Years of history were reduced to rubble early Saturday morning as an intense fire destroyed the Wise County Heritage Museum, considered a fundamental piece of Wise County and Decatur’s past.
The building, constructed in 1893, housed Decatur Baptist College, which was relocated in 1965, becoming Dallas Baptist College.
For the past 50 years, the Heritage Museum served the community by telling the county’s story.
As the blaze spread through the timbers and hardwoods of the 130-year-old landmark, towering flames illuminated the sky from miles away. Several fire departments joined in the effort to suppress the flames, including aerial support fighting the fire from above.
While the museum took efforts to digitize many records and archives over the years, so much history was destroyed, including the Lost Battalion exhibit, featuring an unrivaled collection of pictures, uniforms, and other treasured materials of the Texas soldiers, many of whom from Wise County, who were imprisoned in Japan for 42 months during World War II.
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