NEW MARKET, Tenn. — UPDATE: APRIL 1: The State Fire Marshal's Office joined Jefferson County Sheriff's Office investigators and New Market Volunteer fire authorities Monday morning in investigating what caused the fire that destroyed the main office of the Highlander Research and Education Center.
Capt. Sammy Solomon of the New Market Volunteer Fire Department said state fire officials arrived Monday morning. Their work likely will take hours as they sift through what's left of the main building, he said.
Fire early Friday quickly swept through the wooden frame building, headquarters of one of the nation's oldest social justice institutions.
The building was a total loss. Other buildings on the Highlander campus were not affected.
State spokesman Kevin Walters referred questions about the investigation to Jefferson County authorities.
"This is still an open investigation. We do not comment about open investigations," he said in an email Monday.
PREVIOUS STORY: East Tennessee authorities are investigating after fire crews responded to a fully engulfed business early Friday morning.
A fire had engulfed the Highlander Research and Education Center's main office located at Highlander Way, causing a "total loss" of the building, Solomon said. There were no injuries as of 6:30 a.m.
The center was one of the nation's oldest social justice institutions, providing education and training for emerging movements throughout the South, Appalachia and the world.
"Highlander has been a movement home for nearly 87 years and has weathered many storms. This is no different," the center said in a press release. "While we are physically unhurt, we are saddened by the loss of our main office."
Marjorie Stewart was born in Selma, Alabama. She says as soon as she moved to East Tennessee she discovered the Highlander Center.
"It was like a breath of fresh air, a place where I could be myself," she said.
She attended multiple racial injustice workshops at the center and would later have her children attend a few, too. She said the history ingrained in the center is priceless.
"To know people like Rosa Parks, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and John Lewis were there," she said. "This is where they came to plan the Montgomery bus boycott."
But on Friday some of that history was damaged. The office was home to decades of historic documents, speeches, artifacts and memorabilia from movements across the years -- including the Civil Rights Movement.
Stewart said hearing the news was disheartening.
"It makes me sad because I can't imagine the wealth of documents," she said.
By the end of the morning, crews had put the fire out.
While that one building may be destroyed, Stewart said the Highlander is a generational gem and its history is something the country will never forget.
"The history is going to be alive, it's there... it's just not compiled in one location," she said. "We'll always have it."
New Market was the leading department on the response, with assistance from Rural Metro Fire and the Dandridge and Jefferson City Fire Departments, according to Solomon.