Author: thekaintuckeean

6 Kentucky Sites Listed on National Register of Historic Places

On March 17, 2015, the Secretary of the Interior approved the inclusion of 6 Kentucky properties into the National Register of Historic Places. The properties are located in Campbell, Jefferson, Kenton, and Pike Counties and represent Kentucky’s manufacturing, residential, entertainment, and educational past.

These six sites were previously profiled here and here. And you can read more about the National Register of Historic Places here.

Marianne Theatre

Marianne Theatre Marquee. NRHP Application.

This Bellevue, Kentucky, theatre was designed by Registered Architect Paul B. Kiel in 1941 in the Art Deco and Moderne Style. It was built by owner-manager Peter L. Smith in 1942 in the center of the 600 block of Fairfield Avenue in Bellevue, Kentucky. Already on the National Register as part of the Fairfield Avenue Historic District, the property is being indvididually listed to draw additional attention to it.

There once were over 60 neighborhood theaters in northern Kentucky and the Marianne was one of the finest.

Charles Young Park and Community Center

Charles Young Center. NRHP Application.

Across the street from Lexington’s Isaac Murphy Memorial Garden stands the Charles Young Park and Community Center. This part of Lexington’s East End is undergoing a renaissance and the Charles Young facilities stand to be a landmark in this change.

The park has been owned by the city since 1930 and the one-story brick veneered side-gable community center is an icon of Third Street. During Jim Crow-era Kentucky, segregation dictated separate community facilities for blacks. According to the nomination, the “Charles Young Park provides an important physical and spatial indication of the existence of the East End community, and the importance that a public place holds for any community— for recreation and civic gathering.”

Lynn Acres Garden Apartments

Circa 1950 Aerial of Lynn Acres. NRHP Application.

The 66 two-story apartment buildings in Louisville’s southside were constructed between 1947 and 1950. The complex includes a variety of 12-, 8-, and 4-plex units with greenspace behind each structure intended for children’s play but which is now used by many residents for gardening.

The brick construction and side-gabled roofs had architectural attention in their design – a rarity in today’s residential apartment design. But perhaps the layout of the buildings deserves the most attention as the green space between them and the connected streets are key to good community design.

Louisville, Gas & Electric Co. Service Station Complex

LG&E Service Station Complex. NRHP Application.

Also known as the Edison Building, this gas and electrical service station was constructed ca. 1924. It stands on a 4+ acre lot at Louisville’s 7th and Ormsby, and all of the acreage is included in the nomination. Even before 1924, the site’s utility was related to generating power.

The main structure is cube-shaped and constructed primarily of poured cement. The south façade is the most decorated of the four sides and it is divided into 9 bays. The three-story structure was built with the potential of expansion to 8-stories, but demand was never realized for the additional square footage. A red brick gate house, ca. 1890, also stands on the property.

Hellman Lumber and Manufacturing Co.

Hellman Lumber. NRHP Application.

On Covington’s 12th Street, stands the Hellman Lumber and Manufacturing Co. This warehouse was built from 1886-1894 and the company is one of the community’s oldest businesses dating to 1879. Without a doubt, many of Covington’s structures have been built with wood that has passed through this facility.

The nomination form describes the main warehouse as “an intact two-story two-bay side-gabled brick warehouse-style corner commercial building that is approximately 14,000-16,000 square feet. The original foundation is wet-masonry limestone.” The building and its story represent an intact representation of the era’s booming lumber industry.

Elkhorn City Elementary and High Schools

Elkhorn City High School. NRHP Application.
Near the heart of Elkhorn City are its schools with the complex (6.8 acres) including 6 structures, of which 3 are contributing to the historic character: a 1938 WPA high school, a 1956 elementary school, and a 1956 music instruction building. 

