Jamestown dodged a tragedy of epic proportions in May of 1917, at least according to the out-of-town newspaper reports.
The Fargo Forum and Daily Republican carried the story, although it was relegated to page 3 and did not receive a large print headline.
The incident occurred in the Jamestown junior high school building and had to be quite frightening.
“An iron support commenced slowly tearing its way through the flooring in a classroom on the first floor,” wrote The Fargo Forum. “Causing a tremor throughout the entire structure and allowing the floor of the classroom above to sag a depth of three and one-half inches.”
The reporter from the Forum seemed to be envisioning the collapse of the entire building into a heap of rubble, wiping out a couple of years’ worth of Jamestown scholars.
“What might have resulted in a tragedy unequaled in the history of Jamestown was narrowly averted,” the article said.
The article credits one of the teachers that day with dismissing classes and escorting the students from the building in an orderly manner. It did get the kids out of class early on a spring day with a great story to tell their parents and friends.
Another teacher, this one a “manual training instructor,” went to the basement and placed a brace under the sagging beam.
I’ll point out that this building was built in the 1870s and was probably one of the original school buildings in Jamestown and has long since been replaced.
While the Fargo paper played up the near-disaster of the incident, the Jamestown Alert did not feel it was important enough to include in its weekly edition.
The Alert did have an education story about physical training in the public schools. The presentation suggested the school district hire a “paid physical director” to lead programs that included wise exercise, fresh air and rest.
“Among the advantages of this training, aside from the physical development, sociability and quick-mindedness,” wrote the Alert, “the public should be carefully examined and, having weakness, should have special exercises prescribed to remedy.”
Topics like shaking school buildings and teaching physical education in the schools took a back seat to coverage of The Great War in Europe.
Front-page coverage included the United States’ preparation for a military draft as it prepared to enter the war. Other articles included the success of German submarines sinking American shipping bringing supplies to Europe.
It would seem that the weight of the world carried more importance than a sagging beam in a Jamestown school building.
Author Keith Norman can be reached at