Heartwarming progress

The Greenfield landscape continues changing for the better as the community nears the one-year anniversary of the day a strong and fatal tornado struck, killing four in the community and destroying hundreds of structures.

Connie Hohertz Farm Bureau Financial Services/Adair County Farm Bureau and Greenfield Lumber are two businesses in the east part of town that hit milestones last week on their comeback from the tornado. Others that are already open after rebuilds or remodels are Griff’s Garage, Super Suds Auto Wash and Greenfield Laundromat.

Greenfield City Hall says there were 141 building permits issued for houses, fences, garages, temporary housing, sidewalks, sheds and businesses in 2024. This year, 20 more have been issued. All told, the city is down 84 pre-tornado sewer customers.

Connie Hohertz’s agency held a grand opening celebration Wednesday, April 16, for their new facility at 505 East Iowa Street. Across the street, Greenfield Lumber opened for business through the front door for the first time since work began on Phase One of their remodel.

Insurance office opens

After the tornado, Hohertz and her staff were able to move their operations to a building closer to the square on East Iowa Street, for about 10 months, that is owned by Mike Maynes. It is where Hohertz started her insurance career in town Feb. 1, 2000.

The owner of lots north of where her previous office sat, Hohertz said it made sense to build on them. The result is a 5,000-square-feet office complete with a concrete safe room.

“I never imagined I would ever build on them. Your mind doesn’t go there that I’m going to need to build an office there,” Hohertz said. “It just made sense after the fire department needed space, and I was glad to do that. This was great for me. My contractor was wanting a plan and it came together quickly. My must-have was a safe room.”

In addition, there is a reception area and an office for each staff member. Hohertz office is on one side of the building and a board room with the safe room is on the other side.

Hohertz and her staff were not in their offices when the tornado struck because they made the decision to go home early after seeing the weather forecast. The day after the tornado, they met to get a plan in place and began meeting the needs of their clients.

“I would say things have settled a little. A lot of the claims have been paid out, but people are still rebuilding and it’s just going to be ongoing, I think, for quite awhile,” Hohertz said.

Watching all the building happening in the neighborhood has been inspiring and encouraging.

“I feel like every time I do a little drive around town I see something else. I think that as the weather turns nice again we will see more and more,” Hohertz said. “Give it another six months and I think we’ll have a lot more construction and rebuilding done. It looks great for being such a horrific event and how devastating it was, not even a year later. It’s heartwarming to see the progress people are making.”

Greenfield Lumber

Greenfield Lumber, owned by Jimmy and Rena Freeland at 107 Northeast 6th St., had a five-year plan to remodel. The start of last year was very slow and forecasts foreshadowed profits being small, so the Freelands took their name off their contractor’s waiting list. When the tornado inflicted enough damage that they knew they were going to have work to do, they put themselves back on the list.

The business is through the first phase of three to improve or repair its facilities. The first phase included areas the public sees most, like a new front counter, a new front door and many other items.

“We knocked a bunch of walls out,” Jimmy said.

“There’s not much left of the old,” Rena said. The building has been home to Greenfield Lumber since the late 1990s.

Greenfield Lumber remains independent with Do It Best as their brand. That Indiana-based company assisted them tremendously as they remodeled. On paper, it didn’t look like it would be possible for a remodel to happen due to how busy contractors were, but they made it happen.

Numerous local contractors have helped at Greenfield Lumber and the Freelands’ home, doing work after the tornado. The customers have been wonderful. The Freelands also gave a lot to the community immediately after the tornado as their parking lot was used as medical triage for those injured.

“We’ve had some phenomenal people come through for us,” Jimmy said. “God decided for us that we were going to remodel this, so here we are. We didn’t have a choice.”