Lone Oak High School
Class of 1972 Collection
Class of 1972 Collection
1972 LOHS Fire
Taking a page out of history... no, really, someday this page will be part of the History section. But in the meantime, we will include it in the Class of 72, with a cross link in the Class of 73.
The pictures and memories presented below are compliments of David C LeDoux '72. David found these slide images in old archives, and was kind enough to scan and share for all to see. Taken during visits home from college after graduation, David chronicled the demolition and reconstruction process from May of 72 through August of 73. In his own words:
I took these photos between May 26, 1972 and August 26, 1973. They capture the demolition and some of the rebuilding of
Lone Oak High School, necessitated by the fire in February of 1972. Notes are included on the photos, hopefully accurate after 47
years. Note that the photos are in 14 different groups. The photos in each group were taken on the same date, which is
included in the image filename.
The fire heavily damaged the central section (including the main entrance) of the original building, built in 1927. This
damaged section was demolished, along with the entire north end (the original auditorium which had been subsequently divided
into classrooms), and a new expanded north end was constructed. The central section of the building was also expanded toward
the gym to fill the space between the two gym walkways (see below). In the photo notes, I refer to the original building as
the "old building" or simply "the building".
Before the fire, there were two covered walkways between the old building and the gym. The southern-most walkway ran across
the front of the gym; I call this the "front gym walkway". The other walkway connected the center of the old building to another
gym entrance near the north end of the gym. This walkway was the one most often used by the students to attend pep rallies and
assembly programs; I call it the "north gym walkway". This walkway was fully enclosed as part of the new construction that occurred
in the area between the two walkways.
Also in the picture notes, I refer to the building with vertical white stripes as the "band building" since it housed the band
room and other classrooms. Neither the gym nor the band building was damaged by the fire.