![34th Street Wall 2](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/18/34th_Street_Wall_2.jpg)
The 34th Street Wall is a 1,120-foot-long
retaining wall
Retaining walls are relatively rigid walls used for supporting soil laterally so that it can be retained at different levels on the two sides.
Retaining walls are structures designed to restrain soil to a slope that it would not naturally keep to ...
along SW 34th Street (
Florida State Road 121
State Road 121 (SR 121) is a major state highway that runs north and south in northern Florida. The road is part of a long multi-state route that also goes through Georgia and South Carolina.
Route description
SR 121 is one of the major routes of ...
) in
Gainesville, Florida
Gainesville is the county seat of Alachua County, Florida, Alachua County, Florida, and the largest city in North Central Florida, with a population of 141,085 in 2020. It is the principal city of the Gainesville metropolitan area, Florida, Gaine ...
. It was constructed in 1979 by the
Florida Department of Transportation
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of t ...
to prevent erosion on the adjoining
University of Florida
The University of Florida (Florida or UF) is a public land-grant research university in Gainesville, Florida. It is a senior member of the State University System of Florida, traces its origins to 1853, and has operated continuously on its ...
golf course
A golf course is the grounds on which the sport of golf is played. It consists of a series of holes, each consisting of a tee box, a fairway, the rough and other hazards, and a green with a cylindrical hole in the ground, known as a "cup". Th ...
when the road was widened from two to four lanes, necessitating cutting through a small hill.
The otherwise nondescript
poured concrete wall is notable for being almost entirely covered by
graffiti
Graffiti (plural; singular ''graffiti'' or ''graffito'', the latter rarely used except in archeology) is art that is written, painted or drawn on a wall or other surface, usually without permission and within public view. Graffiti ranges from s ...
, and it has served as an sort of ever-changing bulletin board for the Gainesville community since the 1980s. Items painted on the wall have included marriage proposals, birthday wishes, graduation announcements, celebration of athletic victories, activist and public awareness statements, tributes, promotions, and memorials, including two permanent memorial panels for victims of the
Danny Rolling
Daniel Harold Rolling (May 26, 1954 – October 25, 2006), known as the Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer. He murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in August 1990. Rolling later confessed to raping severa ...
murders and Gainesville native
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...
. Although most of the graffiti is painted by university students and other members of the community, there is occasional
tagging and professional art. After decades of use, it is estimated that paint on the center of the wall is about 250 layers thick.
History and description
The 34th Street wall was built by the
Florida Department of Transportation
The Florida Department of Transportation (FDOT) is a decentralized agency charged with the establishment, maintenance, and regulation of public transportation in the state of Florida. The department was formed in 1969. It absorbed the powers of t ...
in 1979 to support a low hill on the edge of the University of Florida golf course that was sliced in half when the road was widened. Since it adjoins a state highway, the wall is technically owned by the state. Though the city of Gainesville removed graffiti that appeared on the wall soon after it was completed, it gradually became a sort of public bulletin board for the community. Defacing of government property generally violates statutes against
vandalism
Vandalism is the action involving deliberate destruction of or damage to public or private property.
The term includes property damage, such as graffiti and defacement directed towards any property without permission of the owner. The term f ...
or
criminal mischief
Mischief or malicious mischief is the name for a criminal offenses that is defined differently in different legal jurisdictions. While the wrongful acts will often involve what is popularly described as vandalism, there can be a legal differenti ...
, but neither the
Alachua County Sheriff's Office Alachua may refer to:
* Alachua County, Florida, United States
* Alachua, Florida, a city in Alachua County, Florida
* Alachua culture, the archaeological designation of the Native American culture in north-central Florida, c. AD 700 to 1700
* Ala ...
nor the
Gainesville Police Department
The Gainesville Police Department is responsible for law enforcement within the city limits of Gainesville, Florida. This includes operations, investigations, crime prevention, victim outreach, community outreach, and youth outreach.
Histor ...
have ever charged anyone for painting on the wall. There were several unsuccessful attempts to remove the graffiti in the 1980s, including painting the wall white and adding graffiti resistant coating. However, the ever-changing graffiti came to be seen as a local landmark over the following years, and acceding to public sentiment, state and local officials stopped trying to remove the graffiti. In the 1990s, the city installed several trash bins on the adjoining sidewalk to allow for proper disposal of painting supplies.
The wall has occasionally been used for official purposes by the city of Gainesville and the University of Florida, such as promoting public events. The city also helped to ensure that the
Danny Rolling
Daniel Harold Rolling (May 26, 1954 – October 25, 2006), known as the Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer. He murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in August 1990. Rolling later confessed to raping severa ...
victims' memorial was left intact until 2000, when the UF Interfraternity Council took over. In 2006, musician and Gainesville native
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...
returned to the city for a concert and was welcomed with a message painted on the wall. Petty was presented with a photo of this section of the wall along with the Gainesville
key to the city
The Freedom of the City (or Borough in some parts of the UK) is an honour bestowed by a municipality upon a valued member of the community, or upon a visiting celebrity or dignitary. Arising from the medieval practice of granting respected ...
during the visit.
When the city planned to resurface 34th Street and widen the bicycle lanes in the early 2000s, the project originally called for the removal of part of the wall. Public outcry caused the plans to be changed, and the median was narrowed for about a block so that the wall could be left intact.
Memorials
One of the more notable sections on the wall is a tribute to the victims of the
Danny Rolling
Daniel Harold Rolling (May 26, 1954 – October 25, 2006), known as the Gainesville Ripper, was an American serial killer. He murdered five students in Gainesville, Florida, over four days in August 1990. Rolling later confessed to raping severa ...
murders. The memorial lists the names of the five students who were killed, and was first painted in 1990 using black, red, and white paint by Adam Byrn Tritt. Although it has been painted over or defaced several times, it is always repaired quickly, and the panel is regularly touched up as most of the wall around it changes continuously. At the memorial's 20 year anniversary, a plaque was added to the panel which reads "In remembrance of those individuals who lost their lives in 1990: Sonja Larson, Christina Powell, Christa Hoyt, Tracy Paules, Manuel Taboada. You will never be forgotten."
Hours after musician and Gainesville native
Tom Petty
Thomas Earl Petty (October 20, 1950October 2, 2017) was an American musician who was the lead vocalist and guitarist of the rock band Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, formed in 1976. He previously led the band Mudcrutch, was a member of the lat ...
died on October 3, 2017, a large memorial panel appeared beside that of Rolling's victims. Petty's memorial includes the messages "Gainesville's No. 1 Son" and "Thanks, Tommy" along with the logo of his band,
the Heartbreakers
The Heartbreakers, sometimes referred to as Johnny Thunders' Heartbreakers, were an American punk rock band formed in New York City in 1975. The band spearheaded the first wave of punk rock.
History
Johnny Thunders (vocals/guitar) and Jerry N ...
. The memorial has been kept "clean" by local and visiting members of the Facebook group Tom Petty Nation.
Gallery
References
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External links
Messages on the Wall- A site maintained by the University of Florida Digital Libraries cataloging many of the messages painted on the wall
{{coord, 29.6477, -82.3722, type:landmark_region:US-FL, display=title
1979 establishments in Florida
Buildings and structures in Gainesville, Florida
Graffiti in the United States
University of Florida