A park grows in St. Elmo
The Roy H. Nelms Jr. Park is restored and expanded after tornado damage
Tim Arnold remembers being a young boy trying to climb the giant oak tree that stood along side of the St. Elmo home where he was born in 1949.
Arnold now owns and lives in the house where he grew up and believes the tree was well over 100 years old when it fell on the gazebo across the street in Roy Nelms Park during the April tornadoes.
"It was already too big to climb when we were little. All four of us kids couldn't reach all the way around it holding hands," Arnold said.
The storm not only took out a piece of Arnold's personal history, but the collateral damage included smashing a piece of the neighborhood's collective memory to honor one of its distinguished citizens.
The Roy Nelms Park was dedicated in 1996 to honor longtime resident and neighborhood leader Roy Nelms.
Nelms is remembered for many things including working with several hundred people in the community to plant 36,000 dutch daffodils along 1.7 miles of St. Elmo Avenue and establishing a series of pocket parks throughout the historic district.
The centerpiece of the park was the wooden gazebo often used for weddings and friendly visits between dog walkers, children, families and neighbors.
Six months after the storm that crushed the gazebo, the community came together Saturday to continue Nelm's legacy of beautification and place making with a day-long celebration to rebuild the gazebo and enhance the park.
The park will have many features and additional uses that were not available before. Overgrowth has been removed so a lower sloped grassy area can be more accessible. A picnic table, grill, benches and bike rack have been installed in addition to the new cedar gazebo.
"The park will be much better than it was. That can be the beauty of a tragedy that sometimes brings people together and this is one example of how that works. These are very special citizens working to put all this back together," Bob Sayles, Chattanooga's director of parks, said.
Paige Wichman is a volunteer with the rebuild project and lived next to the park for five years. She said it is the epitome of what a small neighborhood park should be and she hopes the enhancements make the area a bigger draw.
"Hopefully it can be taken from being a sweet quiet neighborhood park to becoming more of a destination where you can do more and enjoy it more," Wichman said.
Nelms' daughter-in-law and longtime resident, Frankie Post, said she is glad to see the park brought back to life in a bigger way than before.
"St. Elmo was a dream of Roy's. He really took pride and interest in this community. He tried to better the community in every endeavor. I was told that they planted daffodils in memory of him. I'm really proud of it and I know that he would be too," Post said.
The work day was organized by residents of the neighborhood and Chattanooga Stand, a citizen effort devoted to connecting residents, leaders and organizations for community collaborations "to turn vision into action."
Roy Nelms Park was selected as a project site after the group's 2009 community survey showed that the residents of St. Elmo were deeply interested in service projects.
"We aren't just rebuilding the gazebo the city purchased, we are also making it a creative place-making event, adding benches and picnic tables to the area, hosting bluegrass bands, food trucks, and kids activities throughout the day in hopes of bringing the community together. We are hoping to create momentum and have another fun filled project in East Lake the following Saturday," Stand organizer Teal Thibaud said.
Donated services and materials
Grounds Guys - tools and guidance on landscaping projects
Osteen Construction - tools and oversight on gazebo construction/assembly
The United Way Tool Barn - variety of tools
Outdoor Chattanooga - new bike rack
The City of Chattanooga - Cedar gazebo kit, benches, trash bins, mulch and concrete.
