Seguin's Giant Pecan threatened by downtown blaze

Giant Pecan, gutted buildings in background.

Seguin's Giant Pecan threatened by downtown blaze

A fire Tuesday gutted a hardware store and two other businesses directly across the street from the giant pecan statue in Seguin, Texas. The fire was stopped before leaping across the street, where it might have consumed the county courthouse AND the pecan.

Smiler Wesley Treat was on the scene the next day: "Downtown Seguin was ravaged by fire, destroying the Vivroux True Value Hardware store and an adjoining cafe. However, though it occurred just yards from The World's (Second) Largest Pecan, the big nut survived."

Fire damage across from Pecan.

Wesley's photos, shown here, reveal that while the strip of businesses were gutted, local firefighters kept the blaze from leaping across the street onto the county courthouse. We suspect that even if all of Seguin had burned up, the Pecan would still stand proudly.

Investigators trying to determine the cause of the blaze were hampered by the discovery of asbestos in the destroyed buildings. No one has yet pointed a finger of blame at any rival World's Largest Pecan towns.

[07/22/2001]

World's Second Largest Pecan

Address:: E. Court St., Seguin, TX
Directions:: East of San Antonio in downtown Seguin, near the intersection of Hwys. 123 and 90A, on the north lawn of the Guadalupe County Court House.

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