June 2011

1. 83% currently live in Estill County.

2. 50% currently work in Estill County.

3. When asked what they feel is the single biggest issue facing Estill County today, 45% said drug abuse, 20% said lack of jobs, 14% said apathy, 9% said poverty, 6% said lack of recreational opportunities, 1% said aging population, and the 5% “other” category was split among a combination of the above (2%), people who oppose growth (1%), crime/stealing (1%), and lack of education/family bias (1%).

4. When asked what they feel is the best focus for economic development in Estill County, 44% said searching for manufacturers to relocate here, 43% said entrepreneurial and small business development, 11% said tourism development, and the 2 “other” responses were alcohol sales and entertainment/recreation development.

5. When asked how much, on average, of their total total income is spent within Estill County, here is the breakdown:
(%of income – %of responses)

0% – 10.1%, 10% – 7.1%, 20% – 10.1%, 30% – 10.1%, 40% – 6.1%, 50% – 17.2%, 60% – 10.1%, 70% – 15.2%, 80% – 9.1%, 90% – 4%, 100% – 1%

6. When asked if they would consider starting their own business in Estill County (and if they already own one, would they consider starting another), 25.3% said yes, 5.1% said yes but don’t know how to get started, 22.2% said yes but now is not the right time, 15.2% said yes but don’t know how to get the money, 29.3% said no, and of the 3 “other” responses, 2 said they have no interest in starting their own business, and 1 said yes if more people were open to growth.

7. When asked what reasons they do not trade with Estill County businesses (could choose more than one answer), 75.8% said what they wanted to buy wasn’t offered, 28.3% said higher prices, 15.2% said the hours don’t suit their schedules, 13.1% said inadequate facilities, 8.1% said poor quality, 4% said poor service, and the “other” responses included: only go out of town for unavailable items (2), get everything here because gas is so high, local businesses open and close when they want, live too far away (3), and always try to go with a local option.

8. Question: If a community-owned business were organized in Estill County, would you be interested in investing? In other words, if a general-store type business were organized for which people in the community bought stock in the business and then all the owners decided on what was sold and how the business was operated, would you want to learn more about that opportunity? Answer: 66% said yes, 24.7% said no, and the “other” replies included: it depends (4), can’t afford to, great idea but would have to be done right, live too far away, would be in favor of a food co-op, sounds like the rich folks trying to take over again.

9. Question: If volunteer opportunities in Estill County were better organized and publicly posted, with complete job descriptions and time commitments available, would you be more likely to volunteer for community organizations? Answer: Yes – 83.5%, No – 5.2%, Other – 11.3%: not enough time/live too far away (9), depends on the opportunities available, maybe.

10. Question: What type(s) of business(es) do you feel would thrive in Estill County if opened here and why would it (they) succeed?

Answers:

I have always thought a KFC would thrive in EC but I have no facts to back this thought.

alcohol sales, both pkg and restaurant, recreation attractions, large flea market

Children’s clothing store!

The principle businesses I visit outside the county are, for the most part, specialty shoppes located in larger markets. However, Lowe’s and larger retail outlets such as Wal-Mart definitely pull money away due to selection and prices that are simply unattainable in a smaller market.

coffee shop, fine dining with real chef and no buffets, indoor gun range, well equiped boat dock with amenities and accessibility. dude ranch type experience, liquor store, craft coop with working artisans,

a nice clothing store for ladies–there is nothing here anymore

Department Store would succeed because there are absolutely none here in this county.

Dry Cleaner that stays open the hours customers need. A smaller version of Wal-Mart or some kinda department store. A grocery store that offers value and variety

walmart, or other department store besides a dollar store. its a shame u have to go to richmond to buy things that the dollar store and grocery stores dont carry

Something for our kids could do for fun like a skateing rank, or anything. The old Save-a-Lot building is just sitting there it is a shame we dont have something for them to do.

car part businesses, mechanics

a general type store where you could purchase most anything in one location

Anything for youth…skating rink….paint ball…laser tag…etc.

