Unearthed arches baffle historians

Tuesday, April 06, 2004

Excavation on the site of a new apartment building on the downtown square uncovered a mystery last week. Two brick archways, filled with gravel, were found on the Park Row side of the site. Jonathan Jeffrey, special collections librarian for the Kentucky Museum at Western Kentucky University, isnt sure what the archway was used for. Jeffrey said it could have been used for a cistern, which some downtown businesses used, but most of them didnt have a vaulted opening. Riverview at Hobson Grove has a cistern with a vaulted ceiling. Robin Zeigler, historic preservation planner for the Bowling Green Warren County Historic Preservation Board, has been looking at the two arches under the sidewalk. They are partly enclosed, so she cant see how far back they go. They could be tunnels or just insets in the basement wall, Zeigler said. Some grocery stores had underground storage, but Jeffrey said he has seen no evidence that a grocery store ever existed on the site. A drug store was on the site when the building burned. It doesnt make sense that there were any tunnels down there, he said. There was no wiring underground and no sewer systems at the time. Most of the buildings sewers ran into a spring behind Main Street. The rock in the tunnel could have been used for a holding tank for a sewer, Jeffrey said. I dont have any real answer, he said. The cistern opening is probably the best answer, that still doesnt make a lot of sense. But it still is a possibility, Jeffrey said. Daily News ·813 College St. ·PO Box 90012 ·Bowling Green, KY ·42102 ·270-781-1700