Ota Benga

The deadliest fire in Lynchburg history occurred here at a Federal Transient Bureau shelter on 24 March 1934. The Bureau, opened by the Federal Emergency Relief Administration as part of the New Deal, housed out-of-work men passing through town during the Great Depression. The two-story building was overcrowded when an early morning kitchen fire spread rapidly and claimed the lives of at least 19 inhabitants; about 70 others were injured. The federal government returned many bodies to their families, but seven were buried locally in the Old City Cemetery. National attention was focused on Lynchburg, and federal guidelines for homeless shelters were improved as a result of this disaster. Q-6-44

44 Cary Devall Langhorne (1873-1948)

313 Washington St Lynchburg native Cary D. Langhorne spent his early years here. A surgeon in the U.S. Navy, he was wounded in the Philippine-American War (1899-1902). During the Mexican Revolution, the U.S. government disputed the legitimacy of Mexican Pres. Victoriano Huerta. Clashes over a German arms shipment and the detention of American sailors led Pres. Woodrow Wilson to order American vessels, including Langhorne’s ship USS Vermont, to seize the port of Veracruz. On 22 Apr. 1914, during the ensuing battle, Langhorne carried a wounded man to safety under heavy fire, for which he received the Medal of Honor. He later served aboard a hospital ship during World War I.