Old Church Demolished in Henderson, KY

Henderson landmark lost to wrecking ball

When we visited Henderson, KY, about a year ago, I photographed this vacant church building. I thought that the front part of the church had interesting elements of Modernism in its architecture.

I was quite surprised when I read recently on the Western Kentucky Genealogy Blog that the church has been torn down. In "Another Landmark Gone",  Brenda writes that the original church building (photo at right) dates back to the 1850s. It was the oldest church building in Henderson.

She notes that the new part of the church was built about 1930. That date matches my guess of the structure's age, based on the boxy style and the geometric accents in the masonry.

An article in the Henderson Gleaner says that the buildings were also home to the Haven Pentecostal Church.

It's a shame that no use could be found for these historic buildings. I suppose that the corner will now be occupied by a drug store, a gas station, or an auto parts store.

Isaac got tired of waiting for me the day that I took these photos. It was hot, and he was sitting in the car. I'm glad I have the pictures, though. Sometimes I fail to photograph a building I like, and then I regret it after the building suddenly disappears.

I'm also glad that the congregation of the First Christian Church is still intact. I read on the church website that they moved to a new building in 1962.  The Haven Pentecostal Church also continues to meet. It looks like they have a new building too.

Related posts:
Buildings Are Not Forever
Historic Log House Is No More
Nine Historic Homes in Henderson, Kentucky
Folk Masonry Seen in Henderson, Kentucky

Nine Historic Homes in Henderson, Kentucky

A few photographs of Henderson's historic residential district

I took these photos of handsome old homes in Henderson, KY, when my son Isaac and I visited the town last fall. Henderson has a great number of buildings, commercial as well as residential, that date back to the great days of tobacco shipping on the Ohio River.

It was hot on the afternoon we visited Henderson's historic residential district, and my companion was a little impatient. I didn't do the walking tour as I had hoped. Rather, I drove through the district and got out of the car a few times to take photographs of the luxurious homes built in Henderson's past.

It would be better to walk the tour than drive it as I did. It's often difficult to find a parking place, and some of the streets are heavily traveled. I didn't get to find and identify most of the houses and commercial buildings on the tour brochure.

Henderson is an interesting town. We would still have several days of things to see and do if we were to visit again. Maybe we'll go again this spring, with Dennis this time, so we can take him to the LST memorial  just across the river in Evansville, Indiana. Dennis is a Navy veteran, and he would really enjoy touring the ship. I'm planning to post some photos of our visit to the LST later this week.

Related posts:
Folk Masonry Seen in Henderson, KY
Audubon State Park 
Sunset Over the Ohio River

Folk Masonry Seen in Henderson, KY

Eccentric brickwork

This modest little house in Henderson, KY, would be quite ordinary if its brickwork ran in straight, horizontal lines. However, as you can see (click the photo for a closer look), the bricks are laid in a very curious way.

The bricks at the corners are set mostly straight and square, but in the rest of the wall, the lines of brick and mortar meander around the stones. It's an interesting example of what I'd call eccentric brickwork or folk masonry.

I saw this little house last fall when my son Isaac and I camped at the Audubon State Park at Henderson for a couple of days. I'm planning to post more of the photos from that little excursion later this week.

Update:
When I got the top photo ready to post, I overlooked the photograph below of a more spectacular example of eccentricity in brick and stonework. As I recall, this home was near the one in the other photo.

Related posts:
Audubon State Park
Sunset Over the Ohio River

Audubon State Park

Camping at Henderson, KY

Another pleasant outing in the faithful Coleman tent

John James Audubon, noted American ornithologist, lived at Henderson, KY, from 1810-1819. Today, the Audubon State Park preserves some of the old-growth forest where Audubon roamed along the Ohio River, observing the birds and collecting specimens to paint.

Isaac and I camped two nights at Audubon State Park, while we were sightseeing at Henderson, KY, and Evansville, IN, last week. Isaac had just three days free from both work and school. Dennis was still obligated at his job for part of that time, so Isaac and I went by ourselves.

The Audubon State Park campground is near the Ohio River, just off Highway 41 at Henderson. In fact, the traffic on the busy highway is clearly heard at the campground. Nonetheless, it's a beautiful site with tall trees and many squirrels. We were the only tent-campers there, and there were only about half a dozen RVs.

Isaac really likes camping, and Boy Scouts deserves the credit for it. I'm glad that he has a wholesome hobby that he can pursue all his life. When I camp with him, we don't rough it too much. We get a site with electricity so we can hang the "trouble light" in the tent for reading after dark.

This time, I also brought along a tiny television set, so I could see the McCain vs. Obama debate. To my surprise, half a dozen stations came in clearly with the small antenna. I watched most of the debate while reclining on my air mattress in the tent. Near the end, rain began falling, so it seemed prudent to unplug the extension cord and listen to my little radio instead.

Our campsite was under several black walnut trees. We set up the tent at the edge of the walnut area, but we still had to clear a spot by kicking dozens of black walnuts out of the way.

Whenever the squirrels ran through the treetops, the walnuts rained down. We weren't hit by any of them, but one did fall on my car's hood so hard that it made a little chip in the paint. Oh, well. That's a hazard of parking near walnut trees this time of the year.

The museum in the park has some of the Audubon sketch books, original paintings, and early prints. It's quite interesting. I didn't take any photos because there's a sign at the museum entrance that says, "No Cameras."

One interesting thing I learned at the museum was that Audubon set very high standards for himself. He went through his work every year on his birthday and destroyed everything that was not up to his current level of painting skill.

Like every other Kentucky state park I've visited, much of the infrastructure at Audubon State Park was put in place by CCC and WPA workers. The museum (photo below) was built in 1938 as a WPA project.

Next time we camp at Audubon, I want to hike some of the trails to see more of the forest. This park deserves more time than we were able to give it on this trip.

Sunset over the Ohio River

A mighty river

Isaac and I enjoyed seeing the Ohio River at Henderson, KY, and again at Evansville, Indiana. We saw this beautiful sunset from a nice park on the riverfront in Henderson.  It has many inviting benches, where you can rest and enjoy the view.

Several of the benches were occupied by groups of men who were chatting and watching the river. A few other people sat alone in the park.

A few blocks east of here, a wide, long, steep street leads right down into the water. It's a public access area to the river where anyone can put a boat into the water. It has parking spaces on both sides of it, so we drove about halfway down to the water and parked. It felt strange; we discussed whether cars ever tipped over sideways and rolled into the river. (Probably not.)

We got out and walked around briefly, but didn't loiter. We felt much safer on the high bank, above the river where the buildings sit, than on a steep downhill slope ending in water. Landlubbers like us have great respect for big rivers like this.