1972 — May 6, Fire, Carver Convalescent Center (nursing home), Springfield, IL — 10

–10 NFPA. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1972,” Fire Journal, Vol. 67, No. 3, May 1973, p. 71.
–10 NFPA. “Summary of Fire Deaths in Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Homes for the Aged.”
–10 SagamonLink. “Carver Convalescent Center fire, 1972.” 1-15-2017.
–10 U.S. Senate. Nursing Home Care in the United States. August 1975, p. 462.

Narrative Information

National Fire Protection Association: “On May 5 [sic, 6th] ten of the 41 patients at the Carver Con¬valescent Nursing Home in Springfield, Illinois, died in an early morning fire. Operation of the home without adequate automatic fire protection, use of combustible interior finish, and unprotected openings were the most notable reasons for these deaths.” (NFPA. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1972,” Fire Journal, Vol. 67, No. 3, May 1973, p. 71.)

SagamonLink: “Investigators never agreed on the cause of the fire that killed 10 residents of a shabby nursing home on May 6, 1972….

“Among those expressing condolences was President Richard Nixon, who later intervened to speed up enactment of new federal nursing home rules that had been partly inspired by the Carver tragedy.

“Nine people died in the nursing home itself; one other succumbed a day later at St. John’s Hospital. All were victims of smoke inhalation. Those killed were: Hurtis Hall, age 66; Thomasella Newbern, 70; Cleopatra “Cleo” Evans, 71; Ora Watson, 88; Estella Sanford, 66; Lizzie Greenup, 98; Burnett Leland, 76; Belle Culp, 76; Henry Johnson, 74; and Dora Williams, 52. Another resident, Ponto Burgett, about 71, was critically injured in the blaze, but survived.

“The Carver Convalescent Center received its corporate charter in April 1952; the original developers were Duane Traynor, John B. Hendricks and Conrad Noll Jr. The source of the name is unclear, but it’s likely the Carver center was named in recognition of famed African-American scientist George Washington Carver. It served exclusively black residents.

“The original building was a private home, apparently constructed for the family of Thomas McGrath, a coal miner, in the early 1890s. It went through a series of hands before the Carver home opened in July 1952. At the time, it had capacity for about 22 people.

“At some point in its early existence, Byron Weisbaum… a physician, and his wife Marilyn… a registered nurse, became owners of the facility. In January 1954 they sought and apparently received city council approval to build an expansion that would accommodate 25 more residents.

“The original part of the building was wood frame construction; the newer section had masonry on the front and west side, but the home was ‘basically an old two-and-a-half story L-shaped frame house,’ assistant state fire marshal Joseph Patton told reporters the day of the fire.

“In its early years, the Carver Convalescent Center was the only local nursing home that accepted African-American residents, according to statements made after the fire, and it was supported by Springfield’s black community….

“By the early 1970s, however, many Carver residents had been transferred there from state institutions, like Jacksonville’s former hospital for the insane. Thirty-eight of the 40 residents at the time of the fire were public aid recipients.

“Illinois State Register reporter Dolores “Dolly” Katz visited Carver as part of a February 1970 investigation of local nursing homes. Her description painted a dim picture of Carver:

One of Springfield’s worst, this all-Negro home is dark and dirty. The ward-like rooms are crowded and bare, the recreational facilities nonexistent. In the kitchen, the painted wall over the stove is cracked, blistering, and peeling. The white owner has 300 nursing home and sheltered care beds in Illinois and Indiana, with four new (homes) going up. He says he makes a profit on Carver’s only because the building is paid for. All of the patients are on public aid. ‘These people have never had it so good,’ the owner said. He refused to permit photographs of the home, and ordered this reporter and a photographer out of the home, saying ‘I expect nothing good from you.’

“….Marilyn Weisbaum [became]…Carver administrator in December 1971. After the fire, a number of officials said she had begun to improve the facility. They also said an evacuation plan worked out between Carver and the Springfield Fire Department in March 1972 had kept the death toll from being even higher.

“The building had been inspected by the state fire marshal’s office the day before the blaze and by the state Department of Public Health the day before that, and no major violations were found. However, Carver was already operating under a provisional license, because it was not certified to provide the level of care many of its residents needed. Under a state Public Health timetable, those residents were to be transferred elsewhere by 1975.

“Firefighters arrived at the house minutes after an automatic alarm went off at Firehouse No. 1 at 5:35 a.m. May 6. ‘When we arrived, the second story was completely engulfed in flames,’ Assistant Fire Chief Elmer Cartwright told the Illinois State Journal’s Mike Clark. ‘We carried and dragged them out bodily, old incapacitated-type people who weren’t able to take care of themselves at that stage.’

“Marilyn Weisbaum had recently moved Carver’s incapacitated residents to the first floor …those killed slept on the second floor.

“It took several days to confirm the names of two of the victims, and Sangamon County Coroner Norman Richter said it was even harder to locate relatives. ‘One man hadn’t seen his aunt for 47 years and a woman hadn’t seen her aunt for 50 years,’ he said.

“The fire reduced the second floor of the Carver home to rubble. As a result, officials never determined the cause of the blaze, and there was a difference of opinion between city and state authorities over where it began. City fire investigators said they had determined the fire started in a second-floor eating area above the kitchen. It was used by patients who were unable to get to the first-floor kitchen. Investigators from the fire marshal’s office, however, suspected arson. They said they believed the fire had begun at the base of a stairway at the rear of the home and that it might have been set deliberately, possibly by a man who had been turned down for a job there. The man underwent a lie detector test and psychiatric exam, but results were inconclusive, according to William Ascher, the Springfield Police Department’s chief of detectives.

