LOUDON, Tenn. — The historic Loudon County Courthouse, which was heavily damaged by a fire last month, may be rebuilt into a venue people could visit, according to the Loudon county leaders.
On April 23, a huge fire broke out in the attic of the historic building and quickly spread. Most of the second floor, where the courtrooms were located, was destroyed.
Loudon County officials vowed to rebuild, and are now eyeing a different use for the building that was built in 1872.
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Jeff Harris, mayor of the city of Loudon, told 10News the hope is to rebuild the courthouse as a museum or historic venue.
Loudon County mayor Buddy Bradshaw said the county also intends on using other parts of the building for records storage.
"Hopefully, we'll be able to save as much as we can, and if not from a usable standpoint, then maybe just a historical standpoint, keepsake standpoint. That's part of our history, and we're going to do everything we can to maintain that history," he said.
Thankfully, a recent structural assessment by a state-registered engineer showed the building's skeleton is okay.
The second floor was extensively damaged by the fire. It's also estimated that between 600,000 to 1 million gallons of water was used to put it out, which caused an excessive amount of water damage that will have to be stripped out.
Still, the assessment concluded that the structure had been in excellent shape prior to the fire, saying it should not 'pose excessive challenges in returning the building to a pre-fire condition.'
The county is also planning on building a new annex on the riverfront. County leaders haven't voted for the plan yet, but the mayor said he hopes the construction would take about two years to complete.
As of right now, the county isn't sure yet how much of the damages will be covered by insurance. They said they hope to know soon.
All of the business conducted in the courthouse has been moved to temporary locations.
Bradshaw said the cause of the fire was likely electrical, but it may never be knows for sure because of the extent of the damage.
Harris said the city had received a $1 million dollar grant from the Tennessee Department of Transportation for the riverfront redevelopment.