Elkhorn City lies in Pike County about 20 miles from the seat of Pikeville. During the academic life of these buildings as academic facilities, 1938 to the 1980s, the manpower required for coal mining increasingly declined even when demand was high due to mechanization of the process. The nomination form provides that “These facilities demonstrate a continual dedication to public education within this rural Kentucky community. Their existence displays a successful development from rural school facilities into a modernized educational system.”

Captain Wilgus’ Italian Villa, known as Parker Place, on deTour Wednesday Night in Lexington

John B. Wilgus House (aka Parker Place) at 511 W. Short St., Lexington. Mary Sloan.

It is rare to find such a plot of land in downtown Lexington, but there is the Parker Place on West Short Street. Once part of a much larger tract owned by Eliza Parker, the grandmother of Mary Todd Lincoln, the land was later acquired by Captain John B. Wilgus.

Capt. Wilgus, a Unionist during the Civil War, led the Lexington Blues. The Lexington Blues was a homeguard unit, the so-called ‘army of last resort’, purposed with protecting the life and property of the Union supporters in the event of an invasion by the Rebels. In business, Capt. Wilgus was active in various efforts and was a successful grocer and banker in Lexington.

In 1870, Capt. Wilgus retained John McMurtry to build, and likely design, an Italianate villa in Lexington’s Western Suburb on land he had acquired in the mid-1850s. Before Wilgus’ acquisition, McMurtry operated both a lumber yard and carpentry shop on the site.

Exterior of the Octagonal Room at Parker Place. Mary Sloan. 

The design included an octagonal room on the two-story villa’s western side – a room that housed Wilgus’ extensive art collection. Following his death, the collection was auctioned off. At that time, the Lexington Leader described the collection as including “rare foreign and American paintings” as well as “the celebrated marble bust and pedestal of Augustus Caesar by Joel T. Hart.”

You may recall the name Joel T. Hart as being the noted Kentucky sculptor, born in Winchester, who spent much of his life in Italy. One of his noted works, Woman Triumphant, was destroyed when the old (fourth) Fayette County Courthouse was destroyed by fire in May 1897.

Capt. Wilgus himself succombed to cancer of the jaw in 1889. His condition had been the subject of the news, as reported on by the Lexington Leader, in yet another reminder of the style of the news from yesteryear: Mr Wilgus “has suffered with a growth on his face … He consented to a dangerous operation to remove the tumor this morning.”

The house itself was sold a few years before Wilgus’ death. It changed hands several times before it was acquired by the Lexington Orphans Society, which being established in 1833, was one of the oldest such societies in the nation. Parker Place served as an orphanage from 1907 until 1975.

The property, as noted above is within the Western Historic Suburb of Lexington and is included on the neighborhood’s listing on the National Register of Historic Places. The National Register application describes Parker Place as being “by far the largest scale and most elaborate residential building in the neighborhood.”

On Wednesday, April 1, 2015, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation’s deTour program will tour Parker Place. The group will begin gathering at 5:30 p.m. and parking is available behind St. Paul’s Catholic Church or behind the Greentree Tea Room. More details are available here. The event is free and open to the public.

Lexington’s Centrepointe in Haiku

Every now and then, I dabble in poetry. As I drove past the Centrepointe block with its idle cranes, I wondered what will happen here? And when?

A quick haiku came to mind:

High o’er our city
tow’ring cranes idle they stand
What will happen here?

[Do you have a poetic bone in your body? I’d love to read (and hopefully share with other readers) your Centrepointe poems! Please post them in the comments!]

In October 2014, headlines read that “Crane causing delay for Lexington’s CentrePointe project.” But by mid-December, the cranes were being installed.

Representatives for the developers suggested that “the next phase of construction would have to wait until the tower crane can be delivered and secured on the site” according to a Herald-Leader article. Repeat: the crane installations occurred a full three months ago. And still…

Idle they stand.

In my book, Lost Lexington, the historic block of Centrepointe block fills an entire chapter. And I’ve written about it frequently here on the Kaintuckeean. You can skim through my earlier Centrepointe posts here.

