HOW WHITE OAK DRIVE

GOT IT'S NAME

Photo by Ann Mays Harlan

By Art Miller

My grandfather, Hal Miller, owned the whole (10 acres) and sold lots to many of the railroad

workers for a dime on the dollar. It was loaded with white oak trees before the 1933 tornado

came. That is why they named it White Oak Drive. After that day most of the beautiful white

oaks lay on the ground. My father Jesse Miller and his two brothers Lee & Bob were running

through the big house at the top of the hill opening all the windows when the tornado approached.

They learned that procedure in boy scouts. It saved the house from the storm as well as them. They

got to watch all the trees fall down and everything fly by. Just one small corner of the house was

damaged.  Most of the railroad workers & my grandfather at the roundhouse, climbed inside the

boilers of steam engines for cover.

   White Oak Drive was my favorite hill to roll down in homemade soap box racers. My cousins & I

played football for years where the road now comes through that yard.