Demolition started sooner than expected on Fort Scott’s Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church, following a wind storm early on March 1, 2023.

A portion of the facade of the fire-damaged church was blown down by the storm around 2 a.m.

“The front facade came off the building and blocked Eddy Street,” Mark McCoy, who is on the parish committee that is working on the rebuild project, said.

“Eddy Street, in front of the church, will be blocked off until further notice,” he said. “I estimate the demo will take approximately three weeks.”

The church parish committee is in the beginning stages of the design and architecture phase of the church rebuild, he said.

“It will be approximately six months until construction can begin,” McCoy said.

They are anticipating a 12 month construction period, he said.

“The cost to rebuild will be in excess of $5 million,” McCoy said. “The building standards have changed since the building of the church in 1872, at a cost of $20,000.

Mary Queen of Angels Catholic Church, 705 S. Holbrook, Fort Scott suffered extensive damage in a fire that started in late evening on August 29, 2022.

 

When the the Fort Scott Fire Department and FS Police Department units arrived the church was on fire with heavy smoke and flames emitting from the southeast corner of the structure.

The fire was later determined to be from a lightning strike.

Simpson Construction Services, Wichita, is doing the demolition of the church building, and also the construction.