By Terry Witt -Spotlight Senior Reporter
The octagon-shaped building that stands next to the Chiefland Fire Department and is currently used for storage has a more distinguished history than most people realize and was once part of a forested city park few people remember today.
Painter Margaret Hiers, whose family was instrumental in establishing Chiefland has brought the building back to life in a painting she donated to the Chiefland City Commission Monday night.
Historical archives show the building was constructed in 1921 of heart of pine. At the time, it was an open-air bandshell surrounded by trees in Chiefland City Park, a square piece of forested land donated by the late Etter Usher, Sr.
Chiefland City Park is hardly recognizable as a park today. It is the site of the Tri-County Community Resource Center, which is housed in the former Chiefland City Hall, the Chiefland Police Department, Chiefland Fire Department and the city’s oldest active water tower.
Hiers lived across from Chiefland City Park as a third grader when the octagon-shaped building stood alone in a forest. Her painting shows trees around the building as she remembers it. The only other structure located in the park back in 1938 was a basketball court on the northwest corner. She remembers playing in the park as a child.
In 1938 the band shell was enclosed, creating a meeting and voting hall for the public. When the city outgrew the octagon-shaped building, a City Hall was constructed in 1959 that now houses the Community Resource Center.
The building was then moved to Chiefland Cemetery and was used by civic organizations such as the Boy Scouts and VFW for meetings. Later the building fell into disrepair, but the Chiefland Women’s Club created a project to restore the uniquely shaped structure and move it back to its original location, Chiefland City Park, for use as the city library.
In 1985 the Luther Callaway Library was constructed behind the current Chiefland City Hall. The building was then used as the office of the Greater Chiefland Area Chamber of Commerce until the chamber moved to its current location at the historic Chiefland Train Depot.
“Although the building is now used for storage it still graces Chiefland City Park and is a reminder of Chiefland’s history,” Hiers said.
Hiers said she would like to see the building reopened as a reading room or perhaps used to house artifacts and photographs of Levy County.
Her painting will be hung in Chiefland City Hall.
Hiers said her family history runs deep in Levy County. Her maternal grandparents were Dave and Ola Hudson Cannon, who was a sister to Hiers’ great Uncle Rollin Hudson, the great-grandfather of Chiefland City Commissioner Rollin Hudson.
Her late husband was John Delma Hiers, Jr. Their two daughters are Sylvia Hiers Emmons, manager of the Gilchrist Library in Trenton, and Gilchrist County Judge Sheree’ Hiers Lancaster.
Hiers said her passion is painting in oils, acrylics, and pastels.
One of her larger paintings of Ronald MacDonald hangs in the Ronald MacDonald House in Gainesville.
The City Commission expressed its gratitude for the donation of the painting.
Photo by Terry Witt: Chiefland City Commissioners Teresa Barron, Rollin Hudson, Mayor Betty Walker, Don Lawrence and Chris Jones accept the gift of a painting from artist Margaret Hiers. The painting shows an octagon shaped building that was once used for Chiefland City Commission meetings, as a city library and early on as a band shell before it was enclosed.
Regular City of Chiefland Meeting June 25, 2018
Posted June 25, 2018