Not sure.

walmart grocery stores steak houses

Something for entertainment uses…..movie theatre, skating rink, bowling ally, ect. Something for everyone in the community to take part in not just the young or the old.

If tourism and recreational is developed and the Kentucky River utilized, then gift shops, and such like would do very well. Antiques stores are a source for drawing out of town people into our community.

Little Caesars… Cheaper pizza

Technology related businesses

A good restaurant!!!

Anything to do with farm and animal supplies.With fuel so high,it would be less costly to beable to get supplies here.

A YMCA

walmart, more places to eat, because people are going out of town to walmart and counties around us will come to irvine to shop!

Wal-Mart

something for our kids to do….they have nothing to do except balllgames…they need a movie or something…

A major chain such as wal-mart, meijer, etc., would thrive in this small community

Department store Everybody goes to Richmond/Lexington to shop at them

Family recreation. It is a void needing to be filled, a roller rink, bowling alley, arcade multi-plex would be great!

I would like to see a womens/girls clothing store. If we want to buy clothes we have to go out of town.

WAL-MART Everyone goes there.

A department store with affordable but good quality clothing.

Manufacturing (large pool of employees, EC is close to I75 and I64) Craft store (lots of people in the community like these types of stores) Theater, rollerskating rink, youth oriented businesses (not much for kids to do in EC)

A Dry Cleaners… If they would stay open. I also think a theatre could have some potential.

Creative Industries

Dry Cleaners because the one we have is never open and takes too long to get your stuff. Cab service would do well. Has done well in past and several older people could use to pay bills and grocery shop.

Something for young people. A movie theatre, a supervised youth/family center ie bowling. There is absolutely nothing for families to do here for entertainment. In the past when someone would start something of this nature they would not properly supervise and therefore drugs and loiterers would take over too the point that parents would not allow their children to go to these places.

Recreational

Restaraunts that offer a greater variety–coffee house, cafe type place where young folks can hang out, perform music, read poetry, display art. Not a safe place for kids to hang out and do cool stuff, right now, but we need one.

skateboard shop i’ve seen alot of kids on there boards so i think something like that would do good,or a place like Catos where there are dresses and skirts for women to buy because there are alot of churches and thats the only place to buy things like that.

Movie theater

Bowling Alley, Swimming Pool, Movie Theater

We need more merchants! We need bigger selections and lower prices. ANYTHING that brings jobs!

We need more Hair Salons… Car Washes… Gas Stations. jk jk LOL I think a sporting goods store might do well in Estill. A lot of kids are involved in some kind of sport and end up traveling to Lex. or Richmond for their required gear.

(a) A small trade school for young adults and non-traditional students (b) bring-and-buy types of businesses such as organized, low-overhead farmers markets where locals could sell produce, antiques and art possibly drawing in outside dollars as well (c) a seasonal drive-in movie theater could do very well in the county with lower start-up costs than a traditional theater (d) livestock and/or farm equipment auctions (e) elder care [medical or non-medical] (f) Aldi’s grocery chain [www.aldifoods.com] (g) organized, advertised tourism [i.e. what could be the next big idea like the Mushroom Festival]

antique shops, “country” stores, craft suppply shops

A theater, bowling alley, or roller rink would do well here, because there isn’t a thing for a our kids to do in this county. I believe it is putting our children at a higher risk to experiment with drugs, and alcohol.

Kroger, WalMart

I believe if we opened up our trails, we could have one heck of a resort. That would open us up for supplies & gear to be sold. I also think we need to target more of the teenagers. We need to find out what they like.

Something for the kids

Tourism, B&B’s (There’s few options to stay in Estill), Cabins, Riding, kayaking, trails, adventure tourism. Things to take advantage of being an alternate route to The Red River Gorge from Lexington/Madison.

Clothing stores for women and childen. They should succeed because we are limited in this area as long as they had reasonable prices and quality merchandise.

