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‘It’s a sad day’ | Flames engulf the Knoxville College administration building

Vaseline November 6, 2024

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. (WVLT) – The Knoxville Fire Department responded to a fire on the Knoxville College campus Monday evening.

When crews arrived on scene around 8:30 p.m., KFD said the fire was intense. The flames could be seen for miles, including from I-40.

The fire was tackled by firefighters on Monday evening.

Knoxville Mayor Indya Kincannon told WVLT News that a fire broke out at Elnathan Hall. Frank Shanklin, an alumni and member of the Board of Trustees, said it was a building that had not been occupied for at least 40 to 50 years.

“It’s a sad day for the Knoxville community,” Kincannon said. “Knoxville College was founded not long after the Civil War to educate formerly enslaved people, and it did that work and did it well for more than 100 years. It has become more difficult in recent years. It will be sad to lose this building, and we will continue to work with the private government that owns this property and manages the school.

“This is not city property. We have had to deal with fire situations many times over the years, and that can be very dangerous,” Kincannon continued.

Knoxville College is an HBCU, better known as a historically black college or university. The struggling campus lost its accreditation in 1997 when enrollment fell, but has worked to regain that accreditation in recent years.

The last update from the university administration came in June, when then-President Leonard L. Adams Jr. announced that he would resign from his position.

Previous coverage: The president of Knoxville College is resigning

Kincannon also said the fire was contained to that building and the cause is unknown at this time.

The fire was tackled by firefighters on Monday evening.

Shanklin said the building was vacant and mostly boarded up. He also said that despite typically getting a call at least once a month about a fire on campus, they have never had a call about a fire in this particular building.

Shanklin added that the university is in the process of becoming reaccredited and hopes that students will eventually be back on campus.

According to KFD’s Mark Wilbanks, no injuries were reported. The cause of the fire has not been released.