Proposed 'green space' memorial to tornado victims

GAINESVILLE - A Gainesville architect says the city needs a "Central Park" or a "Woodruff Park" - green space in or near the downtown area similar to what New York City and Atlanta have. But Garland Reynolds says it should be more than that - it should be a memorial to some of the victims of the 1936 tornado.

Reynolds has approached city officials about locating the park on the site of the old Cooper Pants Factory, which was located in an area now bounded by Maple Street, Jesse Jewell Parkway, West Academy Street and Broad Street.

The city owns the bulk of the land where Crossroads Centre Park would be located and the Arts Council owns the strip directly adjacent to the Railroad Museum.

When the deadly twister struck shortly before 8:30 on the morning of April 6 1936, killing 203 and injuring at least 1,600 more and devastating the central part of town, the workday was well underway at the factory, which caught fire after it was damaged.

Reynolds says his father worked at a butcher shop near the factory and over the years recalled hearing the screams from the workers, most of them women, as they were incinerated. Reynolds says it's a part of the history of the tornado that needs to be remembered in a special way; hence, his idea for a park on the site.

Reynolds say his research shows 40-70 people, perhaps as many as 150, died when the building collapsed and caught fire, trapping them inside. It as the worst loss of life in a building fire resulting from a tornado in the country's history.

"For whatever reason, little notice was, or has been since, given his horrific conflagration," he said. "No monument has ever been erected on the site. Few (people) have ever taken notice. To Gainesvillians today, it is as if it never happened."

Reynolds's proposal calls for a landscaped "green space" park with decorated, paved pedestrian sidewalks "reminiscent" of Gainesville as a "crossroads town," where two Indian trails intersected.

"Adding to its historic location, (it) is directly across Jesse Jewell Parkway from the spring (Mule Camp Spring) that caused Gainesville to be founded in this location in 1821," he said.

Reynolds said the only structure in the park would be a pavilion named "The Women's Memorial Pavilion," in honor of the women who died on the site.

"This 5,000-square-foot flower-shaped open structure would be used for such things as winter ice skating, spring and summer garden shows and farmers' marts, fall festivals and a host of other outdoor activities that would bring people into downtown," Reynolds said. "In the center of the park would be a plaza with paving patterns suggesting Gainesville as a port city to Lake Lanier."

http://accesswdun.com/article/2011/3/237222