Don’t forget to leave your Centrepointe poetry in the comments!

Demo Watch: Shotgun Houses on Lexington’s Jefferson Street

Clockwise from upper left: 440, 444, 448, and 446 Jefferson Street. 

Demolition permits have been filed to tear down four shotgun houses, each built ca. 1890, along the increasingly popular Jefferson Street corridor on Lexington, Kentucky’s northside.

As noted last week in another demolition watch, the “single-story shotgun is one of a dying breed.” These four shotgun houses were constructed a short time after the Warfield Bell Subdivision was platted. Located between Fourth and Sixth streets on both sides of Jefferson (plus Fifth and Sixth on both sides of Smith Street Extended), the subdivision consisted of 113 lots. It was the city’s first subdivision of 100+ lots.

I can’t find a proposal of what will replace these dwellings. Though at least one has been abandoned for some time and another is the site of multiple nuisance violations in the past few years, these houses did provide affordable housing in Lexington for 125 years.

And a quick note from last week’s Demo Watch: I posted a Watch for 3 structures already demolished. Mea culpa. I received word of the filing of the demolition permits on March 17 and posted three days later. The permits were, however, filed earlier. There isn’t much I can do about that, but I will continue to try and post Demo Watch posts. If a structure has already been demolished, at least something will remain written of it.

The permits for the above four shotguns on Jefferson Street, according to the Citygram I received, were filed on March 20. As of this morning, they hadn’t been demolished though it appears that the fire department has been doing some practice on the roofs of a few of the structures.

Demo Watch: Permits sought to demolish 4 structures near University of Kentucky campus

Demolition permits have been sought at these four Lexington, Kentucky properties. Individual images from Fayette PVA.

On March 9, demolition permits were sought for three structures on Euclid Avenue. Permits for wrecking the structures at 626, 630 and 634 Euclid Avenue would pave the way for a development already announced. The location is opposite Marquis from the new Euclid Kroger on its one end and a three story brick-and-glass commercial structure (The Ashland Building).

And while Euclid once had a number of single family residences along its way, the area has transformed into a more intensive use. Though these structures, built in the first half of the 20th century, were once representative of the homes along this avenue, they now seem almost out of place.

The history of this stretch of road can be told quickly through a few newspaper articles. In July 1903, the Lexington Leader announced that “the work of grading Euclid Avenue in the Aylesford division has been commenced and when macadamized will furnish the shortest route from the Tates Creek Pike to State College.” Once the road was paved, houses like the ones proposed for demolition sprung up on what became a residential corridor. In 1920, the road was designated a boulevard and paved with asphalt. But in June 1987, the Herald-Leader found that Euclid Avenue was “an expanding commercial thoroughfare that leads to Chevy Chase” and that it “may be designated a business corridor.”

The site is proposed to now become a retail and restaurant space; the development plan, also submitted to the city, can be accessed here. The map below shows its location, with the corner of Euclid Kroger poking from the bottom of the map.

Additionally, a demolition permit for 171 Montmullin was filed on March 11. This single-story shotgun is one of a dying breed. The one-bedroom, one-bath home is only 568 square feet. Built in 1910, it represents an architectural style once prominent in various parts of Lexington and other communities. Rapidly, however, progress is marking the end of the the shotgun style. Each year, more and more shotguns are being demolished.

Montmullin Street is located in the Pralltown neighborhood, which is the oldest historically African American neighborhood in Lexington. By 1940, it contained over 200 homes but has been “an ongoing battle to prevent the neighborhood from becoming a new housing area” for UK students for the past twenty years. Unlike the UK fight song, this battle has not been won and the demolition of 171 Montmullin marks another loss to the disappearing Pralltown.

A friendship pledge between two Georgetown, Ky. girls

Friendship pledge found in Scott County. Charles Bertram, H-L. 

