MARION MAIN STREET, INC.
CrittendenPress HistoryVignettes
A collaborative project between The Crittenden Press, Marion Main Street, Inc., and the Crittenden County Historical Society is bringing history to life with virtual tours of some of Marion’s most unique and significant landmarks. See these short history vignettes on YouTube.
The city’s oldest remaining church building is featured in this week’s tour of downtown Marion.
Now used as a home for the Crittenden County Historical Museum, the structure was first occupied in 1881 by a Presbyterian USA congregation.
The original brick exterior has held up remarkably well for almost 140 years. Its unique stained-glass windows were shipped to Marion from Germany. Other interesting features are the large exterior doors, hand-made balcony bannister and classroom doors with bevelled glass windows.
It was an active church until 2002 when it closed due to decreasing membership. As a museum, it’s home to serval rooms full of interesting items and documents. It’s open seasonally and there is no admission.
Regular online releases of virtual history tours around downtown Marion will continue through the early fall. Narrated by a handful of local personalities including longtime civic leader Susan Alexander, local historian Brenda Underdown, local entertainer Brennan Cruce and newspaper editor Chris Evans, these video vignettes are highlighting and preserving the community’s rich local history.
The project is being funded by Marion Main Street, Inc., which recently dissolved as a non-profit corporation. As its final gesture to the community, Main Street pledged the last of its resources to producing short historical videos chronicling landmarks in the community. These videos are archived on YouTube with links from various community website. Watch for them to go public this summer and fall at The Press Online, Crittenden Press YouTube Channel and MarionKentucky.org.