More clothing options

locally-owned department store with clothing

Manufacturing companies, low property cost, good work force. So many people living here have to work somewhere else

Drive in theater-appeals to everyone. Bowling or skating rink – youth need to expend energy plus being contained in a building will make watching them much easier. A REAL park containing lots of activities- this will encourage more activity physically and avoid time to over eat and use drugs. A 4-wheeling park. Lots of people like to take their trucks, jeeps, and 4wheelers off road.

new ladies clothes, barbecue/steakhouse, drive-in movie theater

Office Supplies…. there is no place to buy any of this. Antique Stores…. to get people to visit Estill County

A movie theater or bowling alley… there is nothing for the youth to do close to home i think it would help the community a lot…..

Manufacturing/Industrial. Lower tax incentives along with a high percentage of Estill’s population that meet their target employees would become attractive to producers.

Gym — with pool/activities for kids in addition to health fitness equipment for adults, coffee shop — like starbucks, ice cream shop down town — Graters, a place for stay at home moms to bring kids for activities (like Gymboree)

Without alcohol sales, not many.

We need different types of businesses instead of everyone copying everyone else. When someone does open a business here…three or four open the same thing and it just hurts all of them. Estill County needs to be more creative and try to help the honest businesses that are already here.

DQ

Boat Dock & Store/food on our river A privately owned scenic railway Four wheeling trails Hiking trail or climbing or caving like at Red River Gorge

women’s clothing store, book store, coffee shop

Clothing,entertainment (books, movies, games), and activities (theater, physical pasttimes, etc). Because no such services currents exists.

Restaurant because most local restaurants have succeeded in the past.

A coffee shop that would give teens a place to hang out. More interesting restaurants like Papaleno’s in Berea.

Recreational places for children, other than the park there aren’t any other places in town to take children.

April Calendar

The William’s Bank Building Story

by Ralph Barnes

Citizen Voice & Times

May 8, 1997

Among the more prominent structures in downtown Irvine is the imposing building on the corner of Main Street and Broadway known as the Williams Bank Building. As the name implies, the building was constructed to house a bank. The structure still carries that designation even though no bank has occupied the spot for sixty-seven years. The man for whom the building was named, W.T.B. Williams, was a leading Irvine businessman around the turn of the century. Williams was a self-made man who amassed a fortune through real estate ventures and farming. His parents moved to West Irvine from Clark County, when he was a boy. Williams married Katherine “Kitty” White, daughter of Daniel and Ruthy Henry White, in 1859. The Whites, a prominent West Irvine family, operated the West Irvine ferry for many years. That union produced a son and two daughters; Mattie, Etta and Thomas. After Katherine died in 1872, Williams married Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter of Alex Hamilton. Elizabeth bore him two sons and a daughter; William Price., George B. and Myrtle.

The Estill County Deposit Bank, chartered in 1894 and believed to be Irvine’s first bank, went into receivership shortly after the turn of the century. Williams and his eldest son, Thomas, assumed responsibility for the troubled institution and changed the name to the W.T.B. Williams Bank. The two younger sons, William P. and George B. Williams, also held positions in the new bank. All owned handsome residences in Irvine. The first Williams Bank was located in a frame house on Main Street. The small bank proved to be very successful and at one time was the second highest ranked bank in the United States with a deposits to capital stock ratio of seventeen to one.

The success of the Williams Bank did not go unnoticed and eventually the Farmers Bank and Trust Company was chartered by a group of Irvine businessmen. When the new institution opened, Irvine became a two-bank town. The officers in the new Farmers Bank were: E. Conroy, S. B. Kelly, J. A. Wallace, V.M. Gains, Tracy Wallace and A. M. Durbin. Eventually, in response to the spectacular growth of the new town, a bank also opened in Ravenna.

When the elder Williams died of injuries sustained in a fall from a horse, Thomas Williams assumed control of the institution. After only a brief stint as bank president, Thomas died suddenly in 1909. Upon his death, his brother, George B. Williams assumed the presidency of the bank. Under George’s administration the bank continued to expand, quadrupling its assets in just a few years. The community also was growing at a phenomenal rate during the same period, due to the coming of the railroad and the oil boom. The bank’s increased assets reflected that growth.

