Incinerator Hill in Northeast
History is not always pretty when it’s revealed as in the case of “The Dump“ at the upper level of Washington Park that was covered up in 1963 (per RR Wilkenson page). The toxic underground fumes remain today and are why the Washington Park swimming pool must be built on the lower level (per The Roanoke Rambler). I have now been told about another dump called Incinerator Hill that was less than a mile away in Old Northeast.
My cousin Doris Jean Harris Leftwich shared with me today that she and my mother Gloria Prease Jones and other children would play on the grass near this incinerator located between Kimball Ave. and Gilmer Ave. NE.
She said it was practically next to Gilmer Elementary School and my brother-in-law and sister-in-law Tony Preston and Debbie Preston confirmed today this was true. Elder Joyce Boiseau who grew up on Gregory Street also said Incinerator Hill was real.
No respect for the citizens or a school zone
The city of Roanoke placed two dumps in Black neighborhoods about 7 or 8 blocks apart. The Washington Park dump was between 3 African American schools that were only blocks away. Lucy Addison High School, Booker T Washington Junior High, and Lincoln Terrace Elementary School.