Historic Sam Houston State University stained-glass window rises from the ashes
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (KTRK) -- In the early hours of the morning on Feb. 12, 1982, smoke billowed out of the Old Main building at Sam Houston State University in Huntsville.
The nearly century-old academic hall succumbed to the flames. The cause is still a mystery.
The fire claimed a collection of stained-glass windows. One of those windows, the Sam Houston Memorial Window, which stood 17 feet high by seven feet wide, had served to honor Sam Houston and the heroes of Texas.
An accounting student at the university, Joe Janczak couldn't stand to see that beautiful window commemorating Texas history remain shattered in the ashes of the destroyed building. So Jaczak started an immense restoration project on the windows some years later, piecing the window back together, one shard at a time.