Earlier this week, the Lexington Herald-Leader‘s weekly unCommonwealth series, written by Cheryl Truman, told the story of a decades old correspondence uncovered in a Georgetown home. You can read that story here.

A friendship pledge found under a fireplace tile piqued my interest. Signed by Loretta Thomas and Gwen Cranfill, it read:

Until the night of our graduation, we, the undersigned, hereby solemnly swear not to remove the rings placed on our finger. These rings are a token of our friendship.

The friendship pledge was interesting, in part, because of the observation that “what happened to Loretta Thomas is unknown.” The Herald-Leader story said that Gwen Cranfill became a professor and chair of English at Georgetown College; in 2013, she died at the age of 77.

With a few minutes on ancestry.com, I didn’t have the answers to the fate of Loretta Thomas … but I did have something.

By backing out Gwen’s age from the year in which she passed away, I guessed that she was born around 1935.  On a hunch, I guessed her friend Loretta was approximately the same age.

Within seconds, I was looking at the 1949 yearbook from the “Green & White” which was the yearbook for Garth High School.

The two girls were freshmen.

And though in different rows, they appear next to one another in the class photo.

Above, is the full page of the yearbook as extracted from ancestry.com. And to the right is close up of the two girls with Loretta Thomas standing immediately in front of her best friend, Gwen Cranfill.

There still lingers that question, though, of what ever became of Miss Loretta Thomas?

The girls’ school, Garth High School, remains standing on South Hamilton Street in Georgetown, Kentucky. The school ” is a 250-by-110 foot symmetrical irregularly shaped red brick building of the Collegiate Gothic and Arts and Crafts styles … decoratively detailed with stone,” according to the National Register file on the structure.

Garth School was built in 1925 and added to the National Register in 1971. Today, the building continues to serve an educational purpose as the Garth Elementary School.

Garth School, Georgetown, Kentucky. Russell & Sydney Poore.

Sources:


Ancestry.com. U.S. School Yearbooks, 1880-2012 [database on-line]. Provo, UT, USA: Ancestry.com Operations, Inc., 2010.

National Register of Historic Places, Garth School, Georgetown, Scott County, Kentucky, National Register #88002187.

6 Kentucky women recognized this Women’s History Month

A handful of great Kentucky ladies. Clockwise from top-left: Laura Clay, Rebecca Boone, Belle Brezing,
Thelma Stovall, Martha Layne Collins, and Mary Elliott Flanery

Among other things, March is women’s history month. Underappreciated throughout the long arc of history, women have played a crucial role in human history. Even though social or religious norms may have relegated women to a lesser status through different historical epochs, women always found an opportunity to accomplish great things.

Just as they have elsewhere, Kentucky women have greatly contributed to the history of our commonwealth.

Jessamine County is the only Kentucky county that has a feminine name. Legend suggests that the county was named after Jessamine Douglas. Ms. Douglas was the daughter of surveyor James Douglas, who built his home near the head of Jessamine Creek. The legend goes on to say that the young Ms. Douglas was sitting near the banks of the creek when the sharp end of an Indian’s tomahawk found her head.

Laura Clay was more than just a suffragette. The daughter of emancipationist Cassius M. Clay, Laura worked through various channels to help Kentucky women receive the right to vote. In 1920, her name was placed for nomination at the national Democratic Party convention, marking the first time that a woman had ever been nominated by a major political party for president of the United States.

Reaching earlier into Kentucky’s rich history, Rebecca Boone worked hand in hand with her well-known husband, Daniel. Though Daniel Boone’s actions have been elevated to that of hero, Rebecca’s heroine status is rarely noted. She suffered the same frontier challenges her husband encountered, all while being left alone in the charge of their children while her husband made even further explorations.

Lexington’s noted madame, Belle Brezing, was also an accomplished Kentuckian. Though her trade may be deemed questionable, she was an incredibly astute businesswoman who maintained impeccable books and was generous with various philanthropic causes in Lexington. All this from a poor young orphan who became a mother herself at a young age.