“The two aides who were in the home May 6 supported the city’s version of events. Rachael Brooks said she went up the back stairs after the home’s fire alarm sounded and found smoke on the second floor. She then helped three residents down the front steps and left the building herself.

“Beulah Washington said when she went up the front steps, she saw the fire in the ceiling. Washington got two men onto a second-floor deck near the rear fire escape, but couldn’t carry them any further. Heat from the fire forced her to crawl down the escape herself. Firefighters rescued one of the men from the deck. The other, Henry Johnson, apparently re-entered the building and was killed.

“The Rev. Theodore Rose was one of a group of black ministers and others who, 10 days after the fire, urged a more aggressive investigation, including participation from blacks. He said then one of his church members, a woman who he said had worked at Carver, had told him about potential dangers at the home:

• When the television was turned on, people had to watch the ceiling to see if it was smoking from bad wiring;
• When a man who played music for the residents plugged in an amplified instrument, sparks would fly from the outlet.
• There was grease and urine on the floor of the home ‘and roaches everywhere.’

“Byron and Marilyn Weisbaum said none of that was true while Mrs. Weisbaum was in charge of the home. They promised to look into whether such conditions had existed earlier, but newspaper files indicate no followup was ever published.

“On the federal front, the Nursing Home Fire Safety Act of 1973 authorized loans to help nursing homes buy and pay for sprinklers and other fire safety equipment. Nixon pushed the Department of Health, Education and Welfare to publish the necessary regulations in quickly following a December 1973 meeting with Don Barry of Springfield, then president of the American Nursing Home Association, and two other ANHA officials.

“The hulk of the Carver Convalescent Home was demolished on city orders in December 1972….”
(SagamonLink (History of Sangamon County, Illinois). “Carver Convalescent Center fire, 1972.” 1-15-2017.)

U.S. Senate: “The Carver Nursing Home had been charged with poor care in 1971 hearings conducted by the ‘Subcommittee on Long-Term. Care in Chicago, 1-11. These hearings, to some degree, sought to highlight the problem presented by placing discharged mental patients into nursing homes. Ironically, just a year later 10 of the 41 patients in this facility died. Most of the residents were discharged mental patients. The build¬ing was a 79-year-old, 11-room facility, that had functioned as a nursing home since 1951…. In 1953, a block-concrete addition was added and a second story added to that in 1957. The facility was equipped with heat detectors which were tied to the local fire department. Two nurses’ aides were on duty when the fire broke out at 5:35 a.m. …The cause is unknown, but the fire is labeled “suspicious.” The home had been given a provisional license by the State of. Illinois to meet the requirements of the Life Safety Code by January 1975 or downgrade and become a shelter-care facility.” (US Senate. Nursing Home Care in the United States. August 1975, p. 462.)

Newspaper

May 6: “Springfield, Ill. (AP) – Nine persons were killed and 32 persons were injured early today when fire ravaged a nursing home which state public health officials said was only provisionally licensed for nursing care….Dr. Franklin Yoder, director of the state public health department, said the two-story Carver Convalescent Center was operating under a provisional license because state investigations showed it to be ‘an inadequate physical plant.’….Yoder said staff members from his office toured the building two days ago, inspecting it for fire regulation violations. He said a report on the tour had not yet been filed with him….

“Spokesmen at Memorial said nine persons were pronounced dead on arrival at the facility, eight were treated for smoke inhalation and two were admitted to the burn center. Twenty-two persons were admitted to St. John’s spokesmen there said.

“The dead and injured were taken to two Springfield hospitals….Memorial and St. John’s hospitals…

“Firemen at the scene said when they arrived at the scene the second floor of the two-story frame building was engulfed in flame. Firemen said they were able to lead occupants from the first floor to safety….

“Springfield Mayor William Telford identified the owner of the convalescent home as Dr. Bryan Weisbaum, a Springfield ophthalmologist [eye doctor]. Telford said it was the ‘worst disaster’ in terms of deaths in Springfield history. ….Telford said there were ‘between 40 and 50’ occupants of the home.”

“The cause of the blaze was not immediately determined.” (Associated Press. “9 Dead in Springfield Fire.” Mt. Vernon Register-News, IL. 5-6-1972, p. 1.)

Sources

Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://newspaperarchive.com/mount-vernon-register-news-may-06-1972-p-1/

National Fire Protection Association. “Multiple-Death Fires, 1972,” Fire Journal, Vol. 67, No. 3, May 1973, pp. 71-74 & 102.

National Fire Protection Association. “Summary of Fire Deaths in Hospitals, Nursing Homes and Homes for the Aged.”

SagamonLink (History of Sangamon County, Illinois). “Carver Convalescent Center fire, 1972.” 1-15-2017. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://sangamoncountyhistory.org/wp/?p=9244

United States House of Representatives, Select Committee on Aging, Subcommittee on Health and Long-Term Care. Hearing. Fires in Boarding Homes: The Tip of the Iceberg. Washington, DC: 4-25-1979.

United States Senate, Special Committee on Aging, Subcommittee on Long-Term Care. Nursing Home Care in the United States: Failure in Public Policy. Supporting Paper No. 5, The Continuing Chronicle of Nursing Home Fires. Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, August 1975. Accessed 1-24-2022 at: https://www.google.com/books/edition/Nursing_Home_Care_in_the_United_States_T/LJeuVO1d9k0C?hl=en&gbpv=1&dq=%22Nursing+Home+Care+in+the+United+States%22&printsec=frontcover