Author: thekaintuckeean

Lexington’s Newest Disappearing Neighborhood

Site of Shriners Hospital on South Limestone. Author’s Collection.

Groundbreaking on Shriner’s Hospital. U. of Ky.

Earlier this week, the University of Kentucky and the local Shriners Hospital for Children broke ground for a new hospital facility that will be located opposite South Limestone from the UK Medical Center in Lexington. The project is anticipated to take 22 months to complete and the cost is estimated at $47 million. The new Shriners facility will replace the existing 27-acre complex on Richmond Road that opened in 1955, though the Shriners began operating a hospital in Lexington in 1926. (That original Shriner’s Hospital was adjacent to and was later acquired by Good Samaritan Hospital at Maxwell and Harrison (later South Martin Luther King Blvd) streets. Good Samaritan was itself acquired by UK Healthcare in 2007.)

In 1925, Mrs. F. J. Conn “announced plans of constructing 100 homes on her property.” That property includes the site of the new Shriners hospital as well as the existing UK Healthcare parking structure.

Mrs. Conn’s husband, Frederick J. Conn, was the superintendent of bridges for the Southern Railway Company. Although the couple hailed from Illinois, Lexington city directories show them in Lexington since at least 1898. Mrs. Conn died in 1934 and Mr. Conn followed her in death in 1935.

He had escaped death on at least one occasion before: in 1908 he was electrocuted “at the overhead bridge on the Frankfort pike” according to the Lexington Leader.

Conn’s farm was bounded on the north by Transcript Avenue, the west by the then-Southern Railway tracks, and the east by South Limestone Street. A new street was constructed through the property; that street was named after Conn Terrace after the property’s owners.

According to an article in the Lexington Leader in August 1925, the development was not made for profit but the homes would be “sold at cost for the benefit of people in moderate circumstances who wish homes of their home.” Homes were to be built “as fast as there is demand for them.”

Birdseye View of South Limestone Dwellings. Author’s Collection.

The area was not within the city limits at the time and a 1939 real property survey of Lexington identifies a portion (though not all) of the development within the city limits. In the early to mid-1950s, Lexington expanded its boundaries southward to include South Limestone street from the then-city limits at Conn Terrace all the way to Rosemont Garden.

Before ground was broken on the site, I photographed the façades of each of these 1925-1950 dwellings that would in short time be lost from the fabric of Lexington. This is Lexington’s Newest Disappearing Neighborhood.

Conn Terrace

Birdseye View of 102-106 Conn Terrace. Author’s Collection.

The five dwellings on Conn Terrace, all part of the Conn Terrace development discussed above, have the loveliest scale of those being demolished. Of particular interest to me are the quaint structures at 102 and 106 Conn Terrace.

102 Conn Terrace. Author’s Collection.

104 Conn Terrace. Author’s Collection.

106 Conn Terrace. Author’s Collection. 106 Conn Terrace, ca. 1949. UK Libraries.

108 Conn Terrace. Author’s Collection.

110 Conn Terrace. Author’s Collection.

State Street

The three structures on State Street, as well as the three on Limestone Street, stood outside of the Conn plat. Each, however, offers a unique testimony and design to this old neighborhood.

109 State Street. Author’s Collection.
Kentucky Kernel Article on
Passing of Helen Stanley.
U. of Ky. Libraries.

109 State Street was the home of the University’s Recorder, Helen Stanley, from 1925 until the time of her death in 1937. Prior to her appointment as Recorder, she had worked in the registrar’s office since 1919. According to Prof. Gillis, Ms. Stanley was among one of the best recorders in the United States.

It is worth noting that State Street wasn’t always a site of off-campus housing and celebratory couch burnings. This area off of North Elizabeth Street was a middle-class neighborhood that offered “live where you work” opportunity to employees at the University.

For the past few decades, the presence of more and more students have made this area undesirable for the middle class. As the owner-occupied generation moved away, properties were sold to landlords. Some, though not all, of these landlords have added unsightly additions that irreversibly altered the neighborhood’s character long. Some, though not all, of the student residents exacerbated the problems of blight and decay.

While both the loss of these homes is disheartening and the continued “creep” of University developments is concerning, the use of this site by the Shriner’s simply makes sense.

