Area 40 Structure Fire 1/03/1921       "The fire that destroyed the old Capitol on Jan. 3, 1921, broke out in the middle of the afternoon. Within a few minutes after the fire was discovered it could readily be seen that it was beyond control and that the historical old building was doomed. "I was outside the building at the time the fire started. I ran hurriedly to the elevator that served the fourth floor. I was the first person to actually reach the fire area. "The blaze was then racing along the south walls, jumping from one exposed timber to another. The fire hose was taken from its rack and spread to a point where the main blaze could be reached. But on the turning on the water, there was a squirt from every bend from old-age breaks. The hose had not been tested for years. The fire started in a room that had been used by the National Guard and State Police mostly for the storage of tents -- old clothing, bedding and other items used in their annual encampments. But also stored in that room was 50,000 rounds of machine gun and rifle ammunition that exploded, scattering the bullets, thus adding to the peril." Eyewitness account and photo from Boyd Stutler, West Virginia Archives