Getting the facts right on Corbin’s history

As I was turning out the lights preparing to go to bed last Tuesday night the word “east” entered my mind. In my column last week I wrote “east” rather than “west” of the underpass in giving the location of what used to be the Hall-Watson Furniture Co. building. The paper had gone to print and nothing could be done about my error.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

The Mershon Building, which Hall-Watson’s was part of, was built in 1913 and knowing a lot of people new to the area would not know anything about these buildings I gave the location.

That was not the first time something like that has occurred in my 35-plus years of writing columns for this newspaper. But when it does it makes it very difficult for me to go to sleep. I get it on my mind and it won’t go away.

But that wasn’t the only mistake I made last week. I should have known that the building at the corner of Roy Kidd Ave. and Main Street was the oldest in the City of Corbin. It was right under my nose and I had looked at the sign on the building many times.

It was the Corbin Bank built in 1902 for the same year Corbin was incorporated as a city and was the first brick building in the city.

Readers have pointed out to me that at one time it was Dr. Starr Steele’s office. I find it interesting that one of the Board of Directors of the bank was Dr. E.H. Steele. Now it is the Crawford Law office. I have a picture of the building with the sign reading the Corbin Times. So, that building has a lot of history behind it.

Diane Mitchell, who is doing research on the history of Corbin and working to prepare a room at the Corbin Public Library for that purpose, also updated me on the location of the first theaters in Corbin.

Last week I wrote that our offices for this newspaper were in the Kentucky Theater building which some thought was the first theater in Corbin. Not so. Diane informs me that the Majestic and Palace theaters predated it. The Palace was located at the rear of the building we occupy and the Majestic was on Main Street in the block between First and Second Streets.

Many people use social media on the Internet to write about our past. So much of it is incorrect because they rely on memory. The people Diane is working with rely on facts.

Now that I’ve finished my history lesson I want to wish everybody a Happy Fourth of July. Both Corbin and Williamsburg put on great firework shows and provide lots of fun. Corbin’s is on the 3rd and Williamsburg’s is on the 4th.