WHITE CITY, Ala. – An EF1 tornado with peak winds of 105 mph touched down in Cullman County between White City and Holly Pond Thursday, March 14, 2019, damaging homes as well the White City Community Center. Sadly, the community center, which had served as both a voting precinct and a meeting place for the residents of White City, was damaged beyond repair. Now there is an effort underway to build a new center and to preserve the history of what also used to be part of the White City School.
The nonprofit The White City Community Center of Cullman County was formed to steer the effort.
“We are rebuilding the community center and we want to create a historical wall inside the building with all the historical artifacts from the old White City School,” said the nonprofit’s board chairman Roger Starnes. “It’s a pretty good undertaking.”
The organizers of the effort have records dating back to 1894 showing the purchase of the land for the school as well as more land purchased as the school grew. The White City Community Center was built it 1965.
Starnes explained, “In 1964, when they had the last graduating class of the junior high school, they closed it down. The community bought the property and the building from the State in 1965. The trustees at that time sold the old school building and took the proceeds from that and built the community center as it was and saved two of the old classrooms. The community center was joined to the classrooms and was used until last year’s tornado.”
Finding documents and photos has been no easy task, and the trustees are asking for help from alumni and families of alumni to find photos, records and other artifacts to include in the new community center they are raising money to build.
Starnes said, “We want to have something to remember our history of the community and the school.”
He said that in 1965, when the State sold the property to the community, the State took all the records from the school, where they were kept for a period of time, but they were eventually destroyed.
The plan for the new ADA-compliant center was bid on at $225,000.
“Because we are in a rural area, grants are not as available as one might think,” said Barnes. “Also, the governor (Kay Ivey) did not declare that a disaster tornado; there is no federal FEMA money.”
This leaves the community seeking help from alumni, individuals and businesses to help fund the rebuilding project.
“We will put a plaque with all our donors with their names on it in the building also,” Barnes said.
There are a limited number of corporate grants the organizers are in the process of applying for and hoping to get.
The White City Community Center of Cullman County is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit and all donations are tax-deductible. The organization learned of another White City in Autauga County during filing for nonprofit status, thus requiring the “of Cullman County” designation.
The organization is looking at several fundraising events in the near future and the annual White City School reunion is held each year for alumni and their families to get together and reminisce about their fun memories at White City School.
For more information on the efforts to rebuild the White City Community Center or to donate, visit www.facebook.com/White-City-Community-Center-of-Cullman-County-720323325090323/.
Following the tornado, the White City voting precinct was changed to the Johnson’s Crossing Volunteer Fire Department station located at 1544 County Road 617, Hanceville, Alabama 3the 35077.
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