Henderson history: Winning All-Kentucky City’s highest honor was a bumpy road for Henderson

Henderson made a strong start in the All-Kentucky City contest, but a couple of near misses kept local folks on edge until the last year the city competed.

The contest was sponsored by the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce during the 1970s and at that time the local chamber was called the Henderson-Audubon Chamber of Commerce. The idea was to give communities a chance to showcase the improvements they had made.

During the 1970s the United States suffered from high unemployment, an energy crisis, a declining dollar, high inflation, and a host of other problems. But from reading The Gleaner’s stories about the local entries to the All-Kentucky City contest it looks as though things in Henderson were not as bad as they had been painted. At one point, one of the judges said Henderson’s entry made him want to move here.

The first local entry covered the period from October 1972 to September 1973 but it wasn’t until The Gleaner of Jan. 26, 1974, that local citizens learned the city had won on its first try.

The plaque was presented by Julian Carroll, who was then lieutenant governor, but would be governor when he presented Henderson its second plaque the following year. (More about that in a moment.)

The local entry included a text presentation of nearly 100 pages along with a 16-minute color slide show.

“Our slide presentation was shown during the ceremony, and comparing it with the presentations of other cities, we definitely felt ours was the best,” said chamber president Dale Sights. (The various cities were rated individually, however, and did not compete against one another.)

The highlights of the city’s presentation were the county’s new $100 million aluminum smelter with 650 jobs and the proposed Firestone plant, which is now Accuride Corp., although 15 other established firms completed additions.

New restaurants sprang up and old ones were remodeled. Newly organized football and baseball leagues provided recreation for youth. Other advancements included new schools being built, infrastructure improvements in the downtown area, and a new city hall under construction.

Henderson also won the All-Kentucky City imprimatur in the following year’s contest, according to The Gleaner of Jan. 25, 1975. The re-enactment of a flatboat race in the summer of 1974, along with 53 other Bicentennial events, wowed those judging the hospitality segment.

Henderson also had 51 new stores and a shopping center open their doors, as well as new golf courses and the Firestone plant. Five new schools were under construction, and the city also was building its secondary sewage treatment plant.

“This year we were rated excellent in all seven categories entered,” said chamber director Bob Riley.

The 1975 entry was practically writing itself already, he noted. “Firestone will continue to expand its production. We’ll be able to use the Big Rivers turbine and plant, and the new landfill and sewage treatment will be completed.”

Henderson chamber officials were no doubt feeling a little cocky after winning their first two tries. So, they no doubt were crestfallen when their next two attempts just weren’t quite good enough. Instead of winning All-Kentucky City, Henderson received honorable mention in both the 1975 and 1976 contests.

That made local officials nervous. They were trying to win three times in five tries, which was required to gain a place in the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s Hall of Fame.

“Well, you can’t win them all,” chamber president Robert Snyder said in The Gleaner of Jan. 24, 1976. “If we’ve been a winner, we’ve got to be a good loser. We still have the opportunity to compete again. It takes three wins in five years to get in the hall of fame. All is not lost. We have a chance to recoup.”

Charles Deaton, executive vice president of the local chamber, explained in The Gleaner of Sept. 30, 1976, possible reasons why Henderson fell short. Chamber officials had placed more emphasis on the written report than on the slide show in their 1975 try; they were chagrined to learn that the judges were looking more to the slide shows to make their decisions.

For 1976, he said, the emphasis would be on the slide show instead of a 250- to 300-page report. “We won’t attempt to write anything that lengthy this year.”

But once again the community fell short, according to The Gleaner of Jan. 22, 1977. “I was extremely disappointed,” Snyder said. “I thought we had all the ingredients to make it; 1976 was a very progressive year for Henderson….

“I’m not making any excuses, but we had been without an executive director for some time. After we hired one, it was a matter of first things first and we were late getting started” with the application.

The 1977 application was Henderson’s last chance until 1983 to win a place in the hall of fame. That prompted a whirlwind of energy called Walt Dear to step up to lead the application effort for 1977. He was publisher of The Gleaner at that time and the papers of Nov. 17 and 18 described the paper winning at the district level.

“This year’s presentation represents the work of at least 70 local people, untold man-hours, and six months of intensive planning,” Dear said. That resulted in a presentation detailing the community’s progress from Oct. 1, 1976, through Sept. 30, 1977.

“The book was outstanding,” said judge Ed Brandon of the Kentucky Independent College Foundation, who helped judge the district level entries. “Just reading it made me want to move to Henderson. But the slide presentation just doesn’t do the book justice.”

Henderson would be given a chance to beef up its slide presentation before it went to statewide judging, however. That was supposed to happen in January 1978, but heavy snowfall and a blizzard delayed the award ceremony until the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce’s annual convention in April.

“We’re in the All-Kentucky Hall of Fame,” The Gleaner’s top headline of April 6, 1978, blared. Gleaner managing editor Tom Taylor wrote the bulk of the report, which detailed the new zoning map and subdivision regulations; the proposed riverport; an $80 million addition at the aluminum smelter; a new YMCA; the merger of city and county school systems; and a new library at Henderson Community College. Plus, there was a record year for new housing construction, a 20-percent increase in bank assets, and a 12-percent increase in businesses.

The Gleaner’s editorial of April 7 touted what the award said about Henderson’s “personality and character.”

The Hall of Fame award was “more than simply honorary. The accomplishment says a lot about Henderson and the quality of life here to the people outside the community – to companies looking for business locations, to industrial prospects looking for plant sites, and to people looking for a pleasant and progressive setting in which to live.”

But after winning the top honor – what else was there left to achieve? That was the conclusion of the local chamber in deciding to not enter the contest for a while, according to The Gleaner of Jan. 4, 1979.

Bob Crawford, executive vice president, said 75 people had put in about 1,125 man-hours in preparing the final application; “I think we can take advantage of it even if we enter every three, four or five years.

“I think the competition allows the community to conduct a really valuable inventory of what has gone on in the past year. It shows a city where it stands and where it needs to go.”

100 YEARS AGO

A sudden thaw followed by heavy rain made many county roads impassable, according to The Gleaner of Feb. 2, 1924.

“Heavy trucks of gravel cannot get through the mud to make repairs, now….. Hundreds of county people will be forced to remain at home today unless they take an airplane to the city.”

75 YEARS AGO

An 87-year-old woman died with her 50-year-old bed-ridden son as she was trying to drag him from their burning cabin at Corydon, according to The Gleaner of Feb. 1, 1949.

Mary Posey was found across Marcel’s body, according to Coroner Paul Moss.

Weston Arnett discovered the early morning blaze and fired a gun several times to gain attention. When that didn’t work, Robert Sugg awakened Willis Calvert, who rang the bell in the First Missionary Baptist Church, which was across the street from the burning cabin.

That finally got the attention of the Corydon volunteer fire department, but it arrived too late.

25 YEARS AGO

The Henderson City-County Planning Commission resolved a longstanding zoning problem by approving a development plan for the Henderson County Sportsman Club, according to The Gleaner of Feb. 3, 1999.

The planning commission recommended rezoning the property from agricultural to general business, but with a development plan that limits use of the property to its longstanding recreational use.

The club had 64 camp sites, 44 of which predated adoption of the county zoning ordinance. The remainder were technically in violation, but a compromise was worked out.

Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com.

This article originally appeared on Evansville Courier & Press: Henderson history: Winning All-Kentucky City honor was a bumpy road