The City of Dickson is in the early planning stages to build a new City Hall in downtown and a new fire station in the south end of the city.
Mayor Don L. Weiss Jr. discussed the proposals during his annual “State of the City” address at the Dickson County Chamber luncheon Oct. 21 at the First Methodist Church Christian Life Center.
Weiss said a new City Hall will provide the space needed to consolidate all municipal administrative services and replace facilities that are showing signs of aging while a new fire station will replace the current Station #2 in Pomona.
“Currently city services and offices are spread out in multiple locations, and a few of those are bursting at the seams or showing signs of disrepair,” Weiss said.
Most city administrative offices moved into the former Greater Dickson Gas Authority building on East Walnut Street in 2007 and it became City Hall. Weiss said he and then-City Administrator Tom Waychoff never envisioned it would run out of space so soon.
“The Dickson Police Department and Municipal Court stayed behind in the Municipal Building, a 70-year-old building that is showing its age with numerous electrical, plumbing and structural issues as well as a need for more space,” Weiss said.
The mayor said the city is working on a plan to build a new City Hall on the corner of West Walnut and South Main streets with space to bring city administrative offices into one location and keep it downtown.
“It’s going to take some patience, some temporary relocations and inconveniences, but we’re in the early planning stages for a new City Hall,” Weiss said. “The preliminary plan will be to temporarily relocate the police department and municipal court, then tear down the Municipal Building and build a new City Hall at the corner of South Main and Walnut streets that will consolidate all city administrative offices, the police department, municipal court and city council chambers. Best of all, we’ll keep the center of city government in the downtown area, where we’ve invested over 10 million dollars since 2007 to help bring new life to the heart of our city.”
No timeline for the start of the project has been established and no decision has been made about what will happen to the current City Hall on East Walnut Street.
With the new Dickson Fire Department Station #3 opening on Highway 70 East at Ridgecrest Drive almost a year ago, Mayor Weiss said the city is now looking at replacing the 33-year-old Station #2 on Pringle Drive in Pomona. The station needs expansion and is experiencing some structural issues.
With the city’s development south along Highway 46 to beyond Interstate 40 and continued growth in the William D. Field-Dickson County Industrial Park, the city built the station in 1991 to improve response in the south half of the city.
“Anyone who has been in Dickson more than 40 years can testify that the city has grown tremendously along Highway 46 and beyond Interstate 40,” Weiss said. “When I was growing up, the city ended where the Bank of Dickson stands on Highway 46, or maybe even a little closer, and there were two motels and maybe a couple of gas stations at Exit 172. The commercial and residential growth to the interstate and the growth in our industrial park have increased the importance of updating our emergency response capabilities.”
As the city was looking at potential sites for a new fire station, The Jackson Foundation approached officials about donating property in the Renaissance Park.
The foundation’s board of directors has agreed in principle to donate approximately six acres on Marshall Stuart Drive where the city plans to construct a 6,000- to 7,000-square-foot fire station.
“This station will enable the city to continue providing firefighting and emergency medical responses to the industrial park, to I-40, to the southern end of the city, and along Highway 46, the busiest road in Dickson County with an average daily traffic count over 30,000 vehicles, according to TDOT,” Weiss said. “Not only are we planning a new fire station on the site, but we also want to build a training facility that will enable us to train our own firefighters instead of having to send them to other departments and we’ll be able to provide training for other fire departments. We cannot thank Sen. Doug Jackson and the board of The Jackson Foundation enough for their generosity.”
The city and foundation plan to complete the property donation soon after the first of next year and the planning for the new fire station will begin.
The mayor also announced the city was notified Oct. 15 that it has been approved for a Historic Development Grant from the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development.
“The $200,000 grant requires a 70 percent local match and will be used to make roof and interior repairs to the historic War Memorial Building,” Weiss announced. “The 91-year-old building has been on the National Register of Historic Places since 1999 and has been the home of the Dickson County Chamber since 2019.”
The War Memorial Building opened in 1933 as a tribute to Dickson County citizens who gave their lives during World War I. It has since added plaques with the names of residents who made the ultimate sacrifice in World War II, the Korean Conflict, the Vietnam War, the Gulf Wars and the War on Terror.
The War Memorial Building in Dickson is one of two Depression-era buildings constructed with the aid of the Tennessee state government; the other being in Cocke County.
The building was constructed on the site of the Dickson Courthouse in 1932-33. It was designed by Nashville architect Emmons H. Woolwine, who also designed the Davidson County Courthouse and John Sevier State Office Building.
It has undergone numerous renovations and was recognized on the Historic Register in 1999 for being “significant not only for its architectural integrity and Colonial Revival design, but for its intact thread of social purpose as a civic center for the Dickson community. The building stands out as a symbol of Dickson’s social history in addition to its stature as a local architectural landmark. It also holds statewide significance as one of only two war memorial buildings funded by the state.”
The city and chamber renovated the interior of the building’s lower level and it became the chamber’s new home in 2019.
Subscribe to our FREE Newsletter!
