appreciate your comment about the details, too. Given how long ago all this happened, I figured that if I didn’t provide the historical background, the story would be flat. I know it sounds strange, but doing the research, learning all the bits of pieces of history was the most enjoyable part of the whole thing. As for a book signing, Lincoln is my choice for the first place to do one, but who knows when that will be? I just keep my fingers crossed and try to stay positive, like everyone else, that 2021 will be a much better year for everyone!