Life in Christian County, Kentucky...
The former Harton & Scranton Dark Fired Tobacco WarehouseSomeone is demolishing the old tobacco warehouse on 1st Street in Hopkinsville. The bricks are being salvaged for resale. It will be interesting to see if something is built on the lot after the debris is removed. This site is across the railroad tracks from the King Cattle Company, near the buildings that Cayce Mill Supply occupied until recently.
I was surprised at the extensive concrete foundation under this building. I suppose the site slopes toward Little River which runs nearby. The builder couldn't pour a concrete slab like most of the old tobacco warehouses have, so he poured a strong concrete foundation and put in a plank floor. (The wooden I-beams that might be used under such a floor today hadn't been invented yet.)
Several old tobacco warehouses in Hopkinsville have been torn down recently. All of them were near the railroad between 1st and 12th Streets. Their location was chosen for ease in shipping out the tobacco by rail.
Nowadays, tobacco isn't brought to town to be auctioned and stored in warehouses like this, and tobacco isn't shipped on the railroad. A lot of Christian County's tobacco is processed right in Hopkinsville at the U.S. Tobacco plant. Buyers come to the farms while the crop is still growing to negotiate the price.
Harton & Scranton hung their sign on a sturdy pipe and planted it in concrete, and it still stands today, watching over the demolition.
I've written quite a lot about tobacco growing in Christian County, KY. I observe and write with the viewpoint of a resident who is not a native. To read more, visit this label: tobacco.
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