BY: Cheryl Mattix, Cecil Whig (click for full story)

“PORT DEPOSIT — Bainbridge Development Corporation Chairman Michael R. Pugh said his board expects to see a final report on the damages and recommendations for the future of Memorial Hall in January or February.

Pugh called the Sept. 21 blaze that gutted the three-story historical building a “tragedy” during a BDC meeting on Monday night.

“It has complicated an already complicated issue,” Pugh said.

BDC members and Executive Director Donna Tapley were kept off the grounds until the Maryland State Fire Marshall’s Office completed their investigation in October, in which they ruled the fire an arson.

“The fire investigation delayed the assessment process for the BDC,” Pugh said, “But some progress has been made.”

One question they are trying to answer is whether the remaining building is salvageable, Pugh said.

A structural assessment of Memorial Hall has been completed, but Tapley still has to meet with the Maryland Historical Trust to determine short-term recommendations and they will need cost estimates.

“The cupola is gone, the roof collapsed, masonry walls are damaged and braced now and will get worse without some stop-gap measures,” Tapley said.

A draft report determined the building is at-risk by any unauthorized entrance and those who enter could be subject to injuries. The report recommends closing the building off.

Tapley said the entire 1,200 acre site has been fenced off for years, but people continue to get in without authorization.

“We plan to reveal all the findings and recommended next steps as soon as we get the final report,” Tapley said on Monday night.

Meanwhile, the turtle pace of the BDC’s negotiations with the U.S. Navy over the cleanup costs of current soil contamination found at Bainbridge in 2008 may be reaching a turning point in the next three months.

The Navy signed a deed of trust transferring the 1,200 acres to the BDC in February of 2000, deeming it suitable for transfer without development restrictions.

“We remain open to find another way to solve our problems,” Pugh said, indicating the BDC and the Navy are in the middle of a process right now that may yield some results in the first quarter of 2015.

“We expect a resolution of value of the site and damage to it,” he said, adding, “Then we’ll decide what direction to go,” leaving the door open to future litigation with the Navy.

In other business, by acclamation, the board re-elected Pugh to serve as chairman, Lisa Webb as vice chairman, Raymond “Chick” Hamm as treasurer and Cynthia Rossetti as assistant secretary.

Erin Maloney, a federal lobbyist who lives in Harford County, attended the BDC meeting Monday night. She suggested the BDC might be eligible for an EPA exemption because the property was once owned by the federal government.

“It could help you negotiate for a state exemption,” Maloney said.

Pugh said there remain other concerns.

“Even though this could be a loop hole, we also have the issue of public health concerns,” Pugh said.

In response, Maloney said: “I still think there is a possibility.”

BY: Carl Hamilton

Cecil Whig

PORT DEPOSIT — The Bainbridge Development Corporation is offering a reward of up to $10,000 in hopes of identifying and charging the person or people responsible for torching the vacant Tome School Memorial Hall in September, according to officials.

The early-morning blaze on Sept. 21 gutted the three-story building, which, with its clock tower and other ornate features, served as a landmark on that Bainbridge property.

People with tips can make them anonymously through the Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms Agency (ATF) arson hotline at 1-888-ATF-FIRE, according to Toni Lozzi, the BDC’s project coordinator.

Lozzi reported that there is a “quick turnaround” when people with information call the ATF arson hotline.

“Someone is manning that line 24 hours a day. It goes directly to someone; you’re not just leaving a message. It’s all confidential,” Lozzi said Monday morning, adding that all tips are then immediately relayed to investigators.

The BDC, which oversees development on the Bainbridge property, is offering the reward from its own coffers as part of a continuing multi-agency effort to solve the arson case, Lozzi reported.

“The BDC has been working very closely with the (The Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office) on the arson investigation of Memorial Hall. We have decided, through the ATF Fire Investigation Hotline, to offer a reward of up to $10,000 for information leading to the arrest and indictment of whoever is responsible for the fire,” Lozzi explained. “The BDC remains strong in our commitment to Tome School and we hope this will bring about pertinent and helpful information to aid in the investigation.”

