Two men build miniature recreation of Cadiz history

CADIZ, Ky. (WTVF) — A full year and a half of hard work is about to help tell the story of one community.

As the president of the Trigg County Historical and Preservation Society, Bob Brame is always hoping to showcase things that give people a perspective on life in the past. It's those things that tell the story of Cadiz, Kentucky, a place with a picture perfect downtown and the site of the Ham Festival.

If visuals are vital to telling the story of the area, something very special's just arrived to the Trigg County Historical Museum.

"It just blew my mind," Bob said, standing over a model recreation of the Cadiz Railroad that arrived in 1901.

It's so detailed, on close look, it looks like a place you could live. Check it out in the player above.

"Two gentlemen did this, Gus Puth and Ed Smith," Bob explained. "It took them over a year and a half. All these little buildings are stick built from pictures that we had."

This work helps Bob share the story of how Cadiz was more isolated in the 1800s.

"The railroad made it so much easier for us to sell our tobacco, our cross ties, our hams," Bob said. "Over 60,000 hams were shipped on Cadiz Railroad."

"My grandparents talk about how the railroads were used in the early days," said county historian Jim Wallace. "I don't remember the steam engines. I remember the diesels."

"This became a major employer in our county," Jim continued, motioning to another building detailed in the recreation.

"In the 1960s, Johnson Hoover Ball and Bearing came here, and they produced car seats," Bob added. "That was the largest industry Trigg County had."

"1988 was the last train that run on Cadiz Railroad," he continued.

By then, the roads were the main means of bringing goods in and out of Cadiz. As a way of telling nearly 90 years of Cadiz history, Bob is grateful to the year and a half of work two men took on.

"This tells the story of Trigg County," he said.