113 State Street. Author’s Collection.

119  State Street. Author’s Collection.

123 State Street. Author’s Collection.

Limestone Street

Finally, note how different the three structures on Limestone Street are from the two roads running perpendicular to it. While a few of the structures on Conn Terrace and State Street have the scale of those on South Limestone, the dwellings facing the main road all were two-and-one-half stories to create a stronger presence along the highway.

1037 S. Limestone. Author’s Collection.

 1041 S. Limestone. Author’s Collection.

1045 S. Limestone. Author’s Collection.

Millennium Freedom Tower 2000 in Newport, Kentucky

Rendering of Millennium Freedom Tower 2000 in Newport, Ky. Developer via various websites.

Some of the most ostentatious construction projects are proposed, but never get off the ground. Work may begin, but projects languish unfinished for a variety of reasons.

In Newport, Kentucky, a 1997 proposal would have resulted in the construction of Kentucky’s tallest building (taller structures, however, would still have existed). The proposed Millennium Freedom Tower 2000 was the brainchild of two northern Kentucky businessmen.

The Freedom Tower would have been 1,083 feet tall and would have then been the world’s 11th tallest building (if it had been built, the Freedom Tower in Newport would today be only the 57th tallest structure in the world). Some commentary on the Freedom Tower places the building’s height in excess of 1,200 feet.

The proposal would have resulted in the building’s completion in time for the new millennium on December 31, 1999. Two thousand bells (corporate sponsored) would have helped to ring in the year 2000. A single bell that was the world’s largest swinging bell from 2000 to 2006, the World Peace Bell, was a completed part of the project and that bell occupies part of the site in Newport where Freedom Tower was to be built.

The Freedom Tower was projected to cost between $75-100 million. In 1996, the same developers proposed a less impressive 650-foot structure was proposed closer to the confluence of the Ohio and Licking rivers, but soil instability foiled that plan. Local business and government leaders of the day seemed to favor the second, larger proposal.

Then Northern Kentucky Convention and Visitors Bureau president Mike Rozow remarked that “St. Louis has their Arch and New York has their Statue of Liberty. Maybe this will be Northern Kentucky’s signature place.”

1910 Sanborn Map of the 2.33 acre block. UK Libraries. 

The proposal called for a seasonal ice rink underneath along with shops and a museum complex with thrill rides above (think: Disney’s Tower of Terror). A restaurant/bar was proposed at 550-feet and it was envisioned that a television or radio company might locate its headquarters high above the community it covered. It could have been a “signature place” for northern Kentucky.

Campbell Towers. Kenton Co. Public Library &
Old Photos of Newport

Of course, the proposal required the razing of a block in central Newport (though some of the block had been previously demolished). A quick study shows that the most significant structure on the block, before the anticipated Freedom Tower project, was the Campbell Towers.

Campbell Towers was northern Kentucky’s first skyscraper, built in 1927. The 7-story structure was originally called the Newport Finance Building and it was adorned inside and out with brass fittings, marble and terra cotta tiles even upon its implosion in 1999.

Also demolished to make way for the project (and the World Peace Bell) was the old headquarters for the Newport fire department which served the city from 1934-1997.

I’m not sure exactly why the Freedom Tower was never constructed, though it seems to have run into a myriad of issues that thwarted its projected completion in time for the new millennia. If you know more about this project, please share in the comments below!

As with many major infill projects, a community’s historic fabric is lost. The impact of this loss is lessened when the resulting project brings new significance to a community along with economic vitality. Too often, proposed projects receive the green light for demolition despite being either viable or ready-to-go. These are the unBuilt projects that leave gaping holes in the communities in which they were to be built.

Interviewed on ABC 36’s Good Day Kentucky

Last week, I had the opportunity to be interviewed on ABC 36’s morning program “Good Day Kentucky” to discuss Lost Lexington. 

If you missed the interview, you can watch the clip below:

 

The event at the library mentioned at the end of the clip offered a lively discussion on Lexington’s history and historic places.

For more about Lost Lexington, including ordering information and future author event information, click on here for the Lost Lexington page.

deTour of the Carrick House

Carrick House. (Photos by Peter Brackney, arr. by Whitney Rhorer)

The residence located at 312 North Limestone was commissioned by James Weir shortly before he passed in 1832 “intestate, unmarried, and without issue” according to the papers of Henry Clay. A nephew carried both his uncle’s name and vision beyond the grave so that the house was completed by James Weir (the nephew) by the early 1850s.

