HOPKINSVILLE, Ky. (WTVF) — The long story of a Hopkinsville building seems likely to become to an end very soon. In fact, a historian tells us, he believes it could be the single oldest building in the city.
Since 1975, William Turner has been the official historian for Hopkinsville and Christian County. The stories he tells include a place at the corner of South Main and East 9th, the Phoenix Building. What is the story of this place?
"Oh goodness, do you have the rest of the day?" Turner smiled. "This is, to my knowledge, the oldest building in Hopkinsville. The basic structure is from 1812."
Turner told us, back then, it was the site of the American Inn hotel. He said after a downtown fire in the 1880s, it was rebuilt as the Phoenix. Rebuilt again after another fire in 1923, the place became host to all sorts of things. It had banks, drug stores, barber shops, and restaurants including the Dixie Cafe that once served breakfast to Eleanor Roosevelt.
Turner remembers the 1940s, getting his haircut at a barber shop at the building while his mother was in the neighboring beauty shop.
"My mother was having her hair fixed," he remembered. "Back in those days, they had those contraptions with all the wires. I looked back there and saw her, and said loudly in protest, 'They're killin my mama!' I ran out in the middle of 9th Street!"
While the Phoenix has risen again and again, its story seems soon to end.
"It pains me terribly," Turner said. "I grieve over it. The building has been vacant for most of the past ten years."
Condemned signs have been on the building since January after an inspection from an engineer reported interior structural issues. A judge has ordered the demolition of the building to begin Monday.
"The time has come for it to go," Turner continued. "Everything has its season. A time to be born. A time to die."
At the Christian County Historical Society, Turner is asking for people to come by and bring pictures and memories to help him share the story of the Phoenix.
"The art of being human is the love of life and history," said Turner.
NewsChannel 5 reached out to an attorney for the family who owns the Phoenix building. A request for comment was not returned by news time.
