RCB Supports Sunrise Rotary Plaza Installation

Rotarians Jane Reed Ross, Rusha Smith, Tom Carruthers, Dan Bundy, Will Ratliff, Judy Crittendon, Jeanne Jackson, Susan Jackson, Cornell Wesley, and Past President Philippe Lathrop with artist Deedee Morrison.

Several RCB members were in attendance for the dedication of the Sunrise Rotary Plaza, a project of the Birmingham Sunrise Rotary Club, at a ribbon cutting event held on June 28th. The plaza is located where a railroad roundhouse once stood along the Hugh Kaul Trail, a Freshwater Land Trust project which begins where Rotary Trail ends at 24th Street and will ultimately connect downtown to Avondale and the Continental Gin complex. 

Rotarian Jane Reed Ross, senior landscape architect with Goodwyn Mills Cawood, designed the plaza, which features rings of bald cypress and Princeton elm trees around a 26-foot sculpture of historic rail steel by artist Deedee Morrison. Also on hand were Rotarians Rusha Smith, Tom Carruthers, Dan Bundy, Will Ratliff, Judy Crittendon, Jeanne Jackson, Susan Jackson, Cornell Wesley, and Past President Philippe Lathrop. 

“Initially, we chose that spot because we wanted to highlight the railroad roundhouse,” Ross said in an ALdotcom article. “Now, there’s no longer railroads, or foundries, or any of that industry, but the plaza has a ripple effect in a different effect. It’s creating and activating an outdoor space along a trail that encourages people to have active lifestyles. It’s adding quality of life in a different way.”  

Thanks to a generous contribution from the RCB Foundation, the Rotary Club of Birmingham is designated as a Plaza Patron level donor.