MADISONVILLE, Tenn. — A fire on Monday night caused what appeared to be minor damage in the antebellum Madisonville home of the late Tennessee politician Estes Kefauver.
Owner Lisa Bingham said the damage appeared to be confined mainly to the basement of the downtown home, which dates to the 1830s. Bingham said he believes homeless people may have started the fire.
Madisonville police said the fire, reported about 7:45 p.m. Monday, was under investigation.
The structure has gone through decades of off-and-on preservation efforts and sometimes prolonged neglect, according to city officials. Kefauver, a former U.S. senator from Tennessee and vice presidential candidate in 1956, spent his boyhood there.
Bingham said renovations will continue. Some historic windows in the house were damaged by firefighters working to put out the flames, she said.
Knox Heritage put the home in 2020 on its list of endangered places in East Tennessee.
Kefauver's family moved into the home about 1912. He served in the U.S. House or Senate from the late 1930s until he died in 1963. In 1956, he ran unsuccessfully as the Democratic vice presidential candidate when Adlai Stevenson sought the presidency.
"The Estes Kefauver legacy is at risk of being forgotten and his boyhood home is a vivid reminder of his fading memory," Knox Heritage notes on its website.
City officials battled with a previous owner for years to take care of the property, records show. Demolition was debated off and on. As recently as July 2020, some parts of the house were deemed unsafe, records show.
Arson heavily damaged the interior in 2006.