The list of craftsman who contributed to the completion of the Weir House is extensive as set forth in Dunn’s Old Houses of Lexington:

Construction costs enumerated by the administrators reveal the interesting facts that William “King” Solomon, James Lane Allen’s hero of the cholera plague of 1833, dug the foundation and latrine; Samuel Long, who build the famous house ‘for two Merino sheep’ for Samuel Trotter, did the carpenter work; Lailey Moore & co. furnished the timbers for Shyrock’s columns, E. Howes did the ‘turning’ and Elliott also furnished materials for the “portico”; J. Enrock and also Seeley had bills for plank and scantling; Eblig supplied the brick, Nixon “blew the well,” and Schakelford furnished the marbling. In addition to the brick for the residence, Ebling supplied brick ‘for the kitchen.’

While some of these names are recognizable in the lore of Lexington history (King Solomon, for example), others are less notable but who undoubtedly had their hand in a number of structures built during Lexington’s rise as the Athens of the West.

A View of the Carrick House’s Portico from within. (Author’s Collection.)

The two story, three bay brick Weir House features a “massive double portico” and has a wing on either side. The wings, each two bays wide, were once a single story but were raised to two stories through the years. As noted above, the architectural design is attributed to Gideon Shryock though much John McMurtry completed much of the project.

A Snowy Day at Carrick House. (Author’s Collection.)

According to the state’s historic resources inventory, the Greek Revival mansion would have once had a front door in the same tradition “with sidelights and transom.”

At one time, the Weir property encompassed the land from 3rd to 4th streets from Limestone to Walnut. (Nota bene: Walnut is now Martin Luther King Blvd. on the north side of Main Street while “the road to Limestone” referred to what is now called Maysville when passing north beyond Third Street. To the south of Third Street, the townspeople then called the road Mulberry).

When the younger Weir abandoned Kentucky for Texas in 1852, the property passed to Judge Thomas Marshall. Marshall’s vitae included a professorship in law at Transylvania University, four terms in the U.S. Congress, a stint in the legislature in Frankfort, as well as 22 years on the Kentucky Court of Appeals (which was then the high court of the Commonwealth.)

After five years Marshall sold the house to another accomplished lawyer, Richard Buckner, who kept the house an even shorter time before selling the property to a well-known Lexingtonian: Henry T. Duncan, Sr. It would pass through that family and through other hands before it would be received by the family whose name the property today bares: Carrick.

In 1910, Dr. James Cantrill Carrick and his wife, Anna Pearce Carrick, acquired the property at the northeast corner of North Limestone and Third Streets. The couple resided there until Dr. Carrick passed in 1954; in 1955, the house was donated to Transylvania University in 1955. Quickly, Transylvania liquidated the asset to the Whitehall Funeral Chapel. The mansion served as a funeral home for the latter half of the twentieth century.

In 2007, Jerry Lundergan acquired the property and it was converted into an event space. A significant addition to the rear of the structure was added in 2011.

Tonight (Wednesday, March 4, 2015)(Update: due to weather, the event is being postponed one week to Wednesday, March 11), the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation’s monthly deTour program will feature a behind the scenes, full-access tour of the beautiful Carrick House. Come explore!

Regional Look to Blue Grass Trust’s 11 Endangered List

Photographs of Select Sites on the Blue Grass Trust’s Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour List

Each year, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation assembles a list of historic central Kentucky properties which are threatened. For the 2015 edition of the “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” list, the BGT has looked primarily beyond Fayette County to sites across 11 central Kentucky counties.

The list of counties largely resembles those included in the 2006 World Monument Fund’s designation of the Inner Bluegrass Region. The Blue Grass Trust included Madison County on its “11 Endangered List” while omitting Anderson County. All Kentucky counties, however, have “at risk” structures and deserve the attention of preservationists.

The BGT’s list is a great step toward recognizing that preservation can and should occur throughout Kentucky and not only in our urban cores. The 14 structures within the 11 counties also reflect that theme.

