Businessmen, preservationists and debunkers: Goodman and Holliday visit the Floyd County Historical Society

The Floyd County Historical Society met Tuesday evening in the Elsa Strassweg Auditorium of the New Albany Floyd County Public Library, with guest speakers Steve Goodman and Carl Holliday providing a brief history of the Culbertson Widow’s Home on Main Street.

Steve’s and Carl’s latest project, the renovation of the former Redmen’s Club into Culbertson West, was discussed previously in NA Confidential.

Longtime Scribner history teacher Vic Meginnity introduced Steve and Carl, averring that the duo must be considered the foremost historical preservationists currently active in New Albany, and his assessment undoubtedly is true.

Steve’s presentation belied his insistence that he isn’t much of a public speaker, and he clearly outlined the life and times of merchant and philanthropist William S. Culbertson, whose endowment and hands-on management of the home for Civil War widows, orphans and the aged paid continual dividends until the home’s closure in 1971.

We came away form the meeting with heightened respect for the vision and achievements of Steve and Carl, who helped to give Main Street a profound makeover in less than a decade.

Their success, both artistically and commercially, refutes the various hoary maxims that still constitute conventional “wisdom” in New Albany, such as “that’ll never work in this town,” and “you can’t do that here.”

Yes, it will … and yes, you can … but just imagine how much more successful all such progressive endeavors might be if not for the absolutely inexplicable fact that the doomsayers almost always are natives of long standing!

Newcomers to New Albany invariably arrive here filled with optimism and see endless possibilities, while our own residents, filled with self-loathing and ennui, are dismissive, choosing instead to demand “no progress at any price” as though proposed improvements in the quality of life were personal affronts to their dignity.

They hitch their pathological fear of change to any number of expedient bandwagons, some populist, some religious, and others selfish to the point of self-aggrandizement – and it is the latter, so often displayed in public forums, that is so embarrassing when contrasted to the efforts of those working so diligently to prevent New Albany from sinking into a cesspool of low expectations.

Imagine a pair of experienced, savvy entrepreneurs who rescue a venerable but sadly neglected historical structure, transforming a den of iniquity into a respectable, income-producing entity that helps to improve the quality of the neighborhood as a whole.

Imagine neighbors complaining about this feel-good story, as was the case as Steve and Carl have rehabilitated the Box Tree Inn, their second bed & breakfast on Main Street … and contemplate the self-flagellation, the thinly-veiled envy, the rampant inferiority complex that lies at the heart of so much of New Albany’s “no progress at any price” obstructionism, which opposes any and all legitimate manifestations of progress out of no more coherent philosophy than sheer, unadulterated spite.

Steve Goodman and Carl Holliday continue to demonstrate that it is possible to rise above this self-inflicted communal miasma, to achieve results, and to create value through vision, creativity and hard work. Rather than suffer misplaced vilification from the "it can't be done here" faction, they are to be commended ... and just as obviously, we need more like them if New Albany is to enjoy a renaissance.