Fire Containment Makes Rebirth of Hotel Possible
Photo by Sid Miller, Waynesboro Record Herald
Pennsylvania fire fighters from Waynesboro, Greencastle, Hagerstown, Chambersburg, Mont Alto and Fayetteville contained the fire in the 88-year-old Anthony Wayne Hotel on the bitter cold night of December 3, 1976. As the result of an article in the February 1977 issue of Fire Engineering, letters were received from places as far distant as Montreal, Canada, and Glendale, Calif., all with favorable comments.
Slightly more than two years after the fire, the Anthony Wayne Hotel has again opened for business. This was accomplished through the efforts of two determined businessmen. In March 1978, John Bolan and Walter Stouffer purchased the damaged building and set the wheels in motion to restore the hotel to its place in Waynesboro heritage. Initially, the exterior of the building was sandblasted and all woodwork painted. The opening date was .set for May 1, 1978, but due to delay by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry in reviewing renovation plans, the hotel did not reopen until last Feb. 5.
Bolan stated in a news article on April 15, 1978, that the building was in good shape despite the fire, which was traced to a fourth-floor fuse box. He said that “at the time of the fire, a lot of people from Waynesboro wrote the building off, but actually there wasn’t that much damage.” He further stated that “most of the damage was confined to the front part of the fourth floor back to the fire partition.” The building is divided into three parts by two fire partitions which kept the 1976 fire from spreading. It was necessary to remove only the damaged port ion of the fourth floor.
Early in 1978, the new owners were notified by the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry that the building would have to be sprinklered. This resulted in an additional delay because, according to Bolan and Stouffer, “sprinklers would have to be installed in every room, closet, hallway, bathroom, the cockloft and the cellar before the state would permit use of the hotel’s third floor for rooms and apartments.
A contract was awarded and the entire building was sprinklered from top to bottom at a cost of approximately $50,000. Emergency lighting and fire alarm systems were installed, and much of the electrical system was renewed. Plans have been formulated to have the local fire alarm and sprinkler system alarm transmitted directly to the Waynesboro Fire Department.
In November 1978, delays again held up opening the hotel because the required metal fire doors had not been received. Before the hotel was permitted to open, the building had to be inspected and approved by the Department of Labor and Industry, the Department of Environmental Resources, and the Liquor Control Board.
Finally, 25 months after the fire and an investment of $300,000, the 90year-old Waynesboro landmark reopened. Tenants began moving into the hotel’s 11 three-room apartments and 25 hotel rooms.