According to the BGT, “the list highlights endangered properties and how their situations speak to larger preservation issues in the Bluegrass. The goal of the list is to create a progressive dialogue that moves toward positive long-term solutions. The criteria used for selecting the properties include historic significance, lack of protection from demolition, condition of structure, or architectural significance.”

The sites are listed below.

Bourbon County – Cedar Grove & John T. Redmon House 

Both Cedar Grove and the Redmon House are architecturally significant houses from the early 19th century. The circa 1818 John & John T. Redmon House has a steep roof more often found in Virginia than Kentucky and has lost its original one-story wings. Though both buildings are vacant, they have undergone partial renovations recently and the BGT believes these structures could be still restored.

Boyle County – Citizens National Bank & Dr. Polk House

Mostly empty for two-plus years, the Citizens National Bank building at 305 West Main Street in Danville was built in 1865 with a double storefront that housed First National Bank of Danville and a drug store. Bank-owned and listed for sale, a demolition (or partial demolition) of this structure could affect adjacent structures with which the building shares walls.  Dr. Polk House at 331 South Buell Street in Perryville sits across from Merchants’ Row and is arguably the historic landmark most in need of restoration in the downtown. Built in 1830 as a simple Greek Revival house with two chimneys and two front doors, the structure was purchased by Dr. Polk in 1850. A graduate of Transylvania University, he was the primary caretaker of wounded from the Battle of Perryville and his 1867 autobiography details the gruesome battlefield.

Dr. Polk House in Perryville, Kentucky. Photo courtesy of the BGT.

Clark County – Indian Old Fields 

Indian Old Fields in Clark County was the location of Eskippakithiki, the last known Native American town in what became Kentucky. Located on Lewis Evans’ 1755 map of Middle British Colonies, this highly important site was significantly impacted during construction of a new interchange (which opened September 2014) for the Mountain Parkway crossing KY 974 near the center of the Indian Old Fields.

The Kentucky Heritage Council noted in 2010 that “’Indian Old Fields,’ is a historic and prehistoric archaeological district of profound importance,” with 50 significant prehistoric archaeological sites identified within 2 kilometers of the interchange. These sites cover the Archaic Period (8000-1000 BC), Woodland Period (1000 B.C. -1000 AD) and Adena Period (1000-1750 AD), with several listed on the National Register of Historic Places. These include villages, Indian fort earthworks, mounds, sacred circles and stone graves. The site also has substantial ties to the famous Shawnee Chief Cathecassa or Black Hoof, Daniel Boone, and trader John Finley.

With the new $8.5 million dollar interchange now open, there are significant concerns that these sites with be under threat from pressure to further develop the area.

Fayette County – Modern Structures 

The Blue Grass Trust’s 2014 “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” focused on the historic resources at the University of Kentucky. Many of those included on the list (and most of those demolished) were Modern buildings designed by locally renowned architect Ernst Johnson. Research into Johnson’s work by the BGT and others such as architects Sarah House Tate and Dr. Robert Kelley was joined with education and advocacy programming focused on his architecture and legacy as a master of Modernism. This research and programming led to other efforts by the Blue Grass Trust, namely working to educate the public on the historic value of mid-century architecture.

In our continued education and advocacy effort surrounding these structures, the Blue Grass Trust lists Fayette County’s mid-century Modern architecture as endangered. Often viewed as not old enough or not part of the traditional early fabric of Lexington and surrounding areas, the Modern buildings of the 1940s, ’50s and ’60s are being substantially and unrecognizably altered or demolished. It is important to recognize that buildings 50 years of age are eligible for listing on the National Register of Historic Places, a length of time deemed appropriate by the authors of the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966 for reflection on an era’s importance. Read more from the Kaintuckeean’s earlier post on the People’s Bank branch on South Broadway.

People’s Bank in Lexington. Photo by Rachel Alexander.

Franklin County – Old YMCA & Blanton-Crutcher Farm

Both the Old YMCA in downtown Frankfort faces potential demolition and the Blanton-Crutcher Farm in Jett are slowly deteriorating from neglect and both structures are worth saving. The 1911 Old YMCA at 104 Bridge Street in Frankfort, designed in the Beaux Arts style by a a Frankfort architect, was a state-of-the-art facility featuring a gymnasium, indoor swimming pool, bowling alley, meeting rooms and guest quarters. While a local developer is hoping to transform it into a boutique hotel, there is also a push by the city of Frankfort to demolish this structure. If saved, this could be a transformative project in our capital city. 

