Pierce City: Back In Business
Small community taking big steps toward recovery from ’03 tornado

» Pierce City Facts

“It was totally wiped out,” says Mike Flummerfelt of his former grocery store on Commercial Street. “They came in with a loader, scooped it up, and put it in a dumpster. If it hadn’t been for FEMA, we wouldn’t have gotten cleaned up as fast as we did. If it hadn’t been for FEMA’s resources, we couldn’t have recovered like we did.” “We’re still not back, but we’re getting there,” says Gene Kluck, owner of Friendly Supply. Kluck is especially looking forward to the city’s new sidewalks. “So I can plant some bushes,” he says. FEMA has obligated $67,531 for curbs and sidewalks in Pierce City.

PIERCE CITY, Mo. - Before May 4, 2003, Pierce City, Mo. (pop. 1,400) was best known for its annual Howdy Neighbor Days festival and its historic downtown. That, and the small-town spirit that pervaded this southwest Missouri town, right down to the Town and Country Supermarket.

“There were always bigger, shinier places to shop,” concedes grocer Mike Flummerfelt. “But that was never our style. We’re the kind that always carried our customers’ groceries to the car. And we always had free coffee. Some people just came in for the free coffee. That was okay with us.”

But Pierce City—roughly midway between Springfield and Joplin — gained a different kind of fame on the night of Sunday, May 4, when an F-3 tornado with multiple vortices ripped through the historic railroad town.

It lasted only a matter of seconds, says Greg Bunn, pastor of First Baptist Church in Pierce City.

“I don’t think anyone was prepared for what we saw,” recalls Bunn. “Our vehicles looked like they’d been bombed and sandblasted. Huge trees were sucked out of the ground like toothpicks. Power lines were down everywhere. People were running up and down the street, looking for their families. Brick buildings that had been there since the 1880s were just crumbled.”

Dale Taunton, Pierce City’s only tornado fatality, was a member of Bunn’s church. And the First Baptist Church itself?

“It was bad,” says Bunn. “Everything inside was demolished. It was insured, thank goodness. But it was gone.”

Lots of things were gone: vehicles, sidewalks, the town’s city hall, firehouse, and sewer system. More than 80 homes were lost, along with the entire nine-block downtown. Of 45 downtown businesses, 42 were destroyed.

“We basically lost the whole downtown and our total infrastructure,” says Pierce City Mayor Mark Peters, who estimates the city also lost between 100 and 200 residents.

“Mainly because you couldn’t live here without a car,” says Peters of the exodus. “Before, people could walk everywhere they needed to go. After the tornado, there was no food. You couldn’t even go to a vending machine and get a candy bar. There were literally no nails in the hardware store.”

Peters, an attorney, is taking time off from his practice to help the city rebuild. “Not rebuilding was never an option,” he says. “I don’t mean that to sound like false bravado, but not rebuilding just wasn’t even a consideration for us.”

The question then became how to rebuild.

“There was so much to be done, that it was difficult to know where to start,” says Peters.

To help Pierce City start the journey towards recovery, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) assembled a team of architects, engineers and community planners to create a Comprehensive Recovery Plan to rebuild the community. The plan, completed in August 2003, outlined the city’s priorities—restoring quality of life and re-establishing the local economy—and provided a framework for major recovery projects, from building a new city hall and fire station to finding a new use for the damaged armory.

As in Stockton, FEMA also provided Pierce City with a local recovery manager to help city leaders implement the recovery plan.

Locals devised their own pay-it-forward plan, when Bunn’s congregation gave their former church site to Mike and Carolyn Flummerfelt to build a new grocery store. The Flummerfelts, in turn, gave the site of their old store to Doug Thompson, to build his new pharmacy, prompting Thompson to give his land to the city for the new City Hall.

Complicated? Not really, says Mike Flummerfelt. “We all needed to stick together,” he explains. “The church didn’t want to profit off my loss, and I didn’t want to profit off Doug (Thompson’s) loss. It’s just kind of a neat thing. Tell you the truth, it doesn’t seem that unusual to me.”

Pharmacist Doug Thompson agrees. “It sounds corny, but in a small town, adversity can bring people together,” he says. “I know some people had to move away during the rebuilding process, but they’re coming back.”

Thompson set up a temporary shop in nearby Monett to fill prescriptions for customers while his new pharmacy is built on Pierce City’s Main Street. The new Thompson Family Drug will be 1,000-square feet bigger than his old pharmacy and boast an old timey soda fountain counter, complete with 20 varieties of milk shakes and phosphates.

Flummerfelt’s new Town and Country, now twice as big as it was before the tornado, is just one of several locally owned businesses that has already reopened in Pierce City. Barber Larry Gasser is back in business. So is Gene Kluck, owner of Friendly Supply hardware store. Kluck was 81 years old when the tornado wiped out his store.

“I wasn’t going to rebuild,” says Kluck. “But then I was lying in bed one night. I thought if I don’t rebuild, they could consolidate and we’d lose the school. Then we’d lose the town. I didn’t want that to happen.”

On March 13, Kluck’s hardware store reopened in a new location, well outside the floodplain, where his former shop was located. Unlike other merchants in town, Kluck chose to rebuild smaller. “It’s more economical to heat this space,” he says.

Conversely, Scott and Lynette Rector rebuilt Freda Mae’s, the beloved local eatery, on four lots on Commercial Street. The couple salvaged bricks, windows, even pillars and siding from the tornado to build a “new old” Freda Mae’s, twice the size as its pre-tornado location.

Whether they’re building bigger, smaller, with new materials or old, Pierce City business owners are rebuilding smarter. Indeed, the city will likely have an expanded job base if plans proceed to convert the old Armory to a mental health facility. The center could mean at least 50 new jobs in Pierce City. Plans are also in the works to construct a new Missouri National Guard Armory with $6 million in funding from the $401 billion defense bill.

“The tornado put Pierce City on the map,” says Pastor Greg Bunn. “But my hope is that the tornado is not what Pierce City’s going to be remembered for. It’s the families and the people here. What’s inspiring to me is that now we have a chance to update the town for the 21st century and bring in things people really want. That’s what’s so exciting. We’re rebuilding for Pierce City.”

Pierce City Facts

FEMA’s Public Assistance program provided $1,025,092 for debris removal in Pierce City after the tornado. In addition, FEMA’s Housing Assistance program provided $204,050 to help 157 Pierce City households after the disaster. An additional $579,957 was obligated by FEMA to assist 137 Pierce City households with other disaster-related needs, including uninsured personal property losses, transportation, medical, dental, and funeral expenses.

The U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA) provided more than $4 million in low-interest disaster loans to homeowners and business owners in Pierce City.

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For now, Mayor Mark Peters is temporarily working out of a trailer (provided by FEMA). Pierce City’s new city hall will be modeled after the city’s historic railroad station that once anchored the city. “It’s going to be great,” says Peters. “This is rebuilding that makes sense.”

FEMA will pay 75 percent of the cost to build Pierce City’s new City Hall.

“I know without a doubt that FEMA's Comprehensive Recovery Plan and the follow-on efforts have been absolutely essential to the speed and strength with which Pierce City is recovering from its ordeal. FEMA's and SEMA’s continuing help in threading through the intricacies of our Federal system has been indispensable, particularly in a small town with extremely limited staff and other resources.”
-Mayor Mark Peters

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