1986
MONTHLY PICTURE |
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enlarged view)
JANUARY - (The Lyric Theater - drawn by Tiffany Goad
- 10th grade) |
The Lyric Theater was located on the south side of
East Main Street in the Welch building between the Standard Store on the corner and L.O.
Meador's jewelry store. It was owned by Mr. and Mrs. C.M. Caldwell and managed by
their son, Charles. After being extensively damaged by fire in or about 1943, the
Lyric was remodeled into one of the most beautiful in this area. The exterior was of
black and ivory glass tiles with chrome trim. The marquee was very impressive
especially in the evening, with its vari-colored neon lights. It had a seating
capacity of 600 and movie-goers of this area were privileged to view the best of the moved
in luxurious surroundings. It was the first, and for many years, the only air
conditioned buildings in town. The theater feathered three different movies a week
plus cartoons and various short subjects. Admission was 10 cents for children under
twelve and 20 cents for adults. Popcorn was sold for 5 and 10 cents. The
Caldwells operated the theater until the early 1950's when the advent of home television
began to lower attendance. They sold the business to Andy Anderson who operated a
chain of theaters. L.E. Crewell purchased the business from him and was the owner at
the time it was hit by another disastrous fire. On November 19, 1957, at two o'clock
in the afternoon, a gas furnace exploded causing flames to quickly engulf the building.
The theater was completely destroyed but fire walls and the efforts of the local
volunteer fire department aided by a crew from the Bowling Green fire department, saved
the buildings on either side. Although the building was eventually rebuilt, another
theater was not considered a profitable venture so Scottsville was without one for several
years. |
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enlarged view)
FEBRUARY - (The John Railey Home - drawn by Carrie Wright -
12th grade) |
This is the house where John William Railey and his
wife Locca (Lockey) Tabitha Agee Railey lived on Bay's Fork Creek near the Warren-Allen
County line. They were married on December 30, 1825 and is 1828 bought property from
Isaac Railey, believed to have been john's father. It is not known which one built
the house. It is known that Isaac Railey paid taxes in Allen County in 1816.
Since he left the county in 1828, it is quite possible that John bought the house from him
and added to it. It is evident that the house was built at different intervals
from the appearance of the windows and the difference in building materials. The
Raileys and Agees came to Allen County from Bedford County, Virginia. A reference to John
Railey says, "he was to supervise the building of a road from Drake's Creek on
Warren County to Halifax in Allen County making a ford on Bay's Fork Creek on his
property." This ford was known as the Railey ford until recently when some
people began calling it the Sledge ford. There is now a bridge just above the
ford. Another reference to John Railey found in Louise Horton's, "In The Hills
of the Pennyroyal," page 61 said, "The same General Assembly approved an act to
charter the Bowling Green and Scottsville Turnpike Road Company with John Railey (and
others) as directors." These men were to construct a turnpike road from Bowling
Green to a bridge over Drake's Creek at Thomas' old ferry, thence, the most direct and
practicable route to or near Railey's Ford of Bay's Fork Creek in Allen County, thence to
Scottsville. At the present time, (1985) there is a large pecan tree near Bay's Fork
Creek on the farm of Marion Willoughby. It is thought that this tree, which still
bears a few pecans, was brought from Virginia and set out by the Raileys when they came to
Kentucky. There was also a pecan tree growing near the old homesite, now the home of
Jessie E. Willoughby, however the tree was struck by lightning about a year ago and had to
be cut. John and Locca Railey are buried, with several of their children in the Agee
family cemetery in Allen County. many of their descendants still live in Allen and
Warren County. |
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enlarged view)
MARCH - (New Middle Fork Missionary Baptist Church - drawn
by Scotty Clark - 12th grade) |
Early minute books are missing so much information is
lost, however, there is a gape brought forward to each minute book which states that the
church was organized in the year 1866 on December 29th. Bro. W.D. Miller was the
first pastor and W.L. McElroy was the first clerk. Only two deacons' names have been
preserved. There were: William Dodson and W.L. Ham. The land on which the log
church was built was donated by a Dodson family but the record does not tell which Dodson
family. Some of the early members were: W.H. Dodson, Sarah Dodson, Sam Dodson, W.L.
