Maysville’s Bruce Carlson was honored with the Spirit of Main Street award during the Kentucky Main Street Conference Tuesday in Covington.

The Spirit of Main Street award is presented to an individual dedicated to helping the Main Street program in their town thrive. Maysville Main Street Director Caroline Reece said that description certainly applies to Carlson.

“This year, Maysville Main Street is proud to nominate Bruce Carlson to receive the 2018 Spirit of Main Street Award,” Reece said in her nomination letter. “Really, Mr. Carlson would have been a worthy candidate any year for he has spent decades making Maysville as a whole, and the Main Street District, in particular, a far more lively, interesting, and beautiful place to be.”

Carlson said he was pleased to be named winner of the award for 2019.

“We are very happy that Caroline Reece submitted our work for the Main Street Spirit award for private businesses,” Carlson said.

In addition to making Maysville the headquarters for Carlson Software, which specializes in computer aided design software, field data collection, and machine control products for the land surveying, civil engineering, construction, and mining industries worldwide, he has invested in the restoration and renovation of several downtown buildings. Those projects include the old Everett Hardware where his offices are located.

“The efficient space with exquisite finishes is topped off with a stained glass art piece depicting one of the country’s original surveyors, a young George Washington, working along the banks of the Ohio River,” Reece said. “Never one to give up on history of any sort, the center column of the lobby’s spiral staircase came from a favorite tree salvaged from the Carlson’s home, and staff parking spaces were constructed from cobblestone recovered from the streets of Cincinnati. The outside of the building, thankfully, stayed much the same, with the original Everett’s Hardware signs preserved.”

The east side of the building houses the Parc Café, a restaurant and coffee shop that brings a taste of Europe to the downtown district.

”The café very much reflects their (the Carlsons) travels and is Maysville’s little slice of Paris,” Reece said

Carlson rescued and rehabilitated two additional buildings in the historic district, Reece said. But his most visible project is Limestone Park, totally built and maintained by the Carlsons, it boasts tulips in the spring, concerts in the summer, and is also the site of Pickers and Grinners, a series of open-air markets throughout the year that feature local vendors.

The park’s most popular attractions may be the bronze sculptures of two buffalo, entering the park as if they were ascending the bank of the Ohio River or bursting from one of the floodwall murals. And added just this week was a bronze sculpture of Shawnee warrior and Chief Tecumseh.

“A bronze bust of Tecumseh greets you at the first landing on the stone stairs from the park to Second Street,” Carlson said. “It was created by Sam McKinnon of Morehead, who also sculpted the buffalo in the park. It is said that Tecumseh at age 16 led the Indian raid in 1784 that destroyed the first fort built in Maysville, where the park stands today.”

In a continuing tribute to Maysville’s history, a statue of Simon Kenton will soon join the park’s artwork, Carlson said.

“He (Tecumseh) knew Maysville, and he knew Simon Kenton, whose statue will arrive in another month or so. They were friends and respected each other, and now each of these brave men will gaze upon the other in perpetuity, reminding us of those early pioneer days,” Carlson said.

Renovations were just completed on 24 East Third Street, which is now a private residence. The building right next door was another Carlson project. After the restoration was complete, it was used as a restaurant. Now, it is the home of a private school, Maysville Academy, also established by the Carlsons.

“Making our downtown vibrant, attractive, and full of activity has been Mr. Carlson’s passion as long as I have known him,” Reece said.

This year marked 40 years of the Kentucky Main Street program.

Bruce Carlson of Maysville, center, is pictured with Kitty Dougoud, Kentucky Main Street director and Craig Potts, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council. Carlson was presented with the 2019 Spirit of Main Street award.
https://maysville-online.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/web1_carlson-1.jpgBruce Carlson of Maysville, center, is pictured with Kitty Dougoud, Kentucky Main Street director and Craig Potts, executive director of the Kentucky Heritage Council. Carlson was presented with the 2019 Spirit of Main Street award.

Mary Ann Kearns

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