Mayfield, the Graves County seat, celebrated the groundbreaking Thursday of a new city hall and police department in its downtown.
Mayor Kathy O’Nan spoke emotionally about the community’s path to rebuilding after a historic long-track tornado killed 24 people in the county and damaged or destroyed thousands of structures in its path across the state.
“The journey to this spot has been stressful at times,” O’Nan said. “It has caused us much angst, because when millions and millions of dollars are involved and you're just not quite sure where you're going to get that … you worry, but here we stand.”
Along with O’Nan, federal, state and local officials spoke at the groundbreaking, including Gov. Andy Beshear. The governor spoke about his experience on the night of the Dec. 10 tornado outbreak, which killed 81 Kentuckians and impacted communities across western and central Kentucky.
“One of the hardest nights of my life was sitting in that emergency operations center as an EF-4 tornado stayed on the ground in Kentucky for over 200 miles,” Beshear said. “Today is a realization of hope that because you put one foot in front of the other, even with your entire town in rubble around you, you have reached this great day where you know the funding is in place to rebuild homes, to rebuild infrastructure, to rebuild your city hall better than ever before and, for the first time in Mayfield history, to make sure that your great police department has their own headquarters.”
Mayfield Police chief Nathan Kent began his remarks by noting Thursday was the 1,028th day of the town’s recovery. The police chief said he’s hopeful that the new facilities will be “modern marvels of engineering that every Graves Countian can be proud of.”
“By the time I got to Mayfield on the night of the tornado, every one of your policemen had self deployed. They left their own families to come to aid whomever was in need. Many worked on foot that night, as half the fleet had been destroyed,” Kent said. “Despite seemingly endless challenges, these young men and women have never missed a call for service. I have such pride in their uninterrupted service delivery to our community.”
Kent added that the standalone police department building is being constructed to aid in the formal accreditation of the agency.
Kentucky’s General Assembly appropriated just over $48.2 million in West Kentucky State Aid Funding for Emergencies (SAFE) funds to build a new city hall and police station, renovate Mayfield Electric and Water Systems buildings and build a new fire station. The city broke ground on the new fire station last month.
Beshear and O’Nan both praised the work of Kentucky Republican state Sen. Jason Howell and outgoing Kentucky state Republican Rep. Richard Heath in working to get that funding approved by the general assembly. Heath paused during his remarks to wipe tears from his face as he spoke of how “the heartbeat of Mayfield” city hall never stopped in the wake of the disaster.
“City and county government worked together, along with state and federal officials, to meet the needs one day at a time, day after day, until order and stability could be restored,” he said. “The business of city government continued, and soon it will be back in one location and functioning even better than it did before the tornado. This is what happens when everyone comes together and works for a common good.”
Graves County broke ground on a new courthouse in December 2023, just after the two-year anniversary of the disaster.
More than $21.6 million from the Team Western Kentucky Tornado Relief Fund has been committed so far to construct or repair 300 homes in the state. So far, more than 200 homes have been finished or are in the process of being built – with over 100 of those located in Graves County.
In the days and weeks after the tornado, the community came together with the help of outside agencies and volunteers to help their neighbors pick up the pieces. O’Nan likened the city and its peoples’ resiliency to a giant Sequoia tree and the nature of its roots.
“They intertwine, and they hold each other up when those mighty winds blow and they do not fall. That's us: We are those roots,” she said. “This town that we love so much stood strong through whatever was thrown at it. Whether you are a lifelong Mayfieldian, lived here a short time or traveled just to celebrate with us today, you are part of our roots.”
U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell also spoke at the groundbreaking, drawing chuckles from the crowd and Beshear when he called O’Nan his “favorite Democrat.” The Republican, who is set to step down from his leadership position in November, said Thursday was a big day for the western Kentucky town.
“I'm sure there were days when many of you thought, are we ever going to get there? So today is a symbol of the answer to the question: We are going to get there,” McConnell said. “We're going to rebuild Mayfield. It's going to be the most modern city in Kentucky.”
Kentucky’s federal delegation helped to net $123 million in federal funding for Kentucky to rebuild from the natural disasters of 2021.
Those modernization plans mentioned by Beshear and McConnell also include a joint effort between Kentucky’s Department for Local Government and the Kentucky Housing Corporation announced in June. The agencies will use a portion of that funding to help construct nearly 1,000 affordable rental units in western Kentucky to replenish the region’s housing stock after the disaster. More than 120 of those units will be built in Mayfield.
“There are still families out there in need, and we'll keep building those houses because the last family that gets one of those houses is just as important as the first one,” Beshear said. “Make sure that we do this right, that we answer that calling and that we keep that promise that Mayfield is going to be the newest town in all of Kentucky and in all of America.”
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