As part of that campaign, the BDC is circulating reward posters bearing photos of the charred building and information on how to place an anonymous tip.

Investigators ruled the blaze an arson shortly after the fire.

“Investigators determined a person or persons gained entry and intentionally ignited the interior of the school. An estimated damage in loss could not be determined, due to the structure being a historic landmark,” Senior Deputy State Fire Marshal Oliver J. Alkire reported at the time.

Deputy State Fire Marshal Derek A. Chapman, lead investigator, said detectives are hopeful that the reward offer will spark tips through the ATF hotline.

Wanting to preserve the integrity of the ongoing arson investigation, Chapman declined to discuss leads in the case, commenting, “There’s nothing that I want to put out there right now.”

While the ATF arson hotline is an option for tipsters and could lead to a reward, people also can leave information that might help investigators by calling the MSFO’s Northeast Regional Office at 410-838-4844 or the Arson Hotline at 1-800-492-7529.

Also, detectives are still seeking photographs of the building before, during and after the fire. Photographs may be emailed to msp.osfmnero@maryland.gov.

The first alarm came about 2:45 a.m. on Sept. 21, after a passerby saw the flames and called 9-1-1, fire officials said. Approximately 35 firefighters with volunteer fire companies from Port Deposit, Perryville, Rising Sun and North East, as well as Harford County and southern Pennsylvania, responded to the scene, fire officials added. No one was injured.

Crews on numerous tankers drafted water from the Town of Port Deposit water supply and shuttled it to the burning building, which stands on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River and the town.

It took firefighters about three hours to bring the blaze under control, fire officials said. However, fires continued to burn inside the “extensively damaged” building for about a week after the initial blaze and, as a result, sections of the structure collapsed, according to Alkire.

The blaze consumed the vacant, 50-foot-by-100-foot, stone and mortar building, which is rich in history, fire officials reported. That building did not have utilities, which is the case with the other vacant structures on that property, fire officials reported.

The building was originally constructed in 1901 as the Tome School for Boys and later the property was operated as the U.S. Naval Training Center Bainbridge, from 1942 to 1976. It was officially closed for Department of the Navy use in 1986. Some of the facilities were then operated by the U.S. Department of Labor as a Job Corps Center until 1990. The property now falls under the Bainbridge Development Corporation for renovations.

At one time, the Old Tome School Building was the centerpiece building on the campus of Tome School for Boys — a prep school with a list of distinguished graduates that includes R.J. Reyolds, Jr., son of the cigarette mogul, and members of Mellon and Carnegie families.

The school, which became part of the Bainbridge Naval Center, now lays in disrepair.

But even so, the dilapidated granite buildings dotting what was once a thriving campus still appear stately, reflecting the bold design of William A. Boring and Edwin L. Tilton, the same New York-based architects whose long list of projects includes the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island.

By Carl Hamilton : Cecil Whig

PORT DEPOSIT — Fire ripped through the vacant Old Tome School Building early Sunday morning, engulfing all thee stories of the historic Georgian-style structure that, with its clock tower and other ornate features, served as a landmark on that Bainbridge property.

“It’s pretty much a burnt shell now. There’s nothing left but granite and cement,” said Wayne Tome, Sr., an EMS chief with the Water With Volunteer Fire Co. of Port Deposit, one of several volunteer fire companies that battled the blaze.

The first alarm came about 2:45 a.m., after a passerby saw the flames and called 9-1-1, fire officials said. Approximately 50 firefighters with volunteer fire companies from Perryville, Rising Sun, North East, as well as Harford County and southern Pennsylvania, responded to the scene, fire officials added. No one was injured.

Crews on numerous tankers drafted water from the Town of Port Deposit water supply and shuttled it to the burning building, which, also known as Memorial Hall, stands on a bluff overlooking the Susquehanna River and the town.

“We used a boatload of tankers. There is no water in the hydrant system (on the Bainbridge Property),” Tome said, noting that the property, after going through several incarnations, has been unused for several years.

