This Week in Citizen-Times History (November 25, 1971)

The November 25, 1971 edition of The Citizen-Times saw the announcement that the Chamber of Commerce held their annual dinner meeting at the Louie B. Nunn Lodge at the Barren Reservoir State Park on the previous Friday.

Cal Turner Jr., the outgoing president at the time, presided over the evening, listing a number of activities that the chamber had done over the past year, and noting that a new brochure concerning the city was being prepared.

Robbie Lynn Halcomb, who was Miss Kentucky at the time, entertained at the banquet, and is pictured chatting with the chamber officers at the time, being from left, Robert Steenbergen as the treasurer, Gene Croley as secretary, Jimmy Simmons as vice president, and Elmer Bashore as president.

It was also announced that the site of the Jacksonian Hotel was sold to Kentucky State Bank, who had plans to replace the downtown landmark into a future site for Kentucky State Bank.

James A. Lonas, the president of KSB at the time, announced that the bank’s Board of Directors agreed to purchase the property on the square, adding that the bank on East Main Street has already outgrown its building.

“The board believes that growth potential in Scottsville and Allen County will warrant the building of larger facilities for the bank,” Lonas said in an interview at the time.

The demolition of the hotel was estimated to take place three to four years after the announcement, with Lones emphasizing that he hated to see the hotel be demolished, but that the bank “must have room to expand.”

The hotel itself was built in 1920, during the “oil boom” in the county, being constructed by the Scottsville Hotel Company, and was considered one of the best places to stay between Louisville and Nashville.

It was also reported that a fire destroyed the B&M Service and Grocery, having been owned by Mrs. Rudolph Dawes with Rondall Meador and Bobby Bosely owning the stock and operating the business, being south of Scottsville on Lafayette road on the previous Friday.

The fire started in the garage during repair work on a gasoline tank of a vehicle on the grease rack, with an acetylene torch being used, with the fire quickly spreading to the other flammable materials in the garage.

By the time firemen arrived on the scene, the garage had already been destroyed, with them being able to control the blaze as long as their truck’s 500 gallons of water held out, but due to the large stock of oil and other flammable materials on fire, they could not extinguish it.

Firemen were able to keep the blaze under control for firemen and spectators were able to remove a large portion of stock and fixtures from the grocery section, before the fire spread and engulfed the building as the fire truck ran out of water.

“We couldn’t begin to make an estimate of the loss,” Meador, pictured looking at the smoking ruins, said in an interview. “But we appreciate all everyone did.”

The Citizen-Times, consolidated of The Citizen (1908) and Allen County Times (1890) on Oct. 10, 1918, has proudly served Scottsville and Allen County for 135 years.