A Sad Event at the Dan Emmett House

     June 18, 2014 -  During the early morning hours of Monday, June 16, the Dan Emmett Birthplace Home was set ablaze and suffered great damage, both inside and out.

     Less than an hour later, another structure, an apartment house on East Street in Mount Vernon, was also set afire. An arrest was made in regard to the apartment fire, but so far no arrest or related charges have been made regarding the Emmett House. During the week following the fire we spent many hours with city administrators, fire department personnel, insurance people, local and Columbus press, and especially the professional arson investigators, who needed meticulous drawings and earlier photographs of all the interior rooms and furnishings of the house prior to beginning their analysis of causes and origins of the fire.

    The Historical Society has owned and operated the house since the 1990's, giving tours during the Dan Emmett Festival each August and hosting visits by students each May from every 3rd grader in the Mount Vernon Schools.