An early morning water line break on Wednesday shut down the City Center and the courthouse for the afternoon as crews worked to repair it.

On Thursday both buildings were open. By 11:30 a.m. crews will change bands on the pipes.

The 10-inch line broke at approximately 8:30 a.m. leaving the city building and surrounding businesses without water.

The city building was closed by 12:30 p.m. with the courthouse, except for the county engineer’s office, following suit at 1 p.m.

Ironton Mayor Rich Blankenship cited the recent change in temperatures as the cause for the break.

“It is warming up and the ground is drying and the lines tend to break,” he said. “Even though we have had one or two days of hot weather, the ground is moving those lines.”