Owners Of Historic Tuttle Building Destroyed In Fire Speak Out

The town of Tuttle lost a window to its past early Tuesday morning. The 104-year building known as “The Bank Building” went up in flames.

Lonnie Paxton and his wife have owned the structure for the past 19 years. Ten Tuttle businesses operated out of the building.

5/7/2013 Related Story: Large Fire Damages Downtown Tuttle Building

Ninety years ago, the second floor was home to the “Tuttle Opera.” It was a theater, where actors would come from all across the Southwest to put on plays and shows.

Paxton says structural engineers will decide if the building has to be demolished. He says his thoughts right now are for the ten businesses that now have no home.

“I don’t know where they’re going to go or what they’re going to do,” said Paxton. “And that’s troublesome. Plus all the historical loss, I mean what was up there is irreplaceable.”

Fire investigators have not yet determined the cause of the fire that began in the rear of the building around 5 a.m. Tuesday.