The EF4 tornado that destroyed several blocks of Cullman’s downtown presented the city with an opportunity: Reimagining how the downtown would look going into the next century.

“You never want to be thankful for a natural disaster,” said Senator Garlan Gudger, a downtown business owner and city council president in 2011. “I’m thankful for the growth that it spawned onto Cullman.”

The city government was working to make downtown a tourist destination, while, at the same time, several small family-owned businesses were contemplating their future in the downtown.

The tornado provided the impetus they needed to decide whether to stay or go.

Gudger said he and his father, owners of Southern Architectural Accents, were among the business owners deciding if they should take the insurance money and repair and rebuild or sell. In the end, he said, “We decided, let’s make it the biggest and best architectural salvage store in the Southeast.”

It also gave the city the opportunity to reimagine the downtown as a destination for visitors and residents. They created design standards, streetscapes and buried utilities.

“Cullman had so much potential, it just needed that spark to get people to invest in downtown,” said Gudger.

“I feel like we really came together as a downtown to make Cullman what we always wanted it to be,” he said.

Ten years later, scars remain on the downtown: empty lots where small businesses once stood. “We still have a lot more to go, but that catapulted us to where we are today,” said Gudger.