Shortly before 11:00 p.m. on Friday, May 8, 1970, Donald Banks of the University Police Department was making his rounds when he noticed smoke billowing from Old Main. He quickly turned in the alarm, but by the time fire fighters arrived, the blaze was completely out of control. Massive sheets of bright orange flame illuminated the spring night sky, and withering heat singed surrounding trees. Initial efforts to quell the conflagration failed due to a "dead end" water line-an outlet located at the end of the water main-which restricted adequate water volume and pressure. "We had to push water over here from West Laurel Street," For Collins Fire Chief Ed Yonker later noted. "Without water there was no way we could get it stopped."
The fire began in the basement, not far from where George Glover had resided as a student janitor in 1880, and swiftly consumed everything in its path. Within a few hours, countless remnants of the institution's past had totally disappeared. Gone was the Board Room, where President Elijah E. Edwards and the State Board of Agriculture painstakingly discussed the first courses of study, agriculture experiments, and farmers' institutes. Gone was the gymnasium which accommodated the girls championship basketball team of 1903 and early social events, such as the Junior Prom. Gone was the auditorium where for many years the entire College gathered for daily assemblies and whose stage was graced by William Jennings Bryan, Billy Sunday, John Phillip Sousa, and R. J. Wattles' Drama Club. Gone was Room 301 where Willard Eddy exposed hundreds of students to provocative issues of humanistic learning. Gone were the traces of myriad footsteps, worn into the stairs or covered by paint, imprinted by people who contributed immeasurably to the institution's growth-people such as Charles Ingersoll, Louis Carpenter, Eliza Routt, S. Arthur Johnson, Charles Shepardson, Margaret Durward, and Charles A. Lory.
The burning of Old Main had been a deliberate act, committed by a demented and anonymous arsonist. It was the ultimate gesture of violence in a year marked by unremitting tension and social upheaval. The problems confronted by A. R. Chamberlain before he became president could be readily influenced by rational calculation. As coordinator for engineering research he submitted suitable projects to receptive granting agencies and applied experimental work. As vice president for administration he worked to identify departments throughout the institution possessing the potential to attract outside funding and did what he could to stimulate this potential. As executive vice president and treasurer he methodically extricated the University from its auditing crisis by bringing in outside experts and then diligently following their recommendations. The turmoil surrounding campus unrest often defied logical analysis, however. Although careful observation of developments at other universities permitted some knowledge of what might be anticipated, the extreme emotionalism that often characterized the behavior of student activists created a climate that at times overwhelmed careful planning.
On April 30, 1970, President Nixon disclosed a temporary American-South Vietnamese invasion of Cambodia to destroy communist bases. Although justified as a necessary step for shortening the war, the President's policy ignited a massive outpouring of disapproval. Instantly, the anti-war movement awoke from its dormant state, and college campuses throughout the United States reverberated with moral outrage. At some schools, such as Kent State University where four students were killed and nine wounded by national guardsmen in the wake of anti-war rioting, militancy manifested itself in ugly violence.
Colorado State University activists responded to these developments quickly with a moratorium. On May 7 and 8 University routine was altered by a student strike which received strong support from the faculty. A rally was held in the Student Center Plaza, and a group of more than 2,000 persons marched to the Fort Collins City Hall to elicit anti-war support from local officials. In addition, many regularly scheduled classes were either boycotted or devoted to discussions of war related issues. On the evening of May 8 the College Avenue Gymnasium was given over to a special moratorium concert. These activities remained singularly free of violence until Friday evening, when, with the concert in progress, one or more arsonists put the torch to Old Main and unsuccessfully attempted to burn down the R.O.T.C. Firing Range Building as well.
Excerpts taken from:
Hansen II, James E. Democracy's College in the Centennial State: A History of Colorado State University. Fort Collins : Colorado State University, 1977.