Ham, Mary Ham, Lewis Dodson, Charles S. Dodson and Jane Dodson. Mordeciah ham was
known to have been one of the early pastors of the church. Later ministers serving
as pastors were Joe Meador and his son, Earl Meador, Leonard Garmon, Durward Garmon, and
their father, Carline Spears, and Claude McCleary. Gerald Britt is presently serving
as pastor of the church. The congregation still uses the original building which has
been remodeled and added to from time to time. New pews were purchased in 1973. The
building has been weatherboarded and now is covered with aluminum siding. |
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enlarged view)
APRIL - (Mt. Aerial Funeral Home - drawn by Lee
Holland - 10th grade) |
This house was built by Bud House in 1899 to be used
as a combined residence and funeral home. A short distance away a small house was built in
which caskets were made. The small house is not standing now but the one pictured
above is still standing on the farm of John Pitchford in the Mt. Aerial community of Allen
County. by 1902, the funeral home had ceased to operate and the building was sol to
Mich Jackson and used as a schoolhouse. As such, it served the youth of the
community until 1908 when the Shiloh school was built. After it ceased to be used as
a school, Wallace Deberry purchased the house for a dwelling - thus this house has served
the community in many ways. |
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enlarged view)
MAY - (Allen County High School, 1941-1970 - drawn by
Mike Lyle - 12th grade) |
The first meeting on record of the Allen County Board
of Education for the purpose of building Allen County High School was held on March 9,
1940. The purpose of this meeting was to purchase the property on which Allen county
high was to be built. The board approved the purchase of 11.42 acres from dr. L.W. Johnson
for the amount of $5,000.00. Land for the school was located on West Cherry Street
in Scottsville. On May 11, 1940 a meeting was held for the purpose of approving the
bonds for the construction of the school. The bond issue was $50,000 at 3.5%.
The first school year was 1941-42. This year only Mt. Victory and Meador High School
students came to Allen County High. The following school year, 1942-43 Mt. Zion and
Petroleum students came. The first year enrollment was 129 students and 32
graduated. The first building was destroyed by fire on May 10, 1943. the
building was rebuilt exactly as it was originally - all joined in to help as this was war
time and both labor and materials were scarce. Eventually, as the population of the
county grew, this building became too crowded and it became more and more evident that
other arrangements would have to be made. In 190, a new high school building was
completed. The former Allen County High School became the Middle School for grades 7
and 8. |
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enlarged view)
JUNE - (The Guy Celsor Home - drawn by Tammie Cooper - 11th
grade) |
This house was built in 1905 by Guy and Lucy Barton
Celsor, just 2 miles off Hwy 1333 near the Red Hill Community about 15 miles from
Scottsville. It is located on the Jimmie and Sarah Barton farm, where their
daughter, Lucy, was born in 1881. Lucy Barton and Guy Celsor married in 1903 and
built this house on the same farm where Lucy was reared. The farm contains about 540
acres. The two story home originally had a double porch but was remodeled to the
present structure around 1927-28. Lucy and Guy Celsor had two children who were born and
reared in this home. Sarah Celsor Pardue and Jimmie Barton Celsor. Like so
many homes built at that time, the house contains two separate stairways, one for the
girls and one for the boys. The home is still in the Celsor family, being presently
owned by the son, Jimmy Barton Celsor. |
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enlarged view)
JULY - (The Allen County Livestock Auction Commission
Company - drawn by Sara Morgan - 10th grade) |
Thee Allen County Livestock
Auction Commission Company was built during the great depression of 1930 on the farm of
col. C.M. Carter located on the Gallatin Road. It was built by Col. Carter, whose
sons started their careers at this stockyard. Weekly livestock auctions were held
each Thursday; horses and mules were sold on Fridays. Col. Carter traveled to Ft.
Worth, Texas and St. Louis, Missouri to buy Hereford cattle, horses and mules to sell
here. the fee for selling pigs and goats was 5 cents per head; cattle were sold at
$.25 per head and a fee of $1.00 each was charged for selling horses and mules. Each
day the sales ranged from 300 to 600 head sold. To the left of the stockyard was a
small lunchstand (not shown) which was at first operated by Mr. and Mrs. Willie Button.
Later, it was operated by the Carter children, Helen, Jake and Jonell. This
stockyard closed in 1942 during World War II when with the shortage of manpower, help was
impossible to get. The residence of the J.C. Carter family is located on the Carter
farm in White Plains today. |
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enlarged view)
AUGUST - (Mt. Pleasant Methodist Church - drawn by
Pattie Vernon - 10th grade) |
Following a revival at Old
Buck Creek church in 1815, through the efforts of a Mrs. Mary Martin and a Mrs. (Sarah)
McReynolds, the Mt. Pleasant Methodist Society was organized. These ladies opened
their homes for preaching services and prayer meetings were held in various homes until at
an early date, Mrs. Martin donated a plot of land and a log church was built. It
also served as a school. Some years later Malcom B. Crowe gave more land to be used
by the Society. Due to conflict between the States in the 1860's the Society was
divided into two organizations but continued to use the same building for worship.
