Look Back ... to a tornado striking Ashland, 1948
Apr. 7—April 7, 1948, in The Star: Clay County Probate Judge Wilbur Nolen estimates $250,000 worth of damage resulted when a tornado struck Ashland yesterday, destroying at least 10 homes, and damaging about 30 others. Five people were injured, but none seriously. A recently completed gym at the rear of Clay County High School was destroyed and the high school itself was partially unroofed. An elementary school was destroyed, too. Appearing around 3:30 p.m., the tornado skirted the main section of Ashland but slashed through a residential section. In Anniston, the same unsettled weather produced heavy rain, with the greatest concentration being between Anniston and Oxford, where it's estimated that at least three inches fell within a 30-minute period. Yet barely more than an inch was recorded as falling at the Airport Weather Station. Also this date: Special ceremonies this coming Sunday will mark the laying of the cornerstone for the new building of Anniston's First Baptist Church congregation. The pastor of Parker Memorial Baptist, Dr. B. Locke Davis, will be the guest speaker. Additionally: The median "islands" along Quintard Avenue have seen so much pedestrian traffic over the decades that footpaths have been cut into the grass. Mayor E. D. Banks is having no more of that, having today ordered that the pathways be plowed up and grass seed sown along the scarred areas. Banks asks now that pedestrians walk to the corners to cross the boulevard.
April 7, 1998, in The Star: The new commissioner of the Alabama Department of Human Resources, Tony Petelos, said yesterday that DHR will soon add seven caseworkers to its Anniston office to help deal with the large volume of cases.
