Fun Fact #5 Who Burned Down Chapman School?

Text: Old Chapman School. NW 25th and Wilson - 1891-1923- Photo taken about 1910 - Destroyed by arson fire in 1924.

Answer: Sheepherder John Hardy burned down Chapman School in 1924.

John Hardy claimed he didn’t have any reason for destroying the old Chapman School with a single match. “I just did it,” he admitted. “My mind don’t work right and when 

 I see a building, I just can’t help setting it afire.”  The paper from 1924 lacks today’s political correctness their by-line “School is burned firebug confesses, John Hardy, Sheepherder, Fires Chapman Building–OTHERS ATTEMPTS LISTED: Prisoner, Declared ‘Queer,’ Tells of Setting Match to Structures About City.”  The paper reports a week later that he was committed to a mental institution.

Morning Oregonian August 7, 1924. Crazy Sheepherder Burns Chapman School