that Somerset built back in brick , with the two-story design that most people are used to seeing today .
“ Those came along in the late 1800s-early 1900s ,” Gosser said . “ And I think the Ferguson [ railroad ] shops opened around 1903 or 1904 . Somerset really welcomed that with an entirely new downtown business district .”
That caused the south end of Somerset to build up the quickest , benefiting both the railroad and the business area , he said .
“ The buildings we are really nostalgic about were built in the late 1800s up . We talk about the Virginia Theater and how old it is , but it was probably the newest of the old buildings ,” he said of the 1922 construction .
“ As a general rule , when you begin building a downtown , you start at the center and you build outward . So by the time we get to the Virginia Theater , we ’ re almost at the end of the row there .”
Another construction from that time , the old Hotel Beecher ( now known as the Beecher House ), thrived throughout the 60s , Gosser said .
“ The Hotel Beecher was still an elegant place to go . The Crystal Ballroom was still in operation . The Western Union desk in the hotel was a popular place ,” he said .
In the 60s , stores that sold women ’ s fashions , men ’ s apparel , shoes , jewelry and other items took up most of the street level spaces , while professional services like doctors and lawyers , made their offices up in the second story levels .
During Gosser ’ s youth , he said that there were open lunch periods , where Somerset school kids could leave and run downtown to eat at places like Holsomback ’ s , Pulaski Bakery or Cecil ’ s Market and still make it back to class in 50 minutes .
There were machine shops , garages and gas stations downtown . So , too , were there car lots . If you wanted to buy a car in the 1960s , you had to go downtown , Gosser said ,
“ And if they had 10 new cars , that was just a wealth of new vehicles ,” he laughed . “ I ’ d say that any one of the dealers on 27 , they ’ ve got 10 cars on the lot they can ’ t even account for .”
He added , “ There was no reason to leave the immediate downtown area for anything you needed back in those days .”
But 1966 saw the opening of the Tradewind Center on South U . S . 27 . “ Prior to the Tradewinds , you ’ d have a tough time spending a dollar between Oak Hill Road and Highway 80 . There weren ’ t any businesses out there ,” Gosser said .
“ Once the Tradewinds moved there , it not only drew some businesses from downtown , but new businesses began to spring up around it . And I ’ m not sure that
downtown really saw the end coming , but I think when you look back on it , that was was the beginning of the end . In that 10-year period from 1966 forward , we saw the Somerset Plaza open , in the late 70s we saw the Cumberland Square Shopping Center open , and we saw the opening of the 80 Bypass which bypassed a lot of people from the downtown . Once you had the 80 Bypass and the U . S . 27 truck route bypass then a lot of people saw no reason to come downtown .”
And then , the Somerset Mall was built , which drew some of the last few shopping businesses away . Gosser notes that the Fair Store , possibly one of the last ones to leave downtown , opened up a store in the mall with the intent of leaving the one downtown open . Within a year , the downtown store was closed .
As shops left , the professional services – doctors , dentists , lawyers – saw no need to stay upstairs , so they moved their offices to the first floor .
“ Now , they were really happy to be on the ground floor ,” Gosser said , noting that the old buildings had no wheelchair access to the second floors , “ so the professional services are staying downstairs . And there ’ s no room for new retailers to come in , which makes it difficult if you were stupid enough to want to open a men ’ s store downtown . There ’ s no place to put it ,” he laughed .
8 • SEKY - Life in Southeast Kentucky September 2022