Gatesville downtown still recovering as benefit planned after fire

Byron Leaird’s family furniture store has anchored downtown Gatesville since 1898, and a month after fire tore through the west side of the courthouse square, the damage around Leaird’s Furniture is still easy to see. Charred walls, boarded windows and gutted storefronts on the 100 block of South 6th Street show how deeply the March 16 blaze hit the county seat’s business core.

The fire broke out around 6:50 p.m. on the southwest corner of the courthouse square and damaged or destroyed at least four businesses: Leaird’s Furniture, The Gatesville Messenger, Freedom Bail Bonds and Davidson Chiropractic. Three firefighters were hospitalized after the blaze, and Coryell County Judge Roger A. Miller signed a local state of disaster declaration on March 17, opening state assistance, recovery crews and additional emergency operations.

Investigators later said the State Fire Marshal’s Office ruled out criminal intent and traced the fire’s origin to the Gatesville Messenger building. That finding did not change what downtown residents could still see: a block of historic buildings, some described as dating to the early 1900s, left burned, boarded and waiting for the slower work of cleanup and rebuilding. The Gatesville Messenger has served the community since 1907, making the loss feel personal for longtime readers, workers and neighbors who tied part of downtown’s identity to the paper’s corner of the square.

Officials also asked residents not to call 911 about smoke continuing to come from the burned buildings while cleanup continued. A month later, the square still carried the look of an active recovery zone, with the scars of the fire visible where normal storefront activity once filled the block. The disruption went beyond damaged buildings. It affected employees, customers and the small businesses that rely on the courthouse square as both a commercial hub and a civic landmark.

The next phase has become financial as much as physical. First National Bank established an employee fire benefit fund, and the Gatesville Square Relief Benefit was set for April 25 from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. downtown. Proceeds are intended to help business owners, employees and first responders affected by the fire. For a square built on long-standing local businesses like Leaird’s and The Gatesville Messenger, the relief effort marks the shift from emergency response to the hard, uneven work of getting downtown back on its feet.