By Stephen D. Bowling

Flames shot high into the night, illuminating the entire campus.

Shortly after 5:30 a.m., the flames were discovered, and volunteer firefighters from all around hurried to the fire despite heavy snow and near-zero temperatures.  The closest fire truck was at Jackson, and they could do little when firefighters arrived at the blaze on the cold morning of Friday, December 26, 1969.

Fire swept through and destroyed the three floors of Memorial Hall.  Before sunup, the dorm, all its contents, and the home of Assistant Principal Doran Hostetler lay in ashes.

Principal Harold Barnett said that the school was blessed that the fire happened during the Christmas break.  “We did not have any students in the dorm, and there were no injuries,” Barnett told those who came to the campus to see the smoldering remnants of the buildings.

It was the worst loss in the school’s sixty-five-year history and would only be surpassed by the 2022 flood that ripped through the campus at Lost Creek, ten miles south of Jackson.

George E. and Ada (Garber) Drushal arrived in Breathitt County in 1905, just a few months after their marriage.  They came as church missionaries at the suggestion of Dr. Edward O. Guerrant, but soon found the need for a school.  The Riverside Christian Training School was established, and soon a high school was added.

Over the years, thousands of graduates have left the school to become attorneys, teachers, ministers, and a myriad of professionals who were grounded in the school’s philosophy of service to humanity.

The school was never “rich” in the monetary sense, but Drushal and subsequent leaders understood the importance of and practiced the belief that “God would provide.”  Donors and the hard work of students kept the school alive during difficult times, including several campus fires, such as the one that destroyed the boys’ dorm in 1939 and 1947, as well as the collapse of the gym due to excessive snowfall.

The blaze in 1969 was just another challenge that the school, with an enrollment of 130, would have to overcome.

Because the school was on winter recess when the fire occurred in 1969, no one knows exactly how or when the blaze that destroyed the dorm started.  Investigators zeroed in on a “possible faulty heating unit,” a spokesman for the Breathitt County Sheriff’s Office said.

The flames made quick work of the dorm and destroyed the personal belongings of many students who had been at home for two weeks during the Christmas and New Year’s holiday.  Nothing was saved from the dorms. 

Most heartbreaking for the staff and students was the loss of all of the school’s athletic equipment, which was stored in a spare closet in the dormitory.

The flames spread via a small hallway that connected the dorm to the trailer home of Doran and Nancy (Dorrington) Hostetler and their family of three.  The fire got a foothold and soon became unstoppable.  The Hostleters were also away, but some items were saved from their residence.

Principal Barnett and others stood by and watched as the buildings were consumed and collapsed.  By daybreak, only the concrete block walls of the dorm were standing.

Barnett estimated that the school’s loss was approximately $35,000 (about $290,522 in 2025).

Students were slated to return to classes in less than a week.  Barnett said that the ten boys who were housed in the dorm would be relocated to the girls’ dorm, and the girls would be moved to other housing on campus.

 Barnett met with members of the Jackson Kiwanis Club on Saturday, December 27, to discuss the school’s needs following the fire.  Jackson Kiwanis President Marcus “Gabby’ Mullins and Bert A. Knight met with Barnett and Clara R. Jackson, a Riverside Board member, for lunch and discussed ways that the Kiwanis Club might be able to assist Riverside during its time of need.

News of the fire spread through the community and to missionary organizations across the state.  A generous $5,000 donation was received from the E.O. Robinson Mountain Fund in Lexington to kick-start a rebuilding effort.  After fundraising slowed, the Robinson Fund would add another $5,000 to the effort to complete the structure.   

Kiwanis gathered donations and presented an additional $3,359 after sponsoring a four-hour telethon on WEKG and WMTC.

The students held several fundraisers, including their offers to do “yard work, garden work, house work…you name it…we’ll do it and at your price.”  The student-led effort asked the community to “help us help ourselves.”  The effort gathered more than $500 to purchase furniture for the dorm. 

Dr. Lela McConnell and the Mount Carmel School donated twelve beds and mattresses to replace those lost in the fire.  Lees College loaned the school bunk beds and storage chests for as long as they were needed.

Other donations also came to the school box at the Lost Creek Post Office, including money and clothing.

A reporter traveled to the Lost Creek campus in late March to check on the progress.  The article, printed in the April 10, 1970, edition of The Lexington Herald-Leader, celebrated the uniqueness of the school where “classrooms still had prayer,” and the entire operation relied on “faith and religion.”

Nancy Hosteler gave Correspondent Helen Price Stacy a tour around the campus and highlighted the school’s good work.

“This is a real faith work,” Nancy Hostetler told Stacy.  “Always has been.”  She said the school would have closed long ago if it were not for the “spontaneous giving of friends, alumni, and groups” who support the work and mission of the school.

“We just go from year to year as the Lord provides, and over the years we’ve survived floods, fires, and landslides,” Hostetler said.

The school announced that the Drushals had been gifted a new trailer to live in from Mrs. Hostetler’s brothers.

During the late March visit to the campus by the Herald-Leader reporter, Principal Barnett also announced that enough funds had been raised and construction on the new boys’ dorm would begin with a ceremonial groundbreaking on April 14, 1970.

 Ada Drushal performed the ceremonial first turn of the shovel as her daughter, Adah, looked on.  Principal Harold Barnett and former Kiwanis President O. V. Watts joined her for the event.     

Construction, under the direction of contractor Balis Campbell of Perry County, started and continued through the summer.

Another tragedy visited the campus on July 25, 1970.  A church van returning from a Cincinnati Reds game with several members of the Lost Creek Brethren Youth Group, collided with a car a half a mile north of Jackson, injuring several students. 

The driver, Maurice W. Hall, a teacher and Sunday School leader at Riverside for twenty-six years, was severely injured and died from his injuries on the way to the Maddox Clinic in Campton.

In early August, the school announced that the new dormitory would be dedicated debt-free on Sunday, August 30, and would be named the Maurice Hall Memorial Dormitory.

The school held a grand event, featuring a large picnic lunch potluck served on the lawn in front of the dorm, following the ceremony.  Rev. and Mrs. Rand Best, dorm parents, showcased the new building and provided tours for the community. 

The school continued through many more tragedies to come.  The 2022 flood devastated the campus, causing significant damage to the school and other staff buildings. 

In 2023, Riverside Christian School purchased the Marie Roberts Elementary building. It relocated the school to higher ground, where it continues to uphold the tradition of educating students based on Christian beliefs and values.

Helen Price Stacy summed the situation up rather nicely when she wrote, “Wouldn’t you say that Riverside Christian Training School, Inc. has a lot going for it?”  She made a direct appeal to her readers in 1970 and wrote, “Others of us could wise up and lend a hand or a dollar to the building fund.  There aren’t many schools like Riverside left.” 

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© 2025 Stephen D. Bowling

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