Historical board in Corbin has little left to designate

Hopefully, the recently formed Corbin Historic Preservation Board will be successful in its attempt to establish a historical district. Unfortunately, the “sins” of the past have left them little to work with.

Don Estep is publisher of the News Journal.

Unlike Williamsburg, which has done a good job of establishing historical registrations through its Historical Preservation Commission, Corbin has little left, for whatever reasons, of places that would today be considered monuments of the past.

I called them “sins” of the past, but at the time some of the great buildings I recall that are now gone probably had good reasons for change. It could have been the cost of updating was too much, or new businesses needed expansion room, or many other reasons. Regardless of the reasons, it is sad that some of those buildings are no longer around to register as a historical site.

The top of the list for me was the Hippodrome Theater. It was a marvelous building located on Main Street in downtown Corbin. It had a great marquee, a beautiful interior, a balcony and stage. I recall some of my older sisters telling stories about singing there in talent shows on Saturday nights. As for myself, I spent many Saturday afternoons watching serials and movies that still bring back wonderful memories.

You read about towns like Paintsville and Ashland restoring their old theaters that are now showplaces and tourism draws. Oh, but if we could have known the future.

Another downtown landmark was the Viv building. It had a colorful façade like no other building I have ever seen. It was a head turner for tourists making their way on US 25 through Corbin.

My interest is not just because I am old, but I have always delved into history. I enjoy reading articles, watching documentaries and collecting memorabilia. Here at the News Journal we have produced some outstanding historical publications.

We have published two pictorial history books of Whitley County, plus for the 100th anniversary of this newspaper we published what I consider one of the best works we have ever done, a history of the county.

But equally so, for the 100th anniversary of Corbin and the 50th anniversary of the Nibroc Festival we published a book called, “Corbin Reflections”. We spent months collecting data and it starts with the early years and then progresses with sections dealing with business,the railroad history, industrial, civic, churches,eduction,tourism, Col. Sanders, floods, sports and more.

There are numerous pictures of the past and a section we called “Corbin’s Honor Roll” which lists the histories of businesses.

We printed 10,000 copies of the book and gave them away to our subscribers and others who requested a copy.

For those of you who like local history then you should include reading “The Boys from Corbin” written by Gary West, published in 2013, and a book this newspaper published, “Simple Pleasures,” written by my sister, Bena Mae Seivers, in 1995.

In addition to old copies of newspapers, slides and pictures, I have saved several audio tapes of ballgames I announced during a 30 year period.

I only have a couple of copies of the video tapes of the games I did. At that time we gave the coaches the game tapes.

If you look at Facebook you’ll often read people guessing about where and when different businesses were. We have preserved much of that history in the publications we have done. The Preservation Board’s task is to do much of the same.