The first Watts Dormitory was built in 1906 and housed 50 student.  On Sunday, February 25, 1923, the compulsory morning worship service was interrupted when a student, Bevo Davis, ran into the church and yelled that Watts was on fire.  The service ended abruptly, and the congregation ran to help put on the fire, which was already on its way to completely destroying the dorm.  Watts was rebuilt that same year with funding from the family of George W. Watts, for whom both buildings are named.

Read an article from the Davidsonian (March 1, 1923) describing the Watts fire

Read the April 1923 College Bulletin describing the burning of Watts dormitory

Read an article from the Davidson Update noting Bevo Davis' role in sounding the alarm

Pictures from the Watts Dormitory Fire

Typescript of an article from the March 1, 1923 issue of the Davidsonian describing the Watts fire

Completely Destroys Watts Dormitory - Rapidly spreading flames play havoc with building
  -Valiant work saves all adjoining buildings and personal property of students - Origin of Fire Unknown
      -Alarm sounded during church service and congregation is dismissed

The college suffered a loss of approximately $45,000, forty-nine students were made homeless, and the campus was divested of its most centrally located dormitory when Watts building was claimed by fire of unknown origin during the church hour Sunday.

The fire was discovered over the front end of the third floor hall by Albert Wildman, about 11:25 AM.  Wildman sounded the alarm and returned to fight the flames, finding the second room on the right of the hall practically enveloped in fire. As though by magic power , the flames spread to every quarter of the uppermost story, aided by a steady breeze and a draft from the opened windows of the building.

Efforts on the part of the students and college authorities, summoned from the morning church service, were futile, due to the lack of water pressure, the headway of the flames and the nature of the fire.  Once the flames gained an entrance to the plastered walls, the total destruction of the building was foreseen and all efforts were bent toward the saving of adjacent property.

Buildings Threatened

Sparks and the heat fro the fire threatened the dormitories on either side, and the old power house and commissary in the rear, but the untiring work of students and townspeople served to prevent further disaster.  Chemicals and wet blankets were used effectively, in conjunction with the weak streams of water, to protect Georgia and Rumple, while a bucket brigade ably handled the small blaze which threatened the home of Mrs. Shewmaker.

Church in Session

In the Presbyterian Church at the southwest corner of the campus, the speaker, Dr. McCallie, Korean missionary, had hardly announced his text when the announcement was made of the conflagration.  The service brought to an abrupt, but orderly close, and the entire congregation rushed to the scene of the disaster.  The situation was taken in hand by the officers of the military department, the college authorities, and members of the student body.  The first effort was to save Watts itself, but few minutes were lost in this fruitless endeavor, most of the energy being spent in removing college and personal property.  Practically everything of value was removed from the rooms of the first two floors, but the flames gained headway so rapidly on the third floor that the back rooms were cut off from the front stairs, so that it was impossible to save the furniture and many personal belongings.  The extent of personal losses has not been ascertained at the time the Davidsonian goes to press.

Few Occupants

There were several seniors, privileged from attending the morning church service, in the building at the time the fire was discovered.  Men sleeping on the third floor were wakened in time to no more than dress scantily and escape with an arm full of possessions.  One man, entrapped by the flames, used a rope to escape  from a third floor window to safety.

Had it not been for the few seniors who were on hand at the beginning it is doubtless that little personal property could have been saved.  Two hours after the fire was discovered there were but the red brick walls and smoldering ashes left to mark the site of the building.  The interior woodwork burned with the rapidity of seasoned timber and left the brick veneer, a smoking hull that partly crumbled as it cooled.

Watts was erected in 1906, along the most modern lines of architecture known at that time.  It was a three story structure of twenty-five rooms, built to accommodate fifty students.  It was named for the late George W. Watts, of Durham, a staunch supporter of Davidson.  The loss of Watts in partially covered by insurance.