Suspicious fire destroys former seminary, college

Five-story structure in Ilchester had been vacant since 1970s

By Tanya Jones, Sun Staff
Baltimore Sun, 1997

The former St. Mary's College in Howard County, once a seminary and retreat for priests of the Redemptorists order, went up in flames yesterday morning, in a blaze that state officials have labeled suspicious.

County firefighters will let the five-story brick structure smolder out over the next few days, then have it demolished.

Investigators with the state fire marshal's office are calling the blaze suspicious because the building has been vacant since the 1970s, according to Allen L. Ward, deputy chief state fire marshal.

Baltimore County firefighters, called to the scene first, called Howard County firefighters at about 5:15 a.m.

By then, the building was engulfed in flames, but it is not clear when the blaze started, said Capt. Sean Kelly of the Howard County Fire Department.

A county fire chief on the scene determined that firefighters would be needlessly endangered if they tried to enter the building or stood near it because the 12-inch thick walls might collapse, Kelly said.

"There was no reason to put anybody in danger," Kelly said.

A caretaker who lives on the property, Allen Rufus Hudson, will not be allowed to live in his nearby home because a building wall might fall on it, Kelly said.

Gray smoke mixed with fog over

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