Kentucky’s lieutenant governors and governors used to be elected separately. In 1975, Kentuckians for the first time elected a woman, Thelma Stovall, as lieutenant governor. Lt. Gov. Stovall took an active role in her position, especially when serving as acting governor when Gov. Carroll traveled out of state.

Succeeding Lt. Gov. Stovall was Martha Layne Collins, who was elected in her own right to the governor’s mansion in 1983. Gov. Collins remains the only woman to ever serve as Kentucky governor and was only the third female elected as a governor in the United States.

In 1922, Mary Elliott Flanery of Boyd County became the first female south of the Mason-Dixon line to be elected to a legislative body. Four years later, Katherine Langley became the first woman elected to Congress from the commonwealth.

And currently three of the seven members of the Kentucky Supreme Court are women.

The term “women’s history,” however, is almost a misnomer. The history itself is not limited to the female gender because history belongs to all of us. And to call it history isn’t accurate, either.

There are still “glass ceilings” to be broken, and every year new barriers are broken. Women’s history — our history — continues to be written.

The post above was originally published in the Jessamine Journal on March 12, 2015.  

The My Old Kaintuckee Bracket Challenge

It’s that time of year! Let’s cheer on the Kentucky Wildcats (and the Kaintuckeean) by joining the Kaintuckeean’s “My Old Kaintuckee Bracket” Challenge!

Just click here and fill out a bracket before the tournament’s first tipoff.

The winner of this year’s challenge will win a year’s worth of bragging rights plus an autographed copy of my book – Lost Lexington, Kentucky.

Help spread the word by forwarding this email to friends and sharing around the web!

Have fun and Go Cats!

Re-invisioning the area around Newport, Kentucky’s World Peace Bell

World Peace Bell – Newport, Kentucky Author’s Collection.

In downtown Newport, Kentucky is the landmark World Peace Bell. At 12 feet in both height and diameter, as well as a weight of 66,000 pounds, it is the largest freestanding bell in the world.

(With clapper and support, the bell rings in at nearly 90,000 pounds).

The bell was was originally proposed as the Millennium Bell and was to be the largest in a massive carillon within the unbuilt Millennium Freedom Tower complex. That complex, as noted in an earlier article, was scrapped but the Bell persisted and rings daily at 11:55 a.m. The unique ring-time is so that the bell is easily differentiated from the sounds of the bells in the nearby courthouse and churches.

The bell, and the accompanying museum, are great sites in downtown Newport, Kentucky. But they disappointingly sit at one end of a big ol’ parking lot. (On the site once stood the old Newport Finance Building which was demolished for that unbuilt Freedom Tower.) There is also a lovely memorial (even closer to the parking lot) to the fallen firefighters of northern Kentucky.

The bell was installed to ring in the New Year 2000 and the firefighters memorial was erected a few years later. Economic downturns intervened and these terrific community assets have languished at the edge of a parking lot.

But all that could change…

Rendering by Rachel Compte of proposed use. Can You Picture It, Newport?

A group of citizens envisions this space as being a central park for Newport. Drawings, including the one featured above, are available on the aspirational and uber-local urban design site Can You Picture It, Newport?.

The artist pictures the space being a community space that could host a weekly farmers market, movie nights, and yoga. These community proponents laud the installation of both the fire fighters memorial and the World Peace Bell and desire “to make the setting worthy of what [those symbols] represent.”

Can You Picture It, Newport? offers a disclaimer called “reality check,” too. Fully acknowledged are the limitations: the property is privately owned. A recent article in the Enquirer notes that neither the city nor the owner are actively looking to develop the property (in this way).

But it is nice to citizens sketch and dream about making their community a better place. Hopefully, some of those dreams can be made reality. After all, I couldn’t agree more that both the fire fighters memorial and the World Peace Bell deserve a worthy setting.