Third Place: Aaraon Phillips - Middle School: Up On the Kerr Building Crowing Like A Rooster, Winchester
The building was made by Smith P. Kerr. The Kerr Building is located on West Main Street and North Broadway. It was built in 1889 and covers 32,000 sq. ft. The building now houses around 18,000 square feet of senior living space and 9,000 square feet of commercial space. It was originally made to house the Eclipse Mills, but in years later it houses J.J. Newberry and the corner drugstore.
There is a statue of a rooster on the roof of the Kerr Building. It was placed there after two men made a bet during the 1932 presidential race about who would be elected president. One man declared that Herbert Hoover would remain president while the other claimed that Franklin Delano Roosevelt would become president. As part of the bet, the first man said that if Roosevelt lost the election, he would have to push an orange or peanut many resources say that it was a peanut down Main Street in Downtown Winchester with his nose. It is hard to decide because of so many rumors on it.
The other stated that if Hoover lost he would get on top of the Kerr Building at noon, the day after the election and crow like a rooster. So when President Roosevelt won the election, the man who bet that he would lose, went to the top of the Kerr Building and crowed, like a rooster. So that day a statue of a rooster was put up on the roof in his honor. Then one day somebody stole the wooden rooster and never gave it back, in result they had to put an iron rooster and bolted it to the roof so that nobody could steal it.
By 1999, the building was vacant and falling apart, partly because the building was built on top of a large water source. As a result of the decomposition of the original building, the Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation placed the Kerr Building on its “11th Hour” Most Endangered list. In 2001, the building was purchased by Union Properties and Bailey Associates, who began refurbishing the building in August 2002, including repairing water damage, leaks in the roof, and worn storefronts. The renovations took more than three years it was completed in December 2005 and cost more than 2 million dollars.
I think the Kerr Building should remain standing because it had mush historical value. The presidential story to be told for so many generations, that would not only have just funny and interesting story told but such a neat building to actually go and see. The millions of dollars it took and the years of hard work would have been done for no good reason. Many people talk about this building and come to see it so, I believe we should keep it.
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