Fire Guts 1828 Courthouse in S.C.
By Margaret Foster | Online Only | Aug. 5, 2008
Arson destroyed the roof and upper floor of the Lancaster County Courthouse, attributed to Robert Mills, Washington Monument designer.
Credit: Lancaster CVB
A South Carolina courthouse that survived the Civil War and an 1886 earthquake went up in flames early yesterday morning.
Police say that vandals set fire to the two-story Lancaster County Courthouse, S.C., which has been in use since 1828.
The fire destroyed the slate roof and gutted the second floor of the National Historic Landmark, designed by the architectural firm of Robert Mills, who designed the Washington Monument.
No one was hurt in the blaze, which firefighters extinguished in three hours. Police found a broken window as evidence of a break-in and are asking for leads in the arson case.
Yesterday a structural engineer began studying the building, and today county officials met to discuss whether the building can be stabilized and saved, according to local historian Lindsey Pettus.
"People have been calling here, coming by here, e-mailing me, seeing me on the street and saying, 'We're sorry, and we want to see it rebuilt, and we want to see it restored,'" Pettus says. "Yesterday I was so disheartened, and today I'm more heartened that we can restore the building."
Mills also designed an 1823 jail in Lancaster, population 63,000, the birthplace of Andrew Jackson.
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