by Ralph Barnes
The Citizens Voice and Times
November 28, 1996
Estill County’s Golden Era occurred less than one lifetime ago; but the
majority of people now living have no memory of the two momentous decades that
forever changed life as we knew it. We emerged from the Great Depression,
fought World War II, developed nuclear weapons that brought us to the brink of
annihilation and entered the Space Age, all in a twenty-year span, between 1940
and 1960. Those historic events, along with the tremendous technological
advances made during the period, had profound consequences for the people of
Estill County. So perhaps a retelling of those times will be instructive.
In the Forties and Fifties, jobs were low paying but plentiful, crime was not a
major concern, and a person walking along the highway was sure to be offered a
ride. Anything worth knowing could be learned by eavesdropping on the party
line or by visiting a local beauty parlor. Church services were excruciatingly
long and revivals were too frequent; or so the young folks thought. Ice cream
cones and RC Colas were a nickel, but most people didn’t have a spare nickel.
As the icemen made their daily rounds, the neighborhood kids swarmed the
delivery trucks to get the delicious ice slivers that littered the truck bed.
Every house had a front porch where families gathered on warm summer evenings
to cool off and chat with passers-by.
On Saturday nearly everybody in the county converged on Main Street in Irvine.
Cars and trucks parked curbside so their occupants could view the throng
parading the sidewalks. In those days Irvine was chock full of much beloved characters
that made life more interesting. The passing procession included such local
characters as Jim Rison and his entourage of gleeful ragamuffins who were more
entertaining than a circus. There was Ezart Ashcraft, the white-maned and
highly regarded lawyer who always wore red suspenders and a matching red tie.
Rumor had it that his fee was based on whether clients had their own witnesses
or if he had to provide them. Urbane Harry Cockrill operated a gentleman’s
clothing store. He was noted for his uncanny ability to convince his customers
that everything they tried on was perfect for them.
The Saturday crowd usually included a number of former residents who had
recently moved to Ohio to work. At the first opportunity, they financed a car
and returned home to impress the local folks. These were easily identified
because they added the verb modifier "ing" to every word they spoke.
In Appalachia we normally omit the G and say goin and comin rather than going
and coming as is the manner in the North. The new arrivals in Ohio were
constantly exposed to this strange new "ing" sound; and realized that
to be accepted as Buckeyes they needed to use "ing" a lot. Some of
the more unworldly transplants, not knowing quite where to use the unfamiliar
sound, added it to their entire vocabulary. So if you asked recent migrants to
Dayton, where they lived, they replied in the most self-assured manner that
they had left the "sticks" and now lived in Dating,
Ohio."
For a mere quarter, children were royally entertained and lavishly fed while
their parents shopped and socialized. The Saturday routine always included a
visit to the movies. For twelve cents one could watch the previews of coming
attractions, a suspense filled episode of the current serial, animated cartoons
and a full length cowboy picture. The remaining thirteen cents would buy a bag
of popcorn, a coke and three everlasting jawbreakers. Saturday in Irvine was
about as close as the living ever get to Heaven.
The railroad ran through the very heart of the county and the immense steam
locomotives dominated the local scene. There was a romantic quality to the
steam engines that never quite carried over to the diesels. The steam powered
trains constantly huffed and puffed, clanged, screeched and hissed, giving them
personality characteristics not shared by their more efficient replacements.
The round house, where dozens of men worked around the clock to keep the
locomotives running, added to the cacophony of sounds. As if the steam engines
and the round house didn’t create enough noise, the railroad installed loud
speakers that were constantly squawking day and night. There were numerous
section gangs that kept the tracks repaired and entertained the local youth
with their colorful language. Hobo camps existed where a "king of the
road" could cook a meal and bed down for the night.
Several other industries added to the economy of the county. The oil refinery
at Pryse (Texola in those days) operated full blast during the war years to
meet the needs of the military. The oil fields throughout the county employed
dozens of people to tend the pumps that lifted the oil from the wells. A single
engine was used to pump several wells by running metal rods to a central
pumphouse. Local residents became so accustomed to the constant chugging of the
pumphouse engines that when they shut down for repairs it was difficult to
sleep. The Carhartt Overall Company employed many people in the county then as
it does now. There was a wholesale grocery company in Ravenna and a couple of bulk
gasoline distributors. Several large sawmills were in operation at that time.
Irvine’s downtown was the thriving center for commerce and entertainment.
Downtown businesses included an A&P and a Kroger store, a Western Auto, a
dime store, several clothing stores, new and used furniture stores, two
theaters, barber shops, poolrooms, hardware stores, two hotels and numerous
restaurants.
The Eagles Nest soda fountain, operated by Kenny and Retha Farley was the
favorite gathering place for high school students.
The best chili dogs ever created by the hand of man were sold at the Main
Street Poolroom. The sanitation at the pool hall was another matter, but who
cared. Benjamin Franklin would never have said that cleanliness is next to
Godliness if he had eaten just one
"Coney " from the Main Street Poolroom.
Downtown Ravenna was equally vibrant. The Ravenna Drug Store, Prewitt's Shoe
Shop and Flynn’s Paint store were fixtures in the Ravenna scene. Ravenna eating
places included at various times, Chrome Dome’s (a pseudonym used due to the
proprietors bald head) Bush Brothers, Cruse’s Corner Cafe and "Gawk"
Brackett’s. Brackett’s restaurant eventually evolved into the Cedar Village
that is now located in West Irvine. Hackworth’s grocery was another major business
in town. Ruffners’s Grocery, later operated by Jack Hamilton, was just across
the Irvine city line and did a booming business in both towns. Two of the more
famous barbershops of the era were operated by Claude Isaacs Sr. and Ed Hester
in Ravenna. Tall tales and checkers entertained customers and loafers in both
shops. The Ravenna depot was a busy place with the trains constantly loading
and disgorging passengers and cargo. The Wig Wam, Estill County’s first
drive-in restaurant, was opened by Earl and Mable Floyd in the mid-fifties and
became a mecca for teenagers.
On the surface, Estill County was a bustling, pulsating, vigorous community
like those celebrated in Walt Whitman’s poetry. But technological advances,
coupled with the depletion of the county’s natural resources, brought changes
that forever altered the way we were.
Television arrived and kept people entertained at home and there was no need to
go downtown. The advent of air conditioning made front porches obsolete. Who
wants to sit on the front porch and talk to their neighbors when they can
repose in a climate-controlled living room and watch soap operas ?
When the diesels superseded the steam engines, the roundhouse mechanics and
many other railroad employees were no longer needed and they too vanished into
history. The oil played out, the pump houses fell silent and the refinery at
Pryse closed. The timber was eventually exhausted and the sawmills disappeared.
The jobs that sustained our people for generations simply dissolved.
One by one the downtown stores began to close from the lack of business. The
Main Streets of Irvine and Ravenna, as with many other Main Streets across
America, eventually came to resemble ghost towns.
So ended Estill County’s Golden Era.
Many things are much better today. Polio and TB are no longer major threats,
more people have cars and nicer houses, there are more labor saving devices,
people can afford vacations and there is less pollution. Most importantly, the
threat of nuclear annihilation has subsided. But for those of us who lived
through that by-gone era, our hearts will always be stuck in the forties and
fifties. We miss gentle Martha May at the Ravenna Drug Store, smiling Nancy
Robbins in her ticket booth, helpful Edith Horn at the ten-cent store and
friendly Bessie Parks at the food counter in Begly’s. And all of the other
wonderful people, mentioned and unmentioned, who made that gilded time truly
golden.
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