There is an old saying that truth is stranger than fiction, and that is certainly the case with the story of exploding nuclear fallout supplies once stored at Blair. 

According to an account in the April 1990 edition of The Blair Breeze, “In the late 1950s, during the Eisenhower administration, Blair agreed to store a 200-bed civil defense hospital in the basement of Locke and Davies halls, a precaution taken in order to protect the school and the town in the event of nuclear fallout. Items stored in the two basements included tanks of oxygen gas and nitrous oxide, bottles of ether, an emergency generator, 200 beds and several water purification chemicals.” 

Concerned about potential problems associated with the long-term storage, Blair business manager Harry Pittman reached out to Warren County’s Civil Defense coordinator in early 1990, asking to remove the items. Blairstown Mayor Walter Orcutt, along with the town’s road department, helped facilitate the removal, placing the material outside of Blairstown’s water treatment plant. Mayor Orcutt was quoted in The Blair Breeze, stating, “I figured that since part of what had to be stored was a water treatment chemical, then it wouldn’t be a bad idea to store it in a water treatment plant.” However, just over an hour after being moved, the items exploded, triggering a fire that sent flames shooting into the sky and startling the town’s residents. Local firefighter Jerry Stoddart recalls the incident and says, to the best of his knowledge, “When they had a fire in the building, it was the oxygen bottles that blew up.” 

Fortunately, no one was injured, but the blast disabled the town’s water purification system for a period of two weeks. 

Blair’s 175-year history is filled with a mix of well-documented facts and time-honored legends passed down through generations. From ghost stories and wartime mishaps to cows mysteriously appearing in dorms, we’ve teamed up with the School's historians and storytellers to uncover some of Blair's most enduring tales. Join us next Monday for the next installment of the Legends & Lore of Blair.