Just a little history: Do you remember Hurricane Fran?

It was a normal September in Wake Forest. A little wet because there had been some heavy rains. The tree leaves were still green; it was a too early for the autumnal colors. Children were in school.

Then came the warnings about Hurricane Fran, but we were used to hurricanes down on the coast with just some wind and rain up here in the Piedmont. We put the patio furniture in the garage or extra bedroom and felt like we were prepared.

Wrong! During the night of Sept. 5-6 what we heard was 80 mph winds and nine inches of rain.

Police Chief Greg Harrington and 10 officers were out on the streets where the streetlights were off because the whole town lost power during the night. They and the firemen who joined them had to use chainsaws to clear downed trees on many streets. The two dispatchers were keeping them updated about calls from people who had chimneys toppled, roofs torn off and trees on other roofs. They checked all the houses where trees had fallen, asking people if there were any injuries.

Daylight showed us the extent of the damage. Of the 3,317 houses in town at least a third suffered serious damage, according to the town’s estimate. The view of the seminary campus was heartbreaking. It seemed at least half of the mature trees, oaks and magnolias, had fallen. On North Main Street there seemed to be a wall of tree trunks on both sides of the one lane that was open because multiple oaks and maples had fallen crosswise on the street. Rainwater runoff was running straight through B&W Hardware where Buddy Willis and maybe one helper were sharpening chainsaws as fast as they could.

Without power – not just in Wake Forest but area wide because all of Wake Electric’s 18,000 members were without power – everyone was looking for ice for coolers to keep the food from the warming refrigerators. The National Guard building in Youngsville had some large icemakers and they were churning it out as fast as they could.

Winn-Dixie in the small strip mall in downtown Wake Forest opened up – and shopping in the dark was a real adventure as was working with clerks who were toting up the amounts owed on small calculators or old-fashioned pencil and paper.

Everyone was calling friends and family. “Are you OK?” “What’s the damage?” “How can I help?” Churches, organizations and people began donating water, food, whatever was needed.

Within a day or so there were 20 or so trucks from other ElectriCity towns parked near the town’s utility and power office on Friendship Chapel Road and the crews were hard at work repairing the town’s system. Once again, churches and organizations pitched in to find beds and meals for the out-of-town crews.

By Sept. 20, the only town electric customer without power was Jim Mangum, the head of Wake Electric. He lived on Richland Creek on a dirt road off Durham Road, and his connection was a line strung through the woods.

The Wake Forest Town Hall staff was wading through what seemed like tons of FEMA paperwork. They estimated there was about $1.5 million in damage to town property, an estimated $17 million in damage to the town. Insurance adjusters were all over town and almost every house had some sort of damage even if it was not major.

Down at the Gresham Road intersection on Capital Boulevard there was a gigantic mountain of tree mulch with tractors pushing it around and compacting it. The odor of tree mulch was pervasive, just as persistent as all the oak leaves. Utility Supervisor Andy Frazier said not even half of the tree debris had been removed in town. The U.S. Arny Corps of Engineers went through town a last time, picking up Fran debris in early November. The mulch operation at Gresham Road went on for about a year.

In early October a tropical depression called Josephine dropped about two inches of rain, a depressing reminder of Fran, and the town’s Tree Board sponsored a forum about trees and how to deal with those damaged by the hurricane.

*In 1996, the town had 8,480 people according to the planning department. It was on the cusp of today’s rapid population growth. In 2000, just four years later, the planning department would say the town held 14,288 people. Today an estimate is we have 47,000 people.

Although it seemed half the people in town had plans for subdivisions, apartments or a shopping center, there were only 23 building permits issued between Feb. 13 and July 23 – one for renovations to what was then called Massey Apartments, four to build the new library (more about that later), two for the new sewage treatment plant on Smith Creek near the Neuse River, three for home occupations, one for a temporary fireworks stand and eight for new houses. Yes, I know that doesn’t add up but that’s what my notes say and I don’t know where to find the original sources.

There was a lot of snarling between the county and the town over the planned new library building. County Manager Richard Stevens sent a letter to Mayor Dick Monteith, saying the bids were $200,000 over the budget and the town should kick in some more money. Town Manager Mark Williams said the town had provided the building and all utilities for the current library on South White Street. The town and county could not agree on the site. The town offered one it owned and the county bought another one. Also, the late Mayor Henry Miller had left $68,000 in his will for the library, money that went to the county.

Finally the town deeded that South Main library to the county to help fund the new library. Its value was set at $86,000. The new library on East Holding Avenue opened in the fall, and its shelves showed how many more books needed to be bought to fill them.

The old library was sold to Divorce Care of Raleigh owned by Steve and Cheryl Grissom, who paid $125,000. The building, originally built for the bank which became CCB, now Truist, is now owned by AJB Capitol Office Holdings LLC and has offices.

In June Burlington Mills gave the Wake Forest area some really bad financial news. It was closing the Burlington Wake Plant on Capital Boulevard just north of the Neuse River. There were 730 employees and the plant had been in operation since 1946.

In August ground was broken for the new St. Catherine of Siena Catholic Church on West Holding Avenue. The 400 families in the congregation had more than outgrown the current granite church on South Main Street built in 1939. The 12 stained glass windows were removed from the old church in December and stored. They were a gift from a papal countess, Katherine Price, who visited Raleigh and learned of the need for a permanent church for Catholic students at Wake Forest College.

In November the Wake Forest-Rolesville High soccer team won the state 3A championship. It was the school’s first state title in a team sport since 1979 when Larry Lindsay’s basketball Cougars won the state title. The basketball Cougars in 1996 won the Triangle 3A championship but lost in the state finals.

In January NCDOT suggested the bypass on the south side of Wake Forest would be two lanes but quickly changed to four lanes in February with construction to begin in 2000. The state wanted the first section to be built from South Main to Thompson Mill; Mayor Monteith countered with a demand the Jones Dairy to South Main section be built first to reduce the congestion at the Underpass. It was built in three sections with Monteith’s choice built first.

(There was intense possible growth activity in 1996, little of which came to fruition, as well as other battles – voting districts, a bed and breakfast which kept being rejected, efforts to build soccer fields and the closing of the Wake Forest Branch Hospital. We will recount all of that and more next week.)