On Dec. 7, 1946, the deadliest hotel fire in history happened at the Winecoff Hotel on Peachtree Street in Atlanta.
Four of the 119 victims were seniors from Gainesville High School, girls attending a state convention for Tri-Hi-Y. Carol Gwenelda McCoy, Suzanne Moreno Moore, Ella Sue Mitchum and Frances Louise Thompson will be remembered in a special ceremony Tuesday, Dec. 7 on the 75th anniversary of the fire.
"[They] were delegates to the Tri-Hi-Y convention and were housed on the tenth floor of the hotel," said Gainesville City School Board member Sammy Smith, who noted the fire originated on the third floor. "They all perished in the fire from smoke inhalation."
The young women, all members of the class of 1947, were honored with a memorial plaque that was originally installed at the entrance of Gainesville High School when it was located on Washington Street. Smith said the plaque has moved a couple of times since then.
"When the high school moved from Washington Street to what was then called Rainey Street - which is the current campus location, of course - the plaque went with it and was for many years in the high school office," Smith said. "In later years, based on reconstruction and remodeling, it ended up on the outside of the school lunchroom."
With the demolition of the old lunchroom in the works, the plaque needed a new home.
Smith said the 75th anniversary of the fire seemed a fitting occasion to relocate and rededicate the memorial.
"The plaque will be mounted on a large piece of marble on the front plaza of the high and this will become its permanent home," Smith said.
Smith said the memorial plaque will be unveiled at 4:30 p.m. Dec. 7 at the front entrance of Gainesville High School. He said at least one member of the GHS Class of 1947 will be in attendance and so will family members of the victims. The public is also invited to attend.
