Courthouse Update 8 April 23

It’s incredible’ | Loudon County Courthouse reopens six years after being ravaged by fire. A supposed electrical fire back in April 2019 destroyed the courthouse, and the county spent roughly a half million dollars in repairs

LOUDON COUNTY, Tenn. (WVLT) - After a fire destroyed the historic Loudon County Courthouse six years ago, the building is now back up and running.

“Just about to cross the finish line and get back in. The construction company has done a great job of of putting it back together, but also keeping that historical look like it was before the fire,” Loudon County Circuit Court Clerk Steve Harrelson said.

This building was built back in 1872. For so long, it has meant so much to the community.

When the fire happened, the building was deemed as salvageable, and the Loudon County community made sure to get it repaired.

The building lost all in person files, the courtroom itself and the law library.

With its reopening, Loudon County Mayor Buddy Bradshaw said their town is whole once again.

“It’s incredible. you know, this courthouse is really the heartbeat of our county, and especially the Loudon downtown area and this community as a whole,” Bradshaw said. “We’re so glad to see it back and everybody coming out. We’re going to celebrate it, and and then they’re going to move back in and get ready to go back to work.”

While repairs were being made, Loudon County Court has been operating out of an old building in Loudon City.

While the temporary fix has been working, county leaders have been waiting patiently to return to their original building.

“We have such a great county we live in. You look at the millions that insurance has put back into it. The county itself we’ve put around a little bit shy of $500,000 into it,“ Bradshaw said. ”We’ve modernized this building, so we ultimately, of course, it’s been a long time coming, but we’re better off on the backside of it with every of the all the advancements and improvements we’ve made on the interior."

The reopening of the historic building is almost exactly six years to the date. County officials said this move back to their home base has been a long time coming.

“April 23, 2019, we were all devastated to see the fire, you know, destroy the building, but now we’re excited. Six years later almost to the day, to be able to get back in the courthouse, it’s been a big community support project,” Harrelson said.

County leaders will slowly begin moving back in, and it will soon become a secure area for court hearings once again.