Now home to a small parking lot, this was once the location of Booker T. Washington School, a segregated school that served the Black community of Ashland prior to the integration of the public school system. The school dates back to 1903. Prior to 1922, when the city created the first high school program for African American students in the area, Black families who wished for their children to continue their education past the 8th grade had no option but to send their children to live with relatives in other cities. During these first two decades, the school expanded from an elementary school to include a two-year high school, and eventually, a regular four-year high school program. The school closed in 1962 as the city worked to integrate its facilities eight years after being legally required to end segregation by the United States Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board. In Ashland and other communities throughout the region, most of the public schools remained segregated through the late 1950s if not longer. In Ashland, the end of school segregation came as local residents petitioned for full integration, citing the 1954 United States Supreme Court decision that required an end to racial segregation in public schools.
The Ashland Coal and Iron Railroad Office and Company Store were major areas of industry for turn-of-the-century Ashland. Taking over the Kentucky Iron, Coal, and Manufacturing Company, they helped with the transportation and sale of industrial goods such as pig-iron and timber. The Kentucky Iron, Coal, and Manufacturing Company assisted in the growth of industry in Poage Landing and Ashland. With the extension of the railroad through Poage's Landing, they became one of the largest industrial hubs between Pittsburgh and Cincinnati.
This historic Black church is one of the first buildings constructed in the city of Ashland, aligning with the denomination of African Methodist Episcopal. It was established by Reverend Christopher Seals four years after the founding of Ashland, standing tall still despite wear and time.
The Paramount Theatre opened its doors on September 5, 1931. At its genesis, Paramount was designed as a house for silent films. Before the construction of the theater was complete, however, "talkies" had arrived, and the theater's managers altered their original plans to accommodate the new "talking pictures." As a result, this was one of the first transitional theaters intentionally built to host sound pictures, and it became a model theater for others all around the country. The theater showed films from Paramount Studios and its first showing, ironically, was for the film Silent.
With the growth of the city and region during the oil and gas boom at the turn of the century, downtown Ashland was home to numerous theaters. 16th and Greenup became home to two vaudeville theaters, the Majestic and Broadway Theaters, in 1906. At this location in 1910, the Columbia Theater was constructed and offered Hollywood movies until its closure in 1928.
Ben Williamson Supply Company stood as the second largest hardware store between Pittsburgh and Louisville. It started as a small two-story building on Front Street in Catlettsburg in 1886. They provided a variety of tools, and as the business grew, it moved to a larger building in 1907. The owners were able to hire a traveling salesman to increase their market to the area surrounding the Big Sandy River, which included Ashland. They moved the business to Ashland 1912 before building their larger supply store and warehouse in 1921.
One of the oldest buildings still in use in Boyd County, the First Presbyterian Church remains one of the most prominent churches in Ashland. It was founded by the Poage family in 1819 as a log structure several miles from its current location. The church went through three building phases, which would lead to the current structure in Ashland. It is known for its mid-Victorian structure and stained glass windows.
Founded in 1983, the Kentucky Highlands Museum and Discovery Center was created to be a cultural and historical center for the Ashland area. The museum holds a variety of exhibits that preserve and share the history of eastern Kentucky from Native American inhabitants and early explorers and settlers of European heritage to the growth and decline of heavy industry and coal extraction. The museum includes a special area for young children as well as special exhibits and events throughout the year drawn from the museum's collection of artifacts and items loaned to the museum. The organization hopes to create a cultural tourism destination and is part of the Country Music Highway.
This historic structure served as the Ashland Post Office until it was replaced by the current post office in the early 1980s. The building was constructed in 1916 and expanded in 1933 as part of a New Deal work program. The newly-expanded facility was dedicated by First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt. Following the construction of the city's new post office, the building was sold to an engineering firm and later became the home of a bookstore. The current owner, Marshall Steen, operates a small military history museum here and also rents the building for special events.
Serving the greater area of Ashland, the Daily Independent had its roots in Catlettsburg. It started as the Tri-State Independent in 1895 in Catlettsburg, before moving to Ashland to compete with the Ashland Daily News. Once it moved to Ashland, it slowly bought out and absorbed the rest of the newspaper companies in the area. It is still the main newspaper for the Ashland area, even after it was bought out by the Dow Jones Inc.
One of the last remnants of the fashionable neighborhoods of the commercial district of Ashland, the First Christian Church is one of the first churches of Ashland. With its neo-Gothic design, it was the home of the Ashland Disciples of Christ until 1913 when it outgrew the structure. It was designed by Laura White, a Michigan University graduate, and was one of the few buildings designed by a female architect in Ashland. It was a symbol of the economic and religious boom that Ashland experienced in the late 1800s.
The Henry Clay hotel became the largest in the city when it opened in 1930. The hotel operated until 1975 and closed similar to many other downtown hotels facing increased competition from interstate hotel chains and declining railroad traffic that also reduced business for downtown hotels that were often located near railroad depots. The former hotel was remodeled and converted to the present apartment complex known as the Henry Clay House.
In Ashland Central Park, there is a group of six prehistoric Native American burial mounds. Ranging from four to six feet tall, the mounds are arranged in a slightly curved line. They were first documented in 1932. The mounds were created by a group of prehistoric Native American people named the Adena Culture. The Adena Culture, commonly called "the mound-builders", thrived in the region from 800 B.C. to around 100 A.D. They lived in small villages, grew crops, hunted, made pottery, traded goods with other Native Americans, and built sometimes large and intricate mounds and earthworks.
This log cabin belonged to the Poage family, who founded the town of Ashland. Known as Poage Landing before it was renamed, they were the first settlers to reach this spot on the Big Sandy River. The family traveled from Virginia to join the pioneer movement that was heading west. Ashland soon flourished into a thriving town, with industries based around coal, pig iron, and timber.
This Tour is a Walking Tour.
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This walking tour starts at Ashland's Central Park and winds its way through the historic downtown with stops at historic landmarks, iconic buildings, and cultural institutions such as the Paramount.
