Architecturally speaking, there have been few buildings in Sullivan County history as grand as the original Administration Building at the Loomis Memorial Sanitarium for Consumptives in Liberty. Unfortunately, the imposing structure’s life was a short one. Erected in time for the June, 1896 opening of the facility, the building succumbed to a fiery end on October 14, 1899, when it was reduced to little more than a pile of rubble in less than three hours.

The building was the crown jewel of the sanitarium when it opened. The magnificent and massive stone structure was endowed by J.P. Morgan, and built at a cost of over $60,000, or $2.3 million in today’s money. It was by far the most impressive structure in Sullivan County at the time, as large as many hotels and considerably more substantial.

The three-story, 190-foot by 60-foot building, designed by prominent New York City architects Bruce Price and J. Russell Pope, housed the dining room, sitting room, laundry, doctors’ and nurses’ quarters, a pharmacy, and a fully equipped infirmary, as well as the administrative offices. It stood virtually at the center of the original 190 acres, surrounded by several cottages and a casino, its conical turrets dominating the landscape, impressive, impervious, indispensable.

That all changed on the second Saturday in October of 1899.

The fire broke out when an alcohol lamp exploded in an upper room on the west side of the building. It spread so quickly, there was little anyone could do to contain it, especially in view of the lack of firefighting apparatus on the property, so all attention was shifted to the safe evacuation of people and the removal of as much personal property and equipment as possible. Firefighters from Liberty’s Hallock Hose Company eventually arrived on the scene, and with the aid of several hundred feet of garden hose and some buckets were able to keep the blaze from spreading to the surrounding buildings.

While much of the loose furniture and some equipment was salvaged, nothing remained of the building but the stone walls and chimneys. The boiler, generator, and electric light plant were also housed in the building, and were all destroyed.

“Carpenters are now at work erecting temporary quarters for the nurses rendered homeless by the fire, and by morning they will be completed,” the New York Times reported the next day. “Preparations will begin at once to rebuild the burned structure.”

Alfred J. Sweeney, Manager of the Liberty Light & Power Company immediately set up emergency power for the remaining buildings. Sanitarium officials, meanwhile, were concerned with raising funds to rebuild, and to repair the nearby Sloane cottage, which had also been damaged in the blaze. The remaining eleven cottages, including the residence of physician in charge Dr. J. Edward Stubbert, who was in Europe at the time, had escaped unscathed.

 The cost of a new administration building was estimated at about $100,000. Insurance covered about half that. With the help of generous donations, most notably by J.P. Morgan, the structure was quickly rebuilt. Designed by the prominent architectural firm of McKim, Mead and White, the new building was even more impressive than the first. Although the overall configuration remained basically unchanged, the Victorian turret style was replaced by a distinctive half-timbered Tudor exterior.

Permanent lines had been erected from the Liberty Light & Power Company to provide electric for the entire facility, so the original power plant was not replaced. But purchasing the power was an added expense the sanitarium could ill afford, so Morgan came up with an innovative solution, eventually buying the Liberty power company on behalf of the facility.

“Although busily engaged with the completion of the organization of the great steel trust, J. Pierpont Morgan found time before his recent departure for Europe to arrange a business transaction in aid of the Loomis Sanitarium for Consumptives at Liberty, N.Y.,” the Times reported on April 5, 1901. “The transaction consisted in the acquisition by purchase of the plant of the Liberty Electric Light & Power Company, which furnishes the electric light not only for the sanitarium, but also for the entire village of Liberty and its surroundings. Mr. Morgan bought this plant for the sum of $40,000, and presented it to the sanitarium only a few days before he sailed for Europe on Wednesday last.”

Sanitarium officials were ecstatic. Not only would the gift save them the expense of purchasing their power, it would provide the facility with a steady income. The sanitarium used roughly the same amount of electric power as the rest of the area served by the plant.

Dr. Stubbert was named president of the new light company, and Morgan gifted one share of stock to James Chandler Young, who attended the shareholders meetings in Morgan’s Manhattan offices as a representative of the village of Liberty.

Despite the havoc caused by the fire, and the steady growth of the facility - it eventually comprised over 700 acres - it would take another 35 years for Loomis to create its own fire department. In September of 1936, employees elected J.R. Jackson president and William “Bill” Pearson chief of a newly created department with its own truck and firehouse and 40 members. Frank McBriarty was chosen vice president, Irving Bailey secretary-treasurer, Walter Fisher assistant chief, and Reverend Thompson chaplain.

By that time Loomis had long since passed its peak and was already on the decline. By 1938, the number of patients had drastically declined, staff was pared to a minimum, and rumors of the facility’s closing were a regular topic of conversation. By 1943, what had long been the largest private institution in Sullivan County had closed its doors for good.

John Conway is the Sullivan County Historian and a founder and president of The Delaware Company. Email him at jconway52@hotmail.com.