It’s unclear when discussions began to procure funds and complete renovations for the long-awaited Trigg County Transportation Museum on 41 Jefferson Street in Cadiz. Maybe it was 2008. Maybe it was 2009.
Either way, it finally opened to the public on Friday. And for the Trigg County Historical Society, as well as several local dignitaries, this is a culmination of a decade-plus effort dedicated toward the accurate and careful restoration of one of the oldest remaining buildings near the Cadiz Court Square.
Its first exhibit — an extensive look at Golden Pond before its 1960s flooding to create Land Between the Lakes — fully encapsulates rural life in the heart of Trigg County, as well as Lyon County and Stewart County, Tennessee.
Trigg County Historical Society member Bob Brame said the newly-revealed museum will long serve the community as a port of local history.
Brame was among the many to give credit to Trigg Countian Doug Taylor and former Trigg Couny Judge-Executive Stan Humphries, who originally brought the idea of a local transportation museum to the fiscal court before presenting plans to the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet and Kentucky Heritage Council.
Jim Wallace, another Trigg County Historical Society member and noted local historian, described the latest Golden Pond exhibit as a true depiction of how the federal government has impacted the local area — from the Tennessee Valley Authority, to the establishment of Fort Campbell, and to the installation of I-24.
“Sometimes progress comes with pain and anguish,” Wallace said. But there were also lessons.
Cadiz Mayor Todd King and Trigg County Judge-Executive Hollis Alexander presented Brame with a key to the city, and Alexander paid homage to several current generations of families who were relocated following the creation of “Between the Rivers” — most of them present at Friday’s unveiling.
Ashley Johnson, president of the Trigg County Chamber of Commerce, read from the original grant proposal she helped write prior to “Phase 1” and “Phase 2” of the renovations — in what was a key reflection of the overarching process.
For now, the museum will be open Friday-Sunday through October, with Friday/Saturday hours set from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., while Sundays will be from 1-4 p.m. Home to Trigg County Historical Society meetings, the museum will also be open during Ham Festival weekend.
A timeline of the building:
According to Brame and some collected research, the location on 41 Jefferson Street has undergone several transformations:
- Built in 1854 by the Cadiz Church and the Cadiz Lodge No. 121 Free and Accepted Masons, the structure survived several early fires and windstorms that damaged the town.
- During the Civil War from 1861-65, Union forces occupied the building, and after the war, both the Cadiz Church and Cadiz Lodge used the multipurpose facility.
- From 1892-94, the Cadiz Christian Church moved the steeple to a new building on Main Street, which remains to this day.
- After the parishoners relocated, the Cadiz Record served as a tenant until relocation in the mid-1970s. The Masons continued to meet here until 1979 before building their own location.
- The building was then renovated as a part of the Trigg County Senior Citizens Center until their new facility was completed at East Cadiz.
- It remained vacant, until the Trigg County Fiscal Court allowed for the Trigg County Historical & Preservation Society to utilize the property as it deemed fit.
