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Business
Building Up Downtown
Downtown Henderson welcomes both budding and maturing businesses
Moms pushing kids on the swings in the park downtown. Old timers shooting the breeze at the Main Street meat-and-three. Lawyers, bankers and store clerks stopping for a cup of coffee and morning conversation before heading off to work in downtown offices.
It may sound like a Norman Rockwell-esque painting of an era gone by. But in Henderson, it’s an everyday reality, thanks to the revitalization efforts of downtown businesses and community leaders.
“Henderson’s downtown area is very unique; we have so much character and culture,” says Scott Davis, chairman of Ohio Valley National Bank, which has its main offices downtown.
Davis, a Henderson County native, spent many of his weekends and afternoons as a youngster enjoying the downtown area.
“It is a downtown still occupied by businesses on Main Street. There aren’t many vacant storefronts as we see in so many other towns around the country.”
Today, Davis is doing his part to ensure downtown Henderson remains vibrant. His bank recently invested $4.5 million to expand its downtown location, adding more than 19,000 square feet to its flagship building.
“It’s a significant thing to us that we can make a statement ourselves by keeping our main office downtown rather than moving to one of the outlying growth areas,” Davis says. “It demonstrates our support of economic activity in the downtown area. We’re making a commitment.”
Another downtown business with staying power is Alles Brothers Furniture, which was founded in 1899 and occupies nearly an entire city block off First Street.
“Our business stays very steady. We’re a destination store, so people come from all over the tri-state area – from Nashville, Hopkinsville and all around – to shop with us. There are actually several other retail businesses in the downtown area with a similar situation,” says John Sides, who has managed the store for more than 23 years.
According to Julie Martin, who oversees the Downtown Henderson Project, the downtown area has steadily been on the upswing since the organization began work 20 years ago. The organization was founded in 1986 to promote the city, recruit businesses and renovate historic structures.
The Downtown Henderson Project also sponsors community events downtown, publishes a downtown walking tour and directory of businesses as well as a monthly online newsletter.
“We’ve seen an increase in new businesses, an increase in activity and a vibrancy return to the downtown area,” Martin says. “The economics of downtown Henderson are much stronger today than they were two decades ago.”
Story by Valerie Pascoe
Photo by Antony Boshier
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