What happened to Smokey Hollow? Why do we memorialize it through the Riley Museum and the Smokey Hollow Commemorative Village?-- Part 1 Before the 1950s, Smokey Hollow was a self sustaining community with homes, churches, and businesses. However, the City of Tallahassee wanted to revitalize the Capitol Center Area and looked for a large amount of land to accomplish the task. They turned to Smokey Hollow for its prime real estate which caused the community to spiral into nonexistence. The citys interest in redevelopment began with the construction of Appalachia Parkway. This project cut right through the Smokey Hollow Community. Due to this, the government divested property from homes and businesses which included Nims Grocery Store. However, that was not the end of it. After the construction of Appalachia Parkway, the government started looking towards a new program to revitalize the Capitol Center Area called Urban Renewal. Immediately, the officials thought of the Smokey Hollow Community as a land resource for this project. Commissioner Atkinson even suggested the necessity for a consecrated effort in the promotion of a new office building in the Capitol Center Area and an urban renewal program, and mentioned particularly the Smokey Hollow area. After the Urban Renewal Bill was passed in 1959 by legislators. The Tallahassee Democrat called onto the people for their help to undertake slum clearance and redevelopment of cleared areas with maximum opportunity for private enterprise (February 23, 1960). They spent their time and resources on convincing the public how dangerous Smokey Hollow was to the rest of Tallahassee. In the same newspaper, the Health Department was quoted for their report on Smokey Hollow. They described Smokey Hollow as 400 people live in the 157 dwelling units in the 112 residential structures in the slum and that 74 of the residential structures and four of the 13 non residential buildings are substandard. The sanitarians reported entire families living in a single room. They found homes with only dirt floors and there is little plumbing. Some of the homes have no utilities. These slum areas will generate and always coincide with a high concentration of tuberculosis, high infant mortality, venereal disease, delinquency, and high public assistance. These reports helped convince the public for the need of urban renewal. The Democrat gave the results of votes: 2, 047 for and 1, 164 against the bill. The construction of Appalachia Parkway and the passing of the Urban Renewal Bill by the public was only the beginning towards Smokey Hollows nonexistence. Thank you State Archives of Florida for some of the photos!
Posted on: Tue, 22 Jul 2014 16:47:28 +0000
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