George Williams was a successful entrepreneur in several enterprises. It was only natural that he should try wildcatting when the oil boom arrived. Anticipating the money to be made in the oil business, he got out early and signed leases for the mineral rights on hundreds of acres of potential oil land. In order to create a boom atmosphere, the banker gave leases to small under-funded wildcatters knowing that any successful oil strike would be a financial boon to him. Williams was among the earliest wildcatters to drill for oil and brought in his first well in May of 1914.

When the big strikes began, Williams sold part of his holdings to the Security Producing and Refining Company, a subsidiary of the Oklahoma-Kentucky Oil Company. In the deal, he received one and one half million dollars evenly divided between cash and stocks for part of his oil holdings. Although smaller than Standard Oil, the company was large by Irvine’s standards with assets of nearly four million dollars. John Ringling, owner of Ringling Brothers Circus, was on the board of directors. The company was headquartered in the Williams Building and George Williams served as President. Williams was already wealthy when the oil boom hit and the money he earned in the oil business elevated his financial worth considerably. In fact, he and his brothers probably were the wealthiest family in the county during that era.

Construction on more spacious quarters to accommodate a growing business, and to outstrip the competing banks, began in 1916. The plans called for a three-story building sixty feet deep and sixty-three feet wide with construction costs of thirty thousand dollars. Ironically, just a few weeks before the project was completed the old frame structure burned to the ground. The bank was forced to take up temporary quarters above D. A. and J. A. Wallace’s clothing store until the new building was ready.

Construction was completed in March of 1917 and a grand opening was held in the middle of a major snow storm. N. B. Turpin, building contractor from Richmond, had the contract for erecting the building. Turpin, a former County Judge in Madison County, also built the River View Hotel and several of the larger residences on Main Street. The spacious new structure was the most modern building in Irvine, containing its own power, water and sewer systems. Electricity was generated by steam engine in the basement. The bank shared the bottom floor with the Irvine Post Office and a drug store. The pharmacy was operated by the Rowland brothers, who had just moved to town.

In addition to the three commercial concerns housed on the ground floor, the upper floors contained twenty-seven offices. Among the occupants of the upstairs offices, on opening day, was a bright young graduate of Washington and Lee Law School, Hunter Shumate. Hunter was to become one of the county’s leading attorneys in the coming decades. Even at that early date the paper surmised that the young lawyer would have a successful career. Two of Irvine’s more established attorneys, Robert Friend and Hugh Riddle, also had their offices in the new building. Several offices of oil companies were located in the new Williams building. Clyde and V. M. Gains had the offices for their oil company in one of the upstairs rooms. Coleman Benton, field manager for the Van Oil Company also was in an upstairs office.

When the Great Depression hit in 1929, the Irvine banks were caught up in the same financial calamity that devastated scores of banks throughout the country. The reorganization of the existing financial institutions into a single bank probably was the only option for survival. The Williams bank merged with the Farmers Bank and the Ravenna State Bank in 1929 to form the Union Bank and Trust Company. The new bank located on its present site at the corner of Broadway and Back Street. Officers in the new bank were: O.W. Witt, A.M. Clark, Herbert Henderson, H.P. Moore (Moore had been cashier at the Ravenna State Bank before the merger), G. Hackworth, Hunter Shumate, Robert Bergman and Dr. B. S. Braddus. No member of the Williams family held offices in the reorganized bank. Apparently, all of the W. T. B. Williams clan left Irvine, leaving only the stately edifice on the corner of Main and Broadway to mark their passing. William P. Williams, the last cashier of the William’s Bank and the last surviving male of the family died in Huntington, West Virginia in 1936 leaving no descendants.

Several commercial enterprises have occupied the Williams building since the bank moved out. Tenants included: Irvine Telephone Company, Estill Insurance Agency (owned by Elbert Smithers and Q.C. Davis) Kentucky Utilities, Bite-Rite I5 Cent Hamburgers and Ray Webb’s Jewelry. The building again came under the ownership of a Williams when local realtor Billy “Red” Williams purchased it, about ten years ago. Williams and his wife Linda, have converted the ground floor into a restaurant. Red says that much to his regret, he cannot claim kin to the wealthy Williams bankers. Contrary to any rumors that might be circulating, the present owner has no plans for changing his first name to W.T.B. and opening a bank on the site.

