Water main break damages historic Masonic Temple

A water main break under 3rd Avenue in front of the Masonic Temple on the 300 Block burst caused damage to the street and building Thursday.

Water gushed through a sizable hole in the eastern half of the street and cracks in the sidewalk. The water main break was to a water supply line to a fire suppression system in the Masonic Temple and flooded the building's basement.

The owners and building manager of the Havre Historic Post Office, directly across the street, were the first to respond to the situation.

Dave McGee waded through two and a half to three feet of water in the basement to kill the power supply. He said the break happened around 8 p.m.

"I was on my way back from the grocery store when I drove up upon this eruption from the street," McGee said. He works as the old post office's building manager during the summers. Thursday was his last day of work. He was bring home a bottle of champagne to share with the owners of the post office, Drs. Erica Farmer and Marc Whitacre.

"The first thing I did was I went down to the basement and I shut the electricity off to the building right as the water was about to touch the bottom section of the electrical panel," McGee said.

After that, the city got the water turned off and brought a large water pump to assist the old post office groups' four smaller ones. An east section of the 300 Block of 3rd Street is blocked off, but the street is open to traffic.

Whitacre said the Masonic Temple has running water, as the main was to the fire suppression system.

"When I was in the building this morning, there was still mud and standing water in the basement," Whitacre said, adding that the city's water pump exponentially sped up the process of getting the water out of the basement. " ... I think the full extent of the damage is yet to be known."

The water was done pumping around midnight.

The owners of the Masonic Temple will be liable to fix the main and street, as it's a service line into the temple, said Dave Peterson, the director of Public Works for the city of Havre.

He said his guess is that it was a cast-iron pipe that just deteriorated from age.