LITTLE ROCK (AP) -- Investigators have ruled out arson, negligence and faulty wiring as the cause of a fire Wednesday that destroyed a historic building slated to become a black-heritage museum, a Little Rock Fire Department spokesman says.
Capt. Randy Hickmon, spokesman for the department, said Thursday that no utilities were turned on in the Mosaic Templars building when the fire broke out about 2 a.m. He said contractors who had been working in the building had banned smoking inside the structure.
Hickmon estimated damage from the blaze at $500,000. He said the cause of the fire probably wouldn't be determined for several days. On Wednesday, authorities speculated that the fire might have been started by someone entering the building to get warm.
Hickmon said the insurance company for the Department of Arkansas Heritage, which owns the building, also has hired a private firm to investigate the fire.
Meanwhile, officials continued to plan for a museum at the site.
Tommy Jameson, architect for the renovation project -- previously estimated at $8.6 million -- said he was awaiting word on a detailed outline for plans to rebuild.
''I hate that we lost it,'' he said. ''But the upside of this situation is we could duplicate the building or build a new modern building.''
Erected in 1911, the building in its day was the national headquarters for the Mosaic Templars, a group that had chapters in 26 states and six foreign countries. The business provided insurance for blacks at a time when many white-owned companies would not do business with them.
Booker T. Washington dedicated the building in the heart of the black business district along Ninth Street. The site remained a cultural focus for the black community for decades, and an upstairs ballroom brought in jazz performers Duke Ellington, Cab Calloway and Ella Fitzgerald in the 1950s.
