Waxahachie community rallies behind Blind Pig Butchery after fire guts historic building

Waxahachie rallies behind Blind Pig Butchery after fire

The Waxahachie community is supporting a small business after a fire destroyed its historic building. FOX 4 talked to the owner of Blind Pig Butchery, who says there were so many people stopping by to see what happened and how they could help after this historic building caught fire.

WAXAHACHIE, Texas - The Waxahachie community is supporting a small business after a fire destroyed its historic building.

FOX 4 talked to the owner of Blind Pig Butchery, who says there were so many people stopping by to see what happened and how they could help after this historic building caught fire.

A dream up in flames

Local perspective:

Waxahachie Fire Rescue says the fire itself started just after 4:30 on Monday morning. Fire crews had it under control in about 15 minutes. 

No one was hurt but watching it all was restuarant owner, Jay Desimone.

Jay Desimone

"Even just driving there, my wife and I were, like, kind of shaking, like, what are we going to see? And we literally watched our burning building, our business, our dream, you know, catch fire from the inside," said Desimone.

"I kind of just sat there in shock and looked at it, sat helpless. That's probably the biggest, biggest way I felt. I was just helpless. I couldn't do anything."

Desimone spent the last two years learning about every stubborn wall and creaky floorboard of this almost 140-year-old building and renovating it into the Blind Pig Butcher. They had been open for three months prior to the fire.

"We came across the building and said, Yeah, we want to do it here. You know, hindsight, I don't know if we would do it again. I would say yes, you know, God has a plan for this," he said.

History repeats itself

Dig deeper:

This building with so much history had once been the Catfish Plantation and is said to be haunted. The building faced a similar fate when it caught fire in 2003.

"The building is important to us. It's important to Waxahachie. It's important to Ellis County," said Desimone.

Lesson of resilience

Desimone’s kids helped renovate this building, staying late to pull paneling and learning what hard work looks like. But now, they’re learning another lesson.

"They're indebted to this place too, or they have, you know, they have a history here. They have memories here," said the father.

"We are in a very stressful time in our lives, and we're about to show our kids what it's like to work again, you know. Like, hey, we did this once. It's not going to stop us. Let's continue with that work. Let's rebuild and you'll be part of it again."

Support for the Blind Pig family

What's next:

Desimone is trying to figure out what steps to take next to make sure that his employees, which he calls the "Blind Pig Family", still have jobs.

They are trying to raise money as well so they can work on restoring this building.