Historical society to hear talk on 1957 fire

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Historical society to hear talk on 1957 fire
The annual general membership meeting of the Patrick County Historical Society will be held at 6:30 p.m. Nov. 8 in the community room of Patrick Henry Community College on Johnson Street in Stuart.
The guest speaker will be Randle Brim, who will discuss the tragic “Flat Rock School Fire” of 1957.
Brim, a native of Randolph County with ties to Mount Airy, N.C., has written an account of the fire entitled Tragedy to Triumph. Several survivors of the conflagration will attend the meeting, adding special meaning to the program, according to a news release from the historical society.
Flat Rock School lies several miles south of Patrick County en route to Mount Airy, not far from the famous granite quarry. The fire took the lives of a student and a teacher and injured 40 children, several critically. As a result of this tragedy, North Carolina changed its fire safety standards and building codes statewide.