City officials are waiting on a structural engineer to inspect the Blue Streak Printers building, and depending on the engineer’s findings, the East Ninth Street building could be torn down.
Mayor James R. Knight Jr. outlined that scenario during Tuesday’s Hopkinsville City Council meeting after three residents addressed the council and urged the city to not allow demolition of the historic building.
“We are going to look at it very closely. We are going to look at it and see what it’s going to need, what it’s not going to need and what kind of dollar sign it’s going to take,” Knight said. “If [the engineer] says it is a teardown, then we’ll have to step back and look at it as a teardown.”
While the mayor indicated he’ll rely on the expertise of the structural engineer, others at the meeting said professionals in historic properties ought to be consulted, too.
Kate Russell, founder and co-owner of Hopkinsville Brewing Co., asked the city to contact the Kentucky Heritage Council. The state agency consults with property owners and communities that want to leverage resources and tax credits to save historic structures.
“I believe the preservation of downtown’s historic buildings is key to revitalization and economic success,” said Russell. “As such, I would like the Blue Streak [Printers] building to be given the same opportunity as the train depot to be bought and rehabilitated by a private entity.”
Prior to becoming vacant a few years ago, the Blue Streak building housed Alfred P. “Bobo” Cravens’ printing business for more than 50 years. Cravens died two years ago, and the city bought the building from his estate. Knight said the purchase price was $500,000.
Two other Cravens’ properties in the same block at Ninth and Main streets — the Phoenix Building and the Holland Opera House — were demolished in 2023 after the city hired a structural engineer who inspected the buildings and determined they were too dangerous for anyone to be inside of those structures.
Constructed in the early 1900s, the Blue Streak building previously housed two movie theaters — the Rex Theater from 1912 to 1929 and the Kentucky Theater from 1937 to 1956.
Last week when Russell heard that the city planned to demolish the Blue Streak building, she wrote to the mayor and council members. Citing her own experience with two old buildings she bought for the brewery, Russell said Hopkinsville’s downtown district relies on the character of historic properties.
“ … the one thing developers can’t build is character, and every building downtown has that quality in spades,” Russell wrote. “I bought a small building that was completely unsuited for what I needed it to do — so I gutted it. The only structure still standing from the day I bought the building are the four exterior walls — from the roof to the concrete floor, the rest of the building has been redone. It was exhausting and frustrating at times, but it was worth every moment of construction.”
Grace Abernethy, an artist and preservationist, also spoke at the council meeting. She noted that the Rex Theater is featured in a short story titled “Birth of a Notion” by the renowned journalist Ted Poston, a Hopkinsville native who was recognized as the Dean of Black Journalists in America.
“Blue Streak is a direct link to him. It isn’t just part of our history, it is part of our cultural identity, an identity that is slipping away one building at a time as we demolish our historic downtown,” said Abernethy.
“For me this is a good enough reason by itself to save every historic building. But I realize it might not be enough for you, so let’s talk money,” she said. “Old buildings are expensive but they are also part of what gives Hopkinsville a sense of place. They are the reason that people want to come downtown. They make downtown special. And if you care for them, they can actually attract people and businesses to the downtown district, not to mention industries that are scouting out locations for new headquarters.”
Abernethy cited the success of 40 years of downtown preservation work in Franklin, Tennessee. In 2022, the city had 1.9 million visitors who directly generated roughly $1.2 billion for the local economy.
Abernethy is among a group of residents who are currently working to prevent the demolition of another downtown property, the county-owned Webber Building behind the Christian County Courthouse.
The National Park Service has rehabilitation grants for historic buildings, and the state administers historic tax credits she told the mayor and council.
Tammie VanBuren, treasurer of the nonprofit Hopkinsville Historic Community, said her group is working to advocate for the importance of old buildings and the community’s history.
“The plan of action that I would ask you take is to vote ‘no’ on the demolition of the Blue Streak building,” she said.
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.
