From the Lawrence Daily Journal-World for Dec. 14, 1974:

Damage estimated to exceed $50,000 was reported following a Friday morning fire at McLouth High School. Two classrooms in a converted gymnasium had been gutted, and extensive smoke and water damage had occurred in the rest of the two-story brick building. The fire had begun in a locked, unoccupied classroom where students had earlier been making candles, according to principal Howard Hays. Hays added that the building had been evacuated within a minute and that none of the 160 students had been injured. The school, which had closed early that day, was expected to remain shut at least a few days during repairs. “We were really pretty lucky there wasn’t more damage,” Hays said, noting the building, constructed in 1919, could be renovated quickly.