The Associated Press
 AP Photo/Waco Tribune Herald, Rod Aydelotte Firefighters watch the historic school building erupts in flames Saturday in Waco, Texas. |
WACO, Texas — A weekend fire that destroyed a historic, long-shuttered elementary school in Waco is under investigation.
The fire at the former Sanger Avenue Elementary School early Saturday morning was one of three within blocks of one another.
When the blaze at the 104-year-old school was reported, firefighters were still at a fire at the empty Townhouse Hotel four blocks away. Late Friday night, crews had responded to a small fire at a defunct restaurant.
A spokesman for the Waco Fire Department said no injuries were reported from the fires, which are all being investigated.
Acting Assistant Fire Chief Benjamin Samarripa said Saturday officials had not determined if the fires were related or whether they’ll be investigated as arson. Attempts by The Associated Press to reach fire officials on Sunday were not immediately successful.
The school was the largest of the three fires. Samarripa said the 42,320-square-foot building was engulfed in flames when crews arrived.
The school, built around 1904, was closed by the school district in 1974. It was briefly a Head Start location but has remained unused since. Two Waco attorneys bought the property in the mid-1980s.
Designed by Waco architect Milton Scott, the building had a cupola, a rotunda, an upstairs auditorium and handsome arches.
“It takes away from Waco’s history to lose something like this,” Waco architect B.J. Greaves told the Waco Tribune-Herald for its Sunday online editions. “This is a tremendous loss to the architectural heritage of our town.”
Sharon Griffith, who attended the school from 1950 to 1956, said she was heartbroken by the building’s destruction.
“It was a beautiful place,” Griffith said. “I remember the big staircases, the library and the beautiful woodwork.”
The school’s current owners had installed a new slate-like roof, boarded up the broken windows, removed some asbestos and tried to find a new use for it.
The Townhouse Hotel has been the subject of a stalemate between Waco city officials and the owner. City officials wanted the hotel fixed up or demolished. In August, a judge levied a $1,000-a-day fine against the owner when he didn’t demolish the building within a 45-day, court-mandated deadline. The owner told the judge he could not afford demolition.