“John Fitzgerald Drive” Street Sign Unveiling Ceremony Rescheduled For February 26 In Franklin City

Press release from the City of Franklin:

February 24, 2021

• Original Event Date: February 11, 2021
• Postponement Announcement Date (due to weather): February 11, 2021
• New Event Date: February 26, 2021

Franklin, TN – A street sign unveiling ceremony for “John Fitzgerald Drive” will take place this Friday, February 26, 2021, at 1:00 PM. The event, which was originally scheduled for February 11, was postponed due to weather. The media is invited to attend. The public is invited to watch the event live on the City of Franklin’s Facebook page.

The new road, which leads to the Franklin Fire Department’s new Station 7 in Berry Farms (located on the grounds of the Williamson County Ag Expo Park), has been named in honor of the department’s first Black firefighter, retired Assistant Chief John Fitzgerald. Chief Fitzgerald was hired in 1972, and rose through the ranks, serving in nearly every position, including Interim Fire Chief. When Chief Fitzgerald retired in 2006, he was Battalion Chief of B-shift. Learn more about Chief Fitzgerald HERE.

Chief Fitzgerald will be present for the ceremony, along with his wife Bernice. The address of the station, 1972 John Fitzgerald Drive, commemorates the year that Chief Fitzgerald was hired.

Franklin Fire Station 7 - 1972 John Fitzgerald Drive

Includes a Williamson Medical Center EMS Wing

About Station 7

• The new station is expected to open next month.
• It is situated beside the current temporary station, which consists of a mobile home for firefighter quarters and a metal pole barn for the apparatus.
• Station 7 is similar in design to Station 8 in Westhaven, with the addition of an ambulance wing, which was funded by Williamson County.
• The ambulance will be staffed by Williamson Medical Center EMS personnel.
• Although Station 7 had been planned for several years, the temporary station was established as an emergency measure. It was created to deliver emergency services to southeastern Franklin after a fatal gasoline tanker explosion destroyed the Goose Creek Bypass-Peytonsville Road bridge in 2014.
• In January 2018, Renaissance Group, a Memphis-based architecture firm, was awarded a $244,000 contract to provide engineering and design consulting services for Station 7. In November 2018, Southland Constructors, Inc., was awarded a $6,671,000.00 contract to construct the new station, construct the new road, which leads from the station to Peytonsville Road, and complete hillside grading to accommodate both.

This press release was produced by the City of Franklin. The views expressed here are the author’s own.