ASHLAND, Ky. (AP) A hometown audience packed the premiere of a documentary chronicling their city’s history one recent Thursday, and when they left it was with a renewed affection for the place they call home.

The premiere of David E. Carter’s “Postcards & Photos from Ashland” at the Paramount Arts Center drew accolades from viewers, most of whom recognized many a familiar name and scene. “It was a perfect presentation. I don’t know how long it was, but I was with it every minute,” said Ashland resident Mary King after the show.

An hour and 17 minutes is how long it was. It took Carter just that long to ramble through a century and a half of Ashland’s history, from the early years when steamboats and locomotives drove its establishment and early growth, through the decades of war, peace, prohibition, industrial development and decline, and an optimistic finish focusing on hoped-for economic resurgence.

Even long-time Ashlanders found themselves learning something new about the city originally known as Poage’s Settlement.

“It was great. I didn’t realize all the history here,” said David Hill, who is a member of the Paul Blazer High School class of 1964, which made a significant donation to finance the film’s production. “I was glad to see more of what I didn’t know about.”

Ashland is not Carter’s home town he lived in Flatwoods as a boy but he spent much of his leisure time in the city, going to movies at the Paramount and playing baseball in Central Park, and his memories are the genesis of the film. “This place is in my DNA,” he said.

He set about to trace the history of Ashland “from pre-settlement to now, our history, our story, our up and downs . . . it’s deeper than nostalgia. The message is the growth of a town from nothing.

“It’s about aspirations. It’s about people’s lives . . . it’s the heart and soul I try to bring out.”

“He’s a genius at what he does, weaving a story,” said Paramount executive director Norma Meek. “I saw the end of the film today and I got teary-eyed.”

Starting with a collection of about 5,000 pictures, Carter winnowed them down to the approximately 200 used in the film. Central Park makes a first appearance early on, in the 1860s; the late Clyffeside Park not too long afterward.

There’s the first plane to land in Ashland, in 1912, construction of the city’s first skyscraper, what is now the Community Trust Bank building, in 1922, the founding of Ashland Oil in 1924 and Parson’s Department Store in the mid 1920s.

The audience reacted most audibly when the film reached mid-century and thus the era of their own memories. “From the mid 1960s when I was in high school, I went to Greenup County but we came to Ashland so I can identify with the part about the Bluegrass and driving around,” said Joe Wolfe. “And the changes in Ashland Oil and Armco, at the time it was devastating,” he said.

Carter brings the show to a close with the coming of Braidy Industries and its planned aluminum mill in EastPark.

An hour-long version will air on KET, Kentucky’s public television network, starting in December, Carter said.

DVDs of the film are for sale at the Paramount for $10, with proceeds benefiting the theater.

The theater is planning to present copies of the DVD to schools for use in history classes, Meek said.

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Information from: The Independent, http://www.dailyindependent.com