SMITHVILLE, Texas — The City of Smithville will soon have a new Chamber of Commerce, Visitor Center and Railroad Museum at James H. Long Railroad Park.
The City broke ground on the new building on Monday, Dec. 7. Last March, city leaders said a man set the original building on fire in the middle of the night. That building was deemed a total loss and had to be torn down.
The arsonist was arrested about a week later, according to KVUE's partners at the Austin-American Statesman. Many of the artifacts from the museum were saved but were badly damaged by the fire.
Now, after a large number of donations and months of planning, the future building will soon stand right next to where the old one stood.
"Resiliency is actually the perfect word to use. Smithville, Texas, has had its fair share of things that we've had to deal with," Mayor Scott Saunders Jr. said. "[The] thing that makes it such a special place is the people that we have in the community, and this has been no different."
The area where the old building was located will become an outdoor entertainment space, just 100 yards away from the new building. Leaders hope to have the new building completed by March 23 or 24, 2021, around the anniversary of the fire.
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