It took firefighters about three hours to bring the blaze under control, according to the Maryland State Fire Marshal’s Office, which sent fire detectives to the scene as part of an investigation to determine where and how the raging blaze started.

The blaze consumed the vacant, 50-foot-by-100-foot, stone and mortar building, which is rich in history, reported Deputy State Fire Marshal Bruce D. Bouch, a MSFO spokesman.

The building was originally constructed in 1901 as the Tome School for Boys and later the property was operated as the U.S. Naval Training Center Bainbridge, from 1942 to 1976. It was officially closed for Department of the Navy use in 1986. Some of the facilities were then operated by the U.S. Department of Labor as a Job Corps Center until 1990. The property now falls under the Bainbridge Development Corporation for renovations.

“This is a sad, sad day for Port Deposit. It was the anchor building of the property,” Tome said, explaining that town officials had remained hopeful that they would someday be able to restore and repurpose the building, as well as others on the property, despite a slew of hurdles, including environmental concerns.

Now, while the building still could be replicated, it cannot be restored, Tome believes.

Tome noted that the Old Tome Building and others on that property do not have electricity and other utilities.

At one time, the Old Tome School Building was the centerpiece building on the campus of Tome School for Boys — a prep school with a list of distinguished graduates that includes R.J. Reyolds, Jr., son of the cigarette mogul, and members of Mellon and Carnegie families.

The school, which became part of the Bainbridge Naval Center, now lays in disrepair.

But even so, the dilapidated granite buildings dotting what was once a thriving campus still, somehow, appear stately, reflecting the bold design of William A. Boring and Edwin L. Tilton, the same New York-based architects whose long list of projects includes the U.S. Immigration Station on Ellis Island.

Memorial Hall was the main classroom building for the Tome School for Boys. Built entirely of Port Deposit granite with dressed Indiana limestone, it was state-of-the-art when it opened in 1901 after a rushed and impressive construction phase of only two years.

It was one of the first buildings started at the campus on the bluff above Port Deposit — the other two being the headmaster’s house and the Tome Inn, which was also known as the Chesapeake Inn and Van Buren House.

Memorial Hall was dedicated in honor of Jacob Tome as a lasting memory to him for it was his largesse that allowed the school on the hill campus to be erected after he founded the free school known as Jacob Tome Institute in Port Deposit.

Memorial Hall housed school offices, all of the classrooms, shop classes in the basement, the school library, 500-seat auditorium and chapel. It had two sweeping curved staircases between the first and second floors with 32 arm chandeliers and columned architecture. The exterior walls were of dressed Port Deposit granite with an interior brick wall then a horse hair plaster interior wall. All of these materials were hauled up the hill to the construction site by horsedrawn wagons and carts.

The entire campus cost just under $1 million to build at the turn of the century.

The Tome School Clean Up Volunteers began repairing the property in 1997 and continued to do so every weekend from May through October until the year 2000, when the Bainbridge Development Corporation was appointed and the property turned over to the State of Maryland as owners, with the BDC serving as the state’s agents to redevelop the property.

At that point, the BDC determined professionals were needed on the property rather than volunteers and amateurs to maintain the historic property and structures and would no longer allow the volunteer group to continue their labor after three years. The Tome School Clean-Up Volunteers consisted of community volunteers from Port Deposit and environs, Navy veterans, Tome alumni, and was spearheaded by the Port Deposit Heritage Corporation.

The buildings at Tome School for Boys have long been the victims of vandalism — spray painting, windows knocked out to serve as a massive deer stand for poaching deer, thefts of what little remained within the structure, and even small fires set by poachers and others who broke into the building.

Hosts of people have breached the property and buildings to photograph the abandoned condemned structures for upload to abandoned building sites or haunted history websites. Often vandals broke into the building to try to find copper wiring and pipes to resell or architectural elements that could be sold quickly and easily for scrap metal or at antique shops or online. Finding little, if anything of value, they would then resort to smashing porcelain sinks and toilets while they remained, tossing radiators down slate stairs and other senseless destruction.