The old Irvine Grade School building on Broadway has been converted into elderly apartments. However, the old Hargett and Ravenna school buildings are abandoned. A school for troubled girls at Hargett closed its doors a few years ago.
How about a youth center or community center for gatherings, reunions, or youth centers in these buildings? Why do they continue to rot and crumble? Who owns these buidings and do they have information about possible uses of these buildings?
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2 comments:
I love your blog! I've added it to my own blog list to keep myself updated. I would love to purchase an old school at some point and turn it into a retreat. This has been done at the Benham school located in, where else, Benham. :-) Some of these old schools make great small hotels. My envision (and this is far off into the future so I hope they're still around by then) is to have a place where groups can rent the retreat out for functions but also use it as a place where artists and writers can come and have a relaxing stay to hopefully be inspired by the natural beauty. On the offset, I would like to start a small tour company that would take organized daytrips to the Red River Gorge, Daniel Boone Forest, and other areas of interest. Maybe canoeing, kayaking, hiking, etc.
On another line of thought completely, I don't see why Irvine can't support a movie theatre. I know the on Main Street only has one screen, but other small towns (West Liberty and Cynthiana come to mind) are able to support one-screen cinemas. It's a shame that one is just setting there, being unused.
I'm just on a roll now. :-) I've always thought that Irvine and Ravenna should be able to use their geographical location (being in the mountains but not TOO far east to send people out of their way) to capitalize on their Appalachian culture the way that Berea does. With a facelift, both towns are just as pretty and have tons of empty storefronts that could be host to local artisans and craftsmen. Stanford refurbished their train depot and have made a small (but very nice) museum out of it.
Anyway, I am not even from Estill County but live in Waco and do a lot of my eating and grocery shopping there. My husband is from England and we love Irvine. We have even looked at several properties on Main Street in our house hunting.
Keep up the blog entries! I do enjoy reading them.
Thanks for your response. I hope to make people think. We all may have different ideas on how to develop the community. I hope this blog makes people think. Thanks again for your response.
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