Moving a building in days gone by was a "job for the oxen." The first building errected in the "new part of town" was the old hotel located on Central and First Streets where the Bank of harlan is today. Almost 70 years ago the two-story framed hotel was built by S.C. Howard. Alva Gregory and Lonzo Gregory were the contractors.

The third court house was also being built at that time in the "new part of town." All of the business section was on main Street and centered around the livery stable at Main and Central Streets.

When the court house and hotel buildings began to take form, they were considered in the new part of town or away from the business section. Henry Shell was the second owner of the hotel.

For many years it was the "stopping place" for visitors who came to town. The first thing the peddlers and visitors asked when they got down off their steeds was "where can we put our horses for the night".

Old-Timers Spin Yarns

Some small boy was always ready to oblige and lead the horse down to the stable.

The porch upstairs and the one downstairs usually was filled with old-timers, resting and spinning tales with their feet propped up on the banister and chewing their favorite spark plug.

John Lewis, Jim Forester, Wilse Hensley and John Blair were some of the owners of the building. The moving of the hotel to Cumberland Avenue was a hard, tedious job.

It was drug down Central street in sections by oxen. It was said tht one of the Blair children rode a distance indide the empty house as it bumped along. All the town people gathered around to see the snail-moving house.

Bank Building Erected

The First State Bank building was erected on the property from where the hotel was moved. It was probabley less eexpensive to move a building than to build a new one. The Noe store on the cornor of Central and Second Streets was moved on logs and wooden sheels through the "court house square" to the corner of First and Central Streets. there were no trees in the yard at the time.

Some of the first store buildings holds many memories of old timers who were children at the time. The Matt Smith Shop where Krogers's is today held a fascination for young children.The hats strung on a line across the store were a colorful sight with the plumes and ribbons hanging down from the line.

"I would get all excited when my mother told me I could go to Sach's Store," a lady reminisced. She thought of the big store on Main Street and the steps leading to the upstairs department and how she watched people try on hats. They kept "piece goods" upstairs, she rembered.

The Little Shop owned by Stansberry's was also in the heart of the business section. The Esquire restaurant located near the Cumberland Valley music Store holds many memories for old timers with its blue glass windows.

The buildings are gone and to most people, are forgotten. One of the most preserved buildings of days gone by is that of D.Y. Turner's on Central Street. The building has weathered the storm through many years.

picture...MOVING THE HOTEL---Normas Brock and Oscar Hoskins are shown standing amid the rocks on Central Street. The building in the background is the two-story framed hotel building being moved from the corner of Central and First Streets to Cumberland Avenue. A team of oxen pulled the building along as it bumped over the stones. Crowds gathered along the street, to watch the operation.

Sunday November 1, 1953

Volume 52 Number 255

Pages 1 & 8

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