A Nashville company that has done extensive stained glass work in a Hopkinsville church will restore a century-old storefront window that once advertised the services of tailor J.K. Hooser on South Main Street.
The colored-glass window was removed Wednesday from the building at 610 S. Main St., the owner, Fred Wilharm, told Hoptown Chronicle.
Emmanuel Studio Inc. will restore the colored-glass sign over the next three to four months and return it to the building’s front exterior. The same company has created many of the stained glass windows at Saints Peter and Paul Catholic Church on East Ninth Street.
Hooser originally had the decorative glass panel installed in 1914, according to an article published that year in the Hopkinsville Kentuckian newspaper.
Fred and Sharon Wilharm bought the old tailor’s shop building in early May from Hopkinsville attorney Lester Benny Guier and began restoration work almost immediately. They are chronicling the process, and several discoveries inside the building, in a Facebook page.
The next step will be painting the building facade on Aug. 27, weather permitting, Fred Wilharm said. It will be beige with burgundy and gray trim.
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. Brown was a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era, where she worked for 30 years. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board past president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition. She serves on the Hopkinsville History Foundation's board.
