It was just over a month ago that we saw tornado damage in many of our communities including Clarksville. As that area recovers from this most recent storm, many are taking today to think back on another major weather event. It was a defining moment for Montgomery County, and a lot of it was caught on camera. See the damage from the sky in our video above.
“That’s the courthouse,” Eleanor Williams told NewsChannel 5 as she watched her TV in 1999. “It looks like a bomb has exploded inside. My first thought this morning was to rush down there as if going to a friend who was sick and injured. Of course, I cried. What I grew up and treasured is gone.”
The day of this interview was January 22, 1999. Eleanor was watching tornado damage in downtown Clarksville. At this time, Eleanor was the Montgomery County Historian.
“Many of these that were destroyed this morning were on the National Register of Historic Places,” she said.
In reflecting on that day, we again went to people who work with history— archivist for Montgomery County Sarah Fry and deputy county historian Shana Thornton.