MASON, Texas (AP) – A suspect has been arrested after a massive fire destroyed all the exterior walls of a 111-year-old Texas courthouse, an official said.
The fire broke out at the Mason County Courthouse in Mason, about 100 miles northwest of Austin, on Thursday night. No one was in the building. Judge Jerry Bearden, county of Mason, said the flames could be seen miles away.
“Right now it’s just a shell,” he told television station KXAN. “It just breaks your heart to look at it.”
He told The Associated Press on Friday that fire investigators suspected arson in both the court in the fire and another fire around the same time in a home about a mile away.
The Texas Fire Department said in a statement that it had joined law enforcement agencies investigating the fire, but a spokesman would not provide details about the investigation Friday. The sheriff did not return a message from the AP.
The courthouse, which is made of local sandstone, has been prepared for renovation work, and all provincial records have been removed, Bearden said. He said only a few pieces of furniture were in the building.
He said the firefighters ‘did their best’ but ‘they could not really do anything to keep the flames out.’
Bearden said the court tower clock, with a clock, was destroyed.
“It’s just a terrible tragedy for the people here in this country,” Bearden said. “This is the focal point of our community, our country.”
Bearden said officials will have an engineer look at the exterior walls in hopes of eventually rebuilding the ‘old lady’.
Mason County has a population of about 4,300.