the portal

Once upon a time there once stood a magnificent old facade at Fountain Square in Bowling Green, KY.  It was there when Gina and I moved there in 1990.  It wasn't there by the time we moved back to Alabama in 1996.

I don't know when the bank met it's demise.  Old downtown Bowling Green has always been a busy place, just down the hill from Western Kentucky University.  The Fountain Square Park graces the center of the town, still the hub of the community.  I'm sure the old Citizens National Bank facade, as beautiful as it was, had to make way for more commerce.

There was nothing on that lot but the two brick walls of the businesses on either side.  I thought it would make a great area for yet another park area, perhaps a stage for special events, perhaps another fountain in there.  That just wasn't going to be.  For some reason I thought it would be allowed to stand, reused for something.

I'd pass the old dead bank front countless times.  Each time the old face would catch my eye.  It especially had a mysterious ambiance at night.  The gaping entrance to nowhere seemed to be a portal into another time.  I could image one being able to step through there at a certain time of day, turn around and walk out into the past.  The place would've made an excellent set for a Twilight Zone.

One night I drove down there specifically to take a picture of this place.  It was a perfect night for it.  The moon hung over it, capturing the mystic quality of that old facade that was fading quickly from the present.

The way it was a long time ago.