Today we lost our beautiful historical building Alma College.
The building was an all girls school with Alumni spanning around the world. It has appeared in two movies, Disney's Mr. Headmistress and Silent Hill.
The alumni and the community have been battling the Ontario province to preserve the building as a historical landmark as it draws people from all over to come see it but unfortunately a big money tycoon who purchased the property years ago won the initial battle and he was planning to demolish the beautiful building to build a new retirement centre which St. Thomas already has two of and is a town of only 30,000. At city council meetings and other meetings this man has been rude and ignorant and to be straightfoward, he is quite the ***hole! Recently a new petition drive along with protests and a last effort by the Alumni has once again but a hold on the demolition as the province agreed to once again look into keeping the building safe. Today during a protest to save Alma around 12pmEST the building suddenly errupted in fire and I mean it went up like it had been dowsed in gasoline or other flammables, it was fully engulphed in I would estimate a matter of 3-5 minutes. It is a sad day for us here because this building meant alot to many people and our community too. You can read more about Alma and this tragedy in the following links.
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008...burns-down.php
Pictures of the fire here:
http://www.stthomastimesjournal.com/...+Journal+Staff