Photo Archives from ColumbiaMagazine.com. Click here for more photos.

Favorite Old Photo: Union Underwear, aerial, 1957 2011-11-29 - Campbellsville, Taylor Co., KY - Photo from collection of Larry Smith. Larry Smith of the Big Dawg, 99.9FM, Campbellsville, KY, shares this aerial shot of Union Underwear's huge facility located on West Main Street in Campbellsville. "It was before the new KY 55 and 210 were built. There's no Green River Plaza shopping Center then," he noted. Most notably, Campbellsville Junior College, in the upper right hand quadrant, was just a struggling promise of what the present campus of Campbellsville University is today. Stapp Hall can be made out, the Administration Building, and the gymnasium, but little else. There's a faint hint of the spire of Campbellsville Baptist Church in that quadrant of the photo. In the lower right quadrant, someone will remember the Ashland Station and the stores just west of it, we hope. In 1957, Campbellsville was in the fastest period of growth in its history. According to figures from the Campbellsville, KY, entry at Wikipedia, during the Fabulous Fifties (for Campbellsville), the city grew 100.3%, from 3,493 in 1950 to 6,966, bringing the community to some 70% of its 2011 population. Union Underwear later became Fruit of the Loom. For a half century the plant was the dominant economic force in South Central Kentucky. Possibly tens of thousands of Taylor, Adair, Green, Casey, Marion and LaRue Countians worked there at one time or another. The building, now partially burned out, is a ghostly relic. The dominant economic forces in the community are now Campbellsville University, Taylor County Regional Hospital, and Amazon.com. Comments are welcome: Call Larry Smith at 270-384-7979 (The Wave) in the mornings, or respond to ColumbiaMagazine.com using the Comments button with this photo. -ED WAGGENER Permalink | Comments?

If you have photos you'd like to share with ColumbiaMagazine readers, please email .jpg files to photos@columbiamagazine.com. Please include your name, an email address or phone number, the date the photo was taken, and the location and names of anyone in the photos.

Contact us: Columbia Magazine and columbiamagazine.com are published by Linda Waggener and Pen Waggener, PO Box 906, Columbia, KY 42728.
Phone: 270.403.0017