"Working Places / Places that Work"

8th Annual Preservation Week 2006 Photo-Essay Competition

3rd  Place:  Maddie Blevins, 5th Grade, Grandview Elementary

Title:  Preserve the Past for a Better Future

The movie theaters have provided joy to moviegoers since the early 1900’s. James Taylor, founded Bellevue by the shores of the Ohio River in 1870. The small town of Bellevue Kentucky is a friendly place with many riverside parks and historical  buildings that have provided employment, but sadly development has crowded the old shops. Bellevue was lucky enough to, provide citizens with joy by putting in a movie theatre in 1942, unfortunately, in the present the Marianne Theater in Bellevue is now closed to the public.

The building the Marianne is significant to Bellevue. The building is on 609 Fairfield Avenue near the Bellevue Beach Park. Do you have a movie theater in your town?  Is it still running? The building was once home to another theater named the Alcazar, which premiered movies since 1910. The Marianne Theater is an original and there is only 1 of them. It is a tradition for the people in Bellevue to go to the Marianne, and is greatly preserved with its bright colored tile roof and Neon letters reading MARIANNE. It is quite a beautiful building.

The Marianne Theater should be kept in Bellevue and should go back into business as a movie theater. It could give the people of Bellevue a chance of having a job.  It may also provide more funding to the city of Bellevue for other city projects.  If the Marianne Theater were to become lost, family traditions of going there would also become lost. I know that my family would want their children and grandchildren to explore what it was like in their own time, so that is why the Marianne should definitely be preserved.

The Marianne should become useful to the city of Bellevue.  Now people could walk a few blocks to see a movie that they want without the fear of traffic. I would definitely like to walk a few blocks than drive a few miles!  Movies will not be stressful because the convenience of a small and local business that is more, friendly and will not just treat you like a customer. A responsible child with some friends could now maybe be trusted to enjoy a movie together. Lastly the closed building could make tourists come to Bellevue if reopened and add economy. This would bring strength to Bellevue.

Lets work together to make the historic places in our Kentucky hometowns stay alive and kicking!  We must work together to save the past of Kentucky, one building at a time. Our ancestors would want to see and learn about what changes have happened in the world. We should keep the friendly and small businesses. We will never learn our past so we can’t have a better future if we don’t see the past.

This essay and photograph(s) are the property of Preservation Kentucky, Inc. and Kentucky Heritage Council and that any use of the photo or essay must be approved by PK and KHC.