WILSON — Libbie Sebesta thought of the old wedding dress and costumes on mannequins, and the pictures chronicling the history of this Czech community.

All are likely gone, said Sebesta, caretaker of the Wilson Opera House — built in 1901 — as she surveyed the charred remains of the town’s limestone icon.

“I came down to get some groceries, and to look at it,” Sebesta said late Friday morning.

The old building was “still burning” late Friday afternoon, she said, holding no hope that any priceless artifacts and historical records could be salvaged.

“If the fire didn’t get it, the water would’ve,” Sebesta said.

Hours after the blaze was controlled Friday morning, firefighters were dousing hot spots as smoke continued to billow from the ashes. Others were taking a breather after a long night of battling a blaze that claimed so much Wilson history.

“We had a lot of old stuff — rolltop desks, display cases from stores that have closed,” said Sebesta, 79. “All my scrapbooks are there. They’re gone. The pictures are the main thing. Many of them will be 100 years old or more.”

Dozens of folks watched from across the Union Pacific Railroad tracks as cleanup began at the opera house, Dr. Ronald Whitmer’s medical office and the Johnson Building, an auto garage and storage building that sits between the two.

Wilson Police Chief Mike Schoenhofer said the fire started in the garage, but how it started was anybody’s guess. The building’s owner, John Johnson, could not be reached Friday.

Rod Oldridge, of Salina, an investigator with the Kansas Fire Marshal’s Office, was “just getting started” with the probe aimed at determining what sparked the fire.

By late Friday afternoon, Oldridge said the cause of the fire was undetermined, the police chief said.

Could’ve lost the block The fire was reported by a citizen at 2:30 a.m., Schoenhofer said.

When he arrived, the garage was engulfed in flames, and the east wall of the opera house was on fire.

Wilson firefighters were moments behind, and immediately called for backup, said Nick Nelson, a Wilson firefighter.

Fire departments from Russell and Ellsworth brought their aerial trucks so they could attack the blaze from high above the roofs of the three buildings.

“If it wouldn’t have been for the aerial trucks, we could’ve lost the whole block,” said Tim Whitmer, a Wilson firefighter.

There were at least a dozen fire departments helping at the fire. The North Central Kansas chapter of the American Red Cross sent an emergency response truck from Salina to provide food and drink to 126 emergency workers, according to a Red Cross release.

Firefighters fought the fire for more than eight hours, Schoenhofer said. “The worst of it was over in three to four hours.”

The building next door to the opera house, where American Legion Post 262 is located, was spared. Police Chief Schoenhofer said there are concerns whether the wall separating the legion and the opera house can function as an outside wall.

Police, Ellsworth County sheriff’s officers and others were busy at midday, setting up barricades on the south shoulder of Old Highway 40 in front of the burned buildings. That section is known as 27th Street in Wilson.

Medical records were safe

At the longtime medical clinic, people were hauling out furniture, equipment and files to a soggy side lot.

Most important were the confidential medical records of patients at the clinic, said Beth Vallier, spokeswoman for Ellsworth County Medical Center, Ellsworth.

“Those were all safely secured,” she said.

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Bev says....
I sure hate to see the old Opera house being destroyed like that. I believe they were remodling it. Its a historic site in Wilson. Loosing those 3 buildings will devistate the town of Wilson.
11/6/2009

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Chic says....
It's NOT "Main Street", which goes north-south. It's on the highway, which goes east-west.
11/6/2009

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Shiroky says....
Opera House basement house the museum. Our great-grandparents and grand-parents items were in it!
11/6/2009

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