Mayfield takes emotional step toward tornado recovery with opening of historic park

Mayfield community celebrates rebuilding historical park in wake of deadly tornado

The long-track, EF-4 tornado decimated the community of Mayfield on Dec. 10, 2021. Now the community has taken the next step in the healing process with the rebuilding of a historical park.

MAYFIELD, Ky. – The town of Mayfield, Kentucky, devastated in December 2021 when an EF-4 tornado tore through their community, leaving 24 dead and much of the city in ruin, is taking another important step forward in their community rebuilding and healing process this week.

Community leaders gathered on Friday to dedicate the opening of Dunbar Park – a powerful message to the rebuilding and re-imagining of Mayfield.

"You know, our community took such a hit, our citizens took such a hit. We lost 24 lives which we can never recover," Mayfield Mayor Kathy O'Nan told FOX Weather. "But we're rebuilding really well at three and a half years."

A LOOK BACK AT THE DEADLIEST TORNADO OUTBREAK IN KENTUCKY'S HISTORY

Dunbar Park sits where, most recently, the school district's bus garage was located. But it was destroyed in the tornado.

A photo shows a damage after tornado hit Mayfield, Kentucky, United States on December 12, 2021. 

(Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency / Getty Images)

"And that night (of the tornado) we called from City Hall to get a bus to take people to shelter," O'Nan said. "And the word from the city school superintendent was, well, we'd like to send a bus, but we don't have any buses left. They were all here, they were all hit."

After the tornado, the city bought the property from the school board with massive amounts of donations from the community and from FOX Weather viewers. From the rubble, a park rose that now honors the historical significance of the original Dunbar School that sat on that property decades ago during the era of segregation.

Recovery still ongoing in Mayfield 3.5 years after deadly tornado

FOX Weather's Robert Ray is in Mayfield, Kentucky where community officials are unveiling new construction out of the EF-4 tornado that left a trail of destruction through the city in December, 2021.

"We wanted this park to tell a story of the history of the property and tell a story for the future generations," said Justin Carrico, Mayfield's city projects administrator. "And so, as they come, they'll see large murals of Helen LeFrance and Ellis Wilson. Ellis attended Dunbar School, went on to become a world-renowned artist and famous for his artwork ... and just sharing that history of that."

Carrico said he is a lifelong resident of Mayfield, and he didn't even know the history of Dunbar School.

"And so being able to use this park as a platform to not only tell the story, but also maybe even redeem the story of how at one point, not everyone was welcome on this property," he said. "But now ... everyone is welcomed at this park, and we want everyone as a community to come together here."

O'Nan said they now think of the park as a jewel.

"We are so proud of the historical significance and then from the tornado significance of this location," she said.

Meanwhile, the rest of the town's recovery is still ongoing, but about to reach more significant milestones.

"We lost every one of our city municipal buildings as did the county lost their buildings," O'Nan said. "So next week, the last piece of that puzzle comes into place when work will begin on our new city hall and police station. Our fire station's moving right along, public works is already in a building. So that part is making it, and we are thankful that our downtown is coming back. And we know that 3 1/2 years is a blink of an eye if your whole town has been destroyed. But we feel like we're making good progress and looking forward to what next year and every year after that will bring for us."