(p4)    first Thursday, night in November. The fire was thought to have been caused by spontaneous combustion in the coal bin in the northeast corner of the basement or by electricity from lightning from an early evening storm. Glenda, who had remained in Matthews because of a family illness, telephoned Mr. Conrad who contacted Mr. Powell at the meeting in the St. Louis Municipal Auditorium. A faculty meeting was called for 8 am Saturday morning and Mr. Powell announced that school would open as usual on Monday morning and faculty would be working all day Saturday and Sunday in making the necessary preparations. Since the athletic program would have to have the use of the gymnasium, the high school classes had to be kept on the campus. On Monday morning, students assembled in the gymnasium as they arrived at school. The drivers whose routes served the abandoned rural schools at Pharris Ridge, Crowe, and White Oak, would build fires in the building stoves on their out-bound trips so the buildings would be warm when they returned with the children. The gym would serve as a terminal. When all students had arrived, the respective elementary teachers took the second grad to the Matthews Baptist Church, the 4th grade to Pharris Ridge School, the. 5th grade to Crowe School, and the 6th grade to White Oak. School. The primary and third grades remained in their rooms in the Elementary Building. The vacated rooms would be the home rooms for the high school classes. The elementary grades assigned to the rural schools lost about 50% of
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