Gatesville plans all-day square relief benefit after downtown fire

The April 25 Square Relief Benefit is set to put money directly into the downtown recovery effort, using Gatesville’s courthouse square as the place where the community can help rebuild what the March 16 fire took away. From 10 a.m. until 10 p.m., residents will find live music, food trucks, vendors, a kid zone and family activities on the square, with Mission Gatesville, the City of Gatesville and KWTX sponsoring the event.

The fire started about 6:50 p.m. Monday, March 16, on the southwest corner of the courthouse square near the Coryell County Sheriff’s Office and burned into the morning of Tuesday, March 17. Later reports said four buildings were destroyed, including The Gatesville Messenger, Leaird’s Furniture, Freedom Bail Bonds and Davidson Chiropractic. Smoldering was still being reported as late as March 24, a reminder that the damage lingered long after the flames were out.

For Gatesville, the loss was not only commercial. The square sits inside the newly listed Gatesville Downtown Historic District, and the Coryell County Courthouse, built in 1897-98, still anchors county court functions at the center of town. That is why closing the courthouse square for the benefit matters. It sends a clear message that downtown is still the civic center of Coryell County, even after a fire that forced three firefighters to the hospital during the response and disrupted some of the square’s best-known storefronts.

Organizers have built the benefit as both a fundraiser and a return to ordinary life downtown. The lineup includes Pearl Bluegrass, the CCC Praise Team, Alice Perryman, Lonny Clyde, Natalie McCarley, Mike and Bailey Dickie, Rocky Pickett, Thiele Alvarado, Jerry Don Branch, Sharp Shooter, Every Rose, the Josh Evetts Band, Texas Connection, Gene Watson and special guest Colin Dexter. That mix of local and recognizable names is meant to draw a crowd back onto the square and turn attendance into direct support for the businesses, workers and property owners still absorbing the loss.

State fire marshal reporting found no evidence the fire was intentionally set, though the investigation continued. In the meantime, Gatesville is trying to convert grief into action: a full day on the square, a public show of support, and a clear step toward restoring the block that helped define downtown life.