Cooper Pants Factory and the Gainesville Tornado

Hall County · dedicated 2014 · At the corner of Maple and Broad Streets in Gainesville.

On April 6, 1936, one of the nation's deadliest tornadoes struck Gainesville. The resulting collapse of the multi-story Cooper Pants Factory building, located on this site since c.1893, caused a devastating fire. Flames trapped over half the factory's 125 employees, primarily young women and girls. As many as 70 workers died in the fire - the largest single contributor to over 200 deaths associated with the tornado that day. In addition to local resources and donations, President Franklin Roosevelt quickly involved New Deal agencies in the city's recovery. Rebuilding of Gainesville focused on providing better paved streets and the construction of a new fire station, courthouse and city hall - forerunners of modern fire safety compliant structures. The tornado and Cooper Pants Factory fire also encouraged the adoption and enforcement of new building codes to minimize the risk of large-scale devastation.

TodayHistorical map

Slide toward Today to fade the historical sheet and see the modern map underneath.

USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection

Example

under a mile from where William Gabby lived in the 1760s

what this marker records spans 1777 to 1789, overlapping William Gabby's years here

From one family's 77-marker roster

Upload your family tree and TreeAlive finds the markers near where your own ancestors lived.

See your family's markers

Start with a tree file, a FamilySearch sign in, or a WikiTree ID.

Report a problem with this page

The marker isn't at this spotOur pin may be off. If you know where it stands, tell us.I couldn't find the markerWe record what the source recorded. We have not been to look.The sign reads differentlyThat would be an error, and we can pass it to the program.The historical map looks wrongThe period map behind the pin, not the marker itself.Something else

We may pass what you report to the state's marker program. Please don't include personal details.

This marker is part of the Georgia Historical Marker Program, administered by the Georgia Historical Society. Marker texts and locations come from the Society's own marker database.

More markers nearby

Lt.-Gen. James Longstreetunder 1 mi
Lyman Hallunder 1 mi
Fieldale Farms and Georgia’s Poultry Industryunder 1 mi
The Historic Piedmont Hotelunder 1 mi

On the National Register nearby

Dixie Hunt Hotel300 ft

Places within about 300 feet of this marker that are listed on the National Register of Historic Places. A nearby listing is not always the marker's own subject.