"Working Places / Places that Work"

8th Annual Preservation Week 2006 Photo-Essay Competition

3rd Place: Madison Ballou, 8th Grade, Caverna Middle School

Title: The Midway Café

The Midway Café was a great place to eat, it was made in the 1930’s. One day the owner of the café deserted the building and let fall in pieces. To this very day you can look in the café and the tables are still set like someone is still running the place.

There is a lot of history in this building. Since it was a two story building the rooms upstairs were rented out. In the front of the building, there is a large storefront windows, and its original transom lights and wooden bulkheads are still in tact to this day. There is two entry ways to the building, one in front and one on the side. The window in the front looks like you could walk right up and go inside. It was a pickup window for merchants, who sold liquor. Those merchants lived up in the rented rooms of the Midway Café.

I think this building could be cleaned up and made into a nice ice cream parlor. This building could also be reopened and made into another café to serve, sandwiches, soups, and coffee. Or the rooms upstairs could be fixed up and be rented out again.

This building will not be here forever, so we need to make use of it and use it while we still have this building in Horse Cave, Kentucky.

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.