Some of their meetings were held jointly but each organization had its minister and
alternated the Sunday Worship services. About 1880 the organizations jointly erected
a frame building (shown here) to replace the log one. This frame building was
remodeled from time to time and both organizations continues to worship in it until 1939
when they united. In 1955 Mr. Joe Crowe donated a parcel of land which aided in the
locating of the present brick building which was dedicated on may 31, 1959. One of
the most attractive churches in the county, it stands 4 miles south-west of Scottsville. |
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enlarged view)
SEPTEMBER - (The Moore-Motley Home - drawn by Georgana
Browning - 12th grade) |
This house stands on a 146
acre tract located in Erwin's Bend of the Barren River. Although it is now in a
badly deteriorated condition, it has been "home" to many families. The
house may have originally consisted of the left front room which is of logs, with a
kitchen behind it separated by a breezeway or dog trot. The earliest owner we could
find on record was James Willis Moore of Bowling Green. In 1901, his widow,
Elizabeth, and his other heirs sold this property to John W. Starks. Other owners
have been George Mitchell and wife, Sallie, Robert H. Mitchell, W.T. Gardner and wife,
W.B. Tabor and wife, Sallie and Fletcher Johnson. In 1927 the land sold by the
Master Commissioner of the Allen County Court, G.W. Weaver, and The Federal land Bank of
Louisville was the purchaser. Virgil Motley and wife purchased the land from the
Federal land Bank and moved their family into the home about 1930. They lived there
until about 1943 when Mr. and Mrs. Motley moved to Indiana and sold the land to Henry Rush
and J.H. Collins who were primarily interested in the timber. On November 2, 1944
the land was sold to W.W. and L.H. Arterburn. L.H. Arterburn is the present owner. |
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enlarged view)
OCTOBER - (Durham Springs Store - drawn by Melissa Toungett
- 10th grade) |
This store, thought to have
built by Frank Graham in 1895, is located on Hwy 98 near Durham Springs. Mr. Graham
had no children but reared his nephew, Wilson Graham who was orphaned when quite young.
In 1899 Wilson Graham married Birdie Jackson and the young couple moved into the
living quarters in the rear of the store. They ran the business for several years.
In 1902, Frank Graham deeded them the store and a tract of land on the eastern side
of Walnut Creek consisting of about 50 acres. The last person to run the store was
Hubert Jones in 1926. Wilson Graham later became a rural mail carrier and the family
moved to Scottsville, renting their home to others. The store building was also
rented to a succession of families in need of shelter. In 1967 it was used as a
neighborhood church. The house built by Wilson Graham was destroyed by fire started
by lightning about thirty years ago. In 1968 Charles and Irene Motley of Louisville,
bought the Graham land including the old store. They built their home on the site of
the Graham home. The old store has been repaired and is now used for storage.
Among Mrs. Motley's prized possessions is the bell used on the front door of the store to
announce the arrival and departure of customers. |
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enlarged view)
NOVEMBER - (The Cushenberry Homeplace - drawn by Cynthia
Pearson - 12th grade) |
The Cushenberry homeplace
was constructed in 1879, replacing a log home that was destroyed by fire. This home
is located 2 miles from Scottsville on the Old Glasgow Road originally known as the
Jackson highway. The home was built with 6 rooms, two hallways and a pantry. The
original roof was of red oak boards later replaced with metal roofing. Lucinda Read
Cushenberry, the widow of John P. Cushenberry, resided in the home until her death on
February 9, 11922. The family of the late john William Cushenberry(Grandson) now
reside on portions of the original farmland. The home place itself remained in the
Cushenbery family until 1985 when purchased by Cal Turner, Sr. |
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enlarged view)
DECEMBER - (Gilead School - drawn by Kris Medley - 12th
grade) |
The old log school was
first located on what is now Spencer Road in the Cedar Cross community of Allen County.
It is believed that the first log school was built in the mid 1850's on land
originally included in the James Jones Foster land grant (later known as the Satterfield
farm). In 1890 the school was moved and rebuilt of poplar logs on land given by J.W.
and Francis Foster. This site is located just behind where the Cedar Cross Missionary
Baptist Church is now located. In 1914 or 1915, the second log school was torn down
and the logs sold to Mr. John Jameson. He saved the logs and stored the lumber
and when the church building was constructed, Mr. Jameson donated this lumber for window
and door facings which are still in use. Records show that at one time,
approximately 150 students attended Gilead School and an additional room was added and a
second teacher hired. Some of the early teachers were: Drew Slate, Archie Grubbs and
Ernest Stovall. Evelyn c. Willoughby was teacher when the school was consolidated
with the Allen County Elementary School in Scottsville. The building was sold to
Leon Stafford who moved it to Spencer Road and converted it into a dwelling. It now
stands less than a mile from its original site. The land was sold to Mr. Latman
Duncan who later gave it to his grandson William Rex Hunt. |