Addendum by Joe Crawford: As of March 2011, the building is owned by local attorney Rodney Davis and is the home of Davis Law, PSC and the Estill County Attorney’s office.

After quite the search and receiving over two dozen applicants, Estill Development Alliance recently hired Hannah Bicknell Eaton to fill the posted Office Manager/Communications Director position. Hannah will be with us 2 days a week through May and then she will be around a bit more. You may be hearing from her in the near future as she begins to “connect the dots” for all our community’s organizations and agencies to make sure the weekly Estill County Eye can provide subscribers with updated information about events and happenings. We are very excited to have her on board! Below is a message from Hannah:

“Hello, all! My name is Hannah Bicknell Eaton and I am very excited to be working alongside Joe here at the EDA! I have been blessed to call the beautiful Estill County my home for my entire 22 years and I don’t expect that to change any time soon. I will earn a Bachelor’s of Science degree in Recreation and Park Administration from Eastern Kentucky University in May. I enjoy being with my amazing family and friends and my husband, Eric. I hope to do all that I can to make Estill County a better place for us all to live, work and play. If you have any questions or comments for me, send me an email: hannah@estillcountyky.net. I’ll be happy to help any way that I can and I look forward to working with you all!”

Shown here, L-R, Joe Crawford, EDA Executive Director, Laura Dennis, Justin Dixon, Nivra Lainhart, Megan Mainous, Darlene Reed, Shelia Wise, and Jimmy Wise. Not pictured are Charlotte Brown, Gary Dawes, Brad Fletcher, & Brent Mainous.

• Coordinating communications for EDA and the Estill County Chamber of Commerce.  This includes fielding and returning phone calls in the course of regular business, emailing newsletters and other communications to different groups of people, keeping Facebook pages, Twitter account, and other social media updated, and working with various individuals face-to-face to address different issues.  Also, regular communications with government agencies and civic groups will be made to keep an updated community calendar compiled.
• Performing regular computer work, including MS Office applications.
• Keeping up with regular bills and invoices to ensure timely payment.
• Representing EDA, the Estill Chamber, and/or Irvine, Ravenna & Estill County at various meetings.
• Have no problems with discretion, as many of our activities require information to be kept private in order to protect individual and business interests of our clients.
• Playing an active part in the formation, planning and implementation of community events and development activities.

In sum, the successful applicant will possess good computer skills, excellent communication skills (both written and verbal) and have a sincere commitment to improving Estill County as a community.

Working with the EDA is a challenging but rewarding experience.  There is much work to be done in improving our community, but every success, no matter how small, is celebrated.

Interested applicants should email a resume and/or any questions he or she may have to Executive Director Joe Crawford at crawford@irvineonline.net before Friday, February 18th at 5:00PM.  To help us learn more about an applicant, he or she may want to answer some or all of the following questions:

• What would you change about our community to make it better?  Why would you make that change and how could it be accomplished?
• What business would you like to see open in Estill County?  Do you think it would be successful? Why or why not?
• What is your favorite “thing” about Estill County?  Why is it your favorite?
• Write a description of what Estill County will look like in 20 years if the right people bring about the right changes.

Thank you for your interest!

EDA is an equal opportunity employer.

The program includes two overnight trips and eight day-long sessions between January and October. All meals and accommodations will be included.  Tuition is $200.00, which may be paid by participants or a sponsor/employer.  A limited number of scholarships are available, so all interested people are encouraged to apply.

Leadership LEAP is meant for those who want to be more involved in improving our community.  Class size is limited and applications are due December 31, 2010. Interested parties should contact the Chamber office at 723-2450 or crawford@irvineonline.net with questions or to receive an application.  Leadership LEAP is brought to you through a partnership between the Beattyville Lee County Chamber of Commerce, Estill Development Alliance, Estill County Chamber of Commerce, and the Powell County Kiwanis Club.