Courthouse Arson Suspected Fire Puts Divorce Capital Of Washington Briefly Out Of Business

A spectacular fire that gutted the Lincoln County Courthouse on Thursday may have saved Debbie Crooker’s marriage.

“My God, what happened?” asked Crooker, as her pickup idled outside the burned-out brick building Friday morning. “I was supposed to file divorce papers today.”

Arson is suspected in the fire that put the divorce capital of Washington briefly out of business.

“We have suspicions it was set,” said Davenport Fire Chief Wayne Badgley, who wouldn’t disclose any evidence.

State fire investigators visited the courthouse Friday and will be back the day after Christmas, said Badgley. The federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms plans to join the investigation, at the request of the Lincoln County Sheriff’s Department.

The fire, which started on the second floor, destroyed that floor, the roof and the picturesque cupola. The main floor and basement were heavily damaged by water.

Each year, some 2,000 out-of-towners file for divorce in Lincoln County, which has the most lax requirements in the state.

Records of those dissolutions, along with paperwork for marriages, subdivisions and more than 100 years of county business, were stored in vaults that are supposed to be waterproof and fireproof.

“We’ll see,” said auditor Shelly Johnston, who hopes to retrieve some records by Tuesday, so the county can begin processing paychecks, W-2 forms and other end-of-the-year paperwork.

County agencies plan to reopen Tuesday in a vacant building owned by the Davenport Times newspaper and in mobile offices.

County officials don’t know whether the courthouse can be restored, said county Commissioner Ted Hopkins. A structural engineer who looked at the building Friday, but could not go inside, told commissioners it looked salvageable.

The building and its contents were insured for $4.3 million, said Hopkins. That won’t be enough to replace or restore it, he said, and the county plans to ask for state money.

Gov. Mike Lowry on Friday made a detour to Davenport after a visit in Yakima.

The governor, an Eastern Washington native and fan of old architecture, “is real familiar with that area and that courthouse,” said Lowry’s spokeswoman, Judith Gilmore.

Constructed in 1897 and expanded in 1903, the courthouse is the only one in the state built with Georgian-style architecture, said Superior Court Judge Phil Borst.

“I just spent the last seven years doing a restoration project on the second floor,” Borst said.

The building’s interior trim was finely sculpted wood. Its halls were decorated with portraits of every judge ever elected in Lincoln County.

Its entry still is framed between two white columns as big as the maple trees in the courtyard.

“There’s a lot to be said for older courtrooms,” said Borst. “I don’t want them to replace it with a penitentiary-style building.”

The courthouse is perched on the highest rise in Davenport. The fire, which was reported at 10:10 p.m., was visible for miles, drawing town residents and area farmers.

Many returned Friday to drive slowly past the courthouse, craning their necks and shaking their heads.

“A lot of them were crying,” said Hopkins.

Crooker, who had never seen the courthouse before Friday, took the fire as a sign.

“This (divorce) is just not meant to be,” she said, climbing into her pickup for the trip back to Spokane.

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