The new Commandant began expanding the school soon after taking over. He built a three-story wooden frame Mess Hall in 1901 with cadet rooms on the upper floors and added a five-story frame barracks in 1904. Enrollment soared over the first years of the new century with 270 cadets signed up for the start of the 1904 academic session. Then, on November 25, 1904, the day after Thanksgiving, a fire broke out in the new barracks. By morning, three of the academy's main structures were leveled, including the new barracks, the school's original barracks, and its classroom building. Only the Mess Hall building and Kable residence were spared.