A county-owned building that historians believe is among the oldest surviving structures in downtown Hopkinsville could soon be demolished.
Christian Fiscal Court magistrates voted unanimously at their Tuesday meeting to declare the building at 521 Weber St., which is behind the old courthouse, as surplus property.
The building was constructed in the 1830s and has housed many businesses and offices, according to research by Alissa Keller, executive director of the Museums of Historic Hopkinsville-Christian County. The county has owned the building since 1968.
“It’s truly a safety issue,” said Judge-Executive Jerry Gilliam.
He cited a report dated April 22 by Mark DeArmond, a code enforcement officer with the Hopkinsville Fire Department.
“Our findings indicate that this structure is deemed Unsafe …,” wrote DeArmond, who inspected the building with Deputy Fire Chief Chad Sivills and Deputy Fire Marshall Nate Stewart on April 11.
“… we have condemned this structure until all life safety concerns are addressed or the structure is demolished.”
The report listed these issues with the building:
- Foundation structural concerns
- Damaged first-floor joists
- Ceiling damage from water along with possible mold
- Uncertain compliance with electrical system
- Exterior walls are shifting
The building is vacant. Most recently it housed the county treasurer’s offices.
“With this building not being used and the structure being what it is, I don’t know how they would even remodel it to the point of being inhabited again,” Gilliam said.
The county is soliciting bids for demolition.
“If there is a group that decides they want to restore it, then certainly bring that proposal, but we will be looking at quotes to have it demo’d and add additional parking, which is also needed in downtown,” said Gilliam.
After the meeting, Keller said she was concerned that members of the public have only recently learned about the county’s plans to demolish the building.
Keller said she was “alarmed” when she learned about the plans last week through an interview Gilliam had with WHOP radio.
“I never would have thought that building was under consideration [for demolition],” said Keller. “I started doing research on the building to make sure it wasn’t just an old building — but that it’s an old building and an important building.”
Monday evening on the museum’s Facebook page, Keller posted a brief history of the building and an adjacent structure that the county also owns. The second building, which was most recently the judge-executive’s office before Gilliam and his staff moved to the old district court building at Seventh and Bethel streets, is not slated for demolition, county officials said.
Keller’s post included a photo of the two buildings from a 1982 publication of historic sites in Hopkinsville and Christian County.
“These two buildings located on Weber Street stand as the oldest surviving structures in downtown Hopkinsville. Built as two separate structures, the building visible from Main Street down Court Street is known as the Webber Building while the building to its north (right in the photo) was long known as the Winfree Building. Both buildings stand on part of Bartholomew Wood’s original land grant from the 1790s,” Keller wrote.
She continued, “Built in 1839 as a residence by Jesse C. Wood, the Webber building gained its name from Dr. Augustine Webber, a distinguished doctor who lived and worked here from 1854 until 1868. Due to its proximity to the courthouse, the building was used for decades for law offices, serving as the professional home of many of our community’s most brilliant legal minds. Over time, the upstairs also contained apartments and even a small operation that manufactured cigars. In the 1930s, the building was transformed into a restaurant known as the Coffee Pot. Christian County government bought the building in 1968.
“The Winfree Building dates from a similar time frame and was also constructed as a residence. Owned by the Winfree family as early as 1884, the building housed West Kentucky Land & Auction Company when it was purchased by Christian County government in 1980.”
The buildings stand as “testaments” to the community’s earliest history, she wrote.
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.
