A celebration was recently held by Main Street Mobile to highlight outstanding projects and organizations that have made extraordinary contributions to Downtown Mobile. Local architecture and engineering firm, Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC), received the Excellence in Architecture and Design Award from Main Street Mobile for its work on the Isom Clemon Civil Rights Memorial Park.
Named in honor of Isom Clemon, longtime leader of the International Longshoremen’s Association (ILA) Local 1410 and a key figure in Mobile’s civil rights movement, the park stands in the shadow of the ILA offices where Clemon devoted much of his life to advocating for justice.
The park features a large bronze statue of Isom Clemon in a central plaza encircled by educational plaques that provide history and context to the labor movement in Mobile.
Another installment within the park, named “The Guardian of Labor, Liberty, and Love” stands in commemoration of the men and women of the ILA Local 1410 and their efforts to be respected for their labor, to achieve true liberty and to share their love of life with all people.
Designed as both a memorial and community space, the park includes a shaded picnic area for ILA workers, a green space for events and a vibrant play area designed with input from children at nearby Florence Howard Elementary School.
As the first of many planned projects within the city’s new Civil Rights and Cultural Heritage District, the Isom Clemon Civil Rights Memorial Park lays the foundation for future preservation projects in Mobile.
GMC provided landscape architecture, surveying and civil and electrical engineering services for the park, which was constructed by S.C. Stagner Contracting, Inc.
About Goodwyn Mills Cawood
Goodwyn Mills Cawood (GMC) is one of the largest architecture and engineering firms in the Southeast. Whether designing schools, parks, hospitals and other commercial developments, or providing clean water, safe streets and restoring resilient environments, GMC takes great pride in serving our communities through the transformative work we do. Every project is guided by the foundational concept that communities are built by people, not companies, and we strive to serve our communities with quality, integrity, creativity and care. One of the Southeast’s most comprehensive multi-disciplined firms, GMC is equipped to provide all the services associated with architecture; interior design; civil engineering; environmental services; landscape architecture; planning; transportation engineering; geotechnical engineering; mechanical, electrical and plumbing engineering; surveying; and disaster recovery. www.gmcnetwork.com
