News Talk 94.1/AM 1600 Where The Upper Cumberland Talks
Work began this week to build a memorial park outside the new Putnam County Veterans Services Office.
The park off Highway 70 will remember the county’s veterans as well as the 19 people who lost their lives in the 2020 tornado. The Patton House Doll Museum, destroyed in the tornado, previously sat on the site.
“Because that was where that building was,” Putnam County Mayor Randy Porter. “It’s where the tornado it was in the center of the tornado area. So we want to do something to make sure that we don’t ever forget how precious life is. And we don’t want to forget what service those veterans provide to us, not only the ones that have already provided, but the ones that do on a daily basis that keep us free and protect our country.”
The park would sit behind the new Veterans Building on a large lot owned by the county. County Maintenance staff has begun the process of using fill dirt to level the site.
“We’ve got an architect helping us draw some drawings of what we want it to be,” Porter said. “And if everything works good, we’ll be in the middle of it this summer and hopefully get it done and finish before fall.”
Porter said money from the sale of county property on Old Bridge Road will help pay for the work. The county recently sold the old elections precinct on that property that had been vacant for some time.
The county purchased the Doll House Museum site following the tornado to build a new Veterans Service Office, Veterans Museum, and a home for the county archives. The Doll House collection will also be housed there. FEMA money from the tornado was used for part of that project.
“Not sure exactly what we’ll call it, if it’ll be the Putnam County Veterans Memorial Park or whatever, but it’s going to be an honor of our veterans and those 19 that lost their lives,” Porter said.
