O/T -- Our 1854 courthouse burned today

[3victrolas]

Any word on what caused the fire? Also, I see the old plat books on the first floor were removed during the fire. Are these the same books you were using to research your property?

[JohnM]

Hi Sharon,
Apparently workmen were soldering copper gutter and caused a smoldering fire that ignited after they left for the day. The plat books were removed but athere is some water damage although everything paper was removed from the courthouse over the past couple days and loaded onto a semi-truck whose trailer is a freezer to go straight to the paper conservators. Yes, those were the same plat books I was working from . . . beautiful things. The pages were covered in plastic, so hopefully that keeps water damage to a minimum.

The great concern now is the stability of the dome structure which is nearly unsupported on the south east side. The plan is to remove it intact so that it may be replicated as closely as possible. It is going to take one heck of a crane to reach that big ol' thing!

John M

[JohnM]

Three large cranes -- two 165-ton and one 185-ton -- rolled into town yesterday and workers in cages suspended from the booms inspected the dome. Word was that the dome would be removed on Thursday (today). I spent all day on the corner across from the courthouse. The weather was extremely variable alternating between blazing sun and rain. Again suspended in cages from the cranes, two crews chainsawed the towerin half horizontally. This work was tedious and not helped by the changing weather and took all day. When the last sawing had been done, a fierce thunderstorm rolled through and I was forced to retreat to our shop. Driving rain and lightning for thirty minutes. As soon as it let up, they lifted off the top half and I wasn't there to get a photo! I hurried down the street -- one block -- and was only able to photograph the dome as it was lowered onto the ground. Oh well! Here are three images from today:

G8JD8098 72dpi.jpg (188.92 KiB) Viewed 646 times

G8JD8102 72dpi.jpg (194.37 KiB) Viewed 646 times

John M