Memorable Old Columbia, KY from Hill of Lindsey Wilson, 1909 on ColumbiaMagazine.com

2009-04-30 - From Lindsey Hill, Columbia, KY - Photo submitted by Lila Ford.
LILA FORD, Adair County Genealogical Society, sent this wonderful old photo taken a century ago. She wrote, "Ed, was going through some of the pictures we have of the courthouse and noticed this one is soon to be 100 years old. Thought you might like to post on columbiamagazine. Will try to find more for you." It's a great addition. Each time I see this view, from 100 years ago or yesterday, I'm reminded of how many Lindsey Wilson graduates and former students carry a image of this scene in one of its morphs. One of the most beautifully written pieces of literature by a truly great Adair County writer, Gordon Crump, which he entitled, "How I discovered Columbia . . . when Columbus didn't and which includes this passage, "Katie Murrell Library had just been built. I knew no one and had no idea how to spend the evening, I walked across the campus to the brink, where the Katie Murrell Library had just been built. The gathering night was warm as a mother's caress.I took in the fragant air and looked toward the downtown. For five years during WWII, towns large and small turned off street lights and covered windows with heavy dark blinds to hide the inside lights so, enemy bombers could not use town lights to navigate to a target. But now Columbia had lights, playing boldly through tree limbs, winking back at the young boy eager to get on with his life. I kept returning to the lights of downtown, as if they were lighting my pathway in life. The longer I looked at them, the more hynotic they became and the more glorious Columbia seemed. I thought they looked like stardust strewn in the bottom of a great bowl. I knew I was at home for the rest of my life." Though he has lived all over the world, his home today is Cedar Grove Road in northern Adair County. -ED WAGGENER

The Adair County Genealogical Society, Membership renewal is due in January of each year. Meetings are held at the Adair County Public Library, 307 Greensburg St. Columbia, KY, on the first Monday night of each month, at 6:00pmCT.The Adair County Review is a quarterly publication of the Adair County Genealogical Society. It is published in the Spring, Summer, Fall and Winter. it is received by all members of the Society. Membership is open to anyone interested in the preservation of history of Adair County and the surrounding counties of Casey, Cumberland, Green, Metcalfe, Russell and Taylor. Annual dues are $15.00. For more information about the Adair County Genealogical Society call the Adair County Public Library at (270) 384-2472 or contact Lila Ford at lila607@yahoo.com.