Popular Wisconsin Restaurant Destroyed by Fire

A popular Platteville, Wis. restaurant has been destroyed by a fire that took nine hours to knock down.

The Wisconsin State Journal reports the three-story building housed the Chicago’s Best restaurant, a popular gathering place for permanent residents of the college town, as well as nine apartment units that mostly housed students from UW-Platteville, many of whom were not there when the fire broke out Saturday morning.

Platteville Fire Chief Dave Izzard says the building was around 100 years old. He says that made the fire hard to fight – every time firefighters would tear down a ceiling they’d find another ceiling behind it. Eventually, firefighters had to make an emergency exit as the roof started collapsing.

He says the building is a total loss. The cause is under investigation.