The Blanton-Crutcher Farm in Jett includes an architecturally and historically significant circa 1796 house built by Carter Blanton, a prominent member of the Jett farming community. In 1831, Blanton sold the farm to his nephew, Richard Crutcher, the son of Reverend Isaac Crutcher and Blanton’s sister, Nancy Blanton Crutcher. The 1974 National Register nomination for the farm notes: “The Crutchers were excellent farmers. Three generations of the family farmed the land and made improvements on the house until 1919 when the property was sold. It has remained a working farm with a large farmhouse, at its center, that has evolved over 180 years of active occupation.” In the 1880s, Washington Crutcher significantly increased the size of the house, turning it into the Victorian house that stands today (although the porches were removed due to deterioration and other modern features have been added).

Harrison County – The Handy House aka Ridgeway 

The Handy House, also known as Ridgeway, is located on US 62 in Cynthiana, KY. The nearly 200-year-old house was built in 1817 by Colonel William Brown, a United States Congressman and War of 1812 veteran. The farm and Federal-style house were also owned by Dr. Joel Frazer, namesake of Camp Frazer, a Union camp during the American Civil War. In the 1880s, the house underwent significant renovations by W. T. Handy, the owner from 1883-1916 and for whom the house remains named.

The Handy House checks almost every box when it comes to saving a structure: an architecturally and historically important house in good enough shape to rehabilitate, a listing on the National Register of Historic Places, qualification for the Kentucky Historic Preservation Tax Credit, and a group, the Harrison County Heritage Council and a descendant of the original owner, willing to take on the project. Unfortunately, the Handy House is jointly owned between the city and the county. County magistrates voted to tear it down, and the city opted not to vote on it with the hopes that the new council will come to a deal with the Harrison County Heritage Council, which has offered to purchase and restore the house as a community center. Read more from the Kaintuckeean’s earlier post on Ridgeway.

Jessamine County – Court Row 

Completed in 1881, Nicholasville’s Court Row is located right next to the Jessamine County Courthouse. Italianate in design and largely unchanged exterior-wise, Court Row is one of the most significant and substantial structures in downtown Nicholasville.

In a broad context, the listing of Court Row is a comment on the status of all the historic resources in downtown Nicholasville. Several threats exist that are culminating in drastic changes to the fabric of the town. Foremost, Nicholasville failed in 2013 to pass its first historic district, an overlay that would have encompassed the majority of the downtown and helped to regulate demolition and development. Then, within the past month, two historic structures were demolished, including the Lady Sterling House, an 1804 log cabin very close to the urban core. Additionally, Nicholasville is on the ‘short list’ for a new judicial center, the location of which has yet to be determined but will almost certainly have an effect on the downtown. Together, these threats present the potential for the loss of significant portions of Nicholasville’s charming downtown.

Madison County – Downtown Richmond 

Preservation has had a lot positive movement in Richmond. The Madison County Historical Society is active; the beautiful Irvinton House Museum is city-owned and the location of the Richmond Visitor’s Center; and the downtown contains a local historic district. Like most local historic districts (also known as H-1 overlays), though, the Downtown Richmond Historic District protects historic buildings and sites that are privately owned. That means that city- and county-owned sites are exempt from the H-1 regulations.

The potential damaging effects of this can already be seen. In February 2013, downtown Richmond lost the Miller House and the Old Creamery, two of its most historic buildings. Both were in the Downtown Richmond Historic District and on the National Register of Historic Places. Owned by the county, the buildings were demolished with the hopes of constructing a minimum-security prison on the site that would replicate the exterior façade of the Miller House, according to Madison Judge/Executive Kent Clark. There are several other historic sites in the urban core that are owned by either the city or the county, leading to worry about the state of preservation in Richmond’s downtown.

Mercer County – Walnut Hall

Built circa 1850 by David W. Thompson, Walnut Hall is one of Mercer County’s grand Greek Revival houses. A successful planter and native of Mercer County, Thompson left the house and 287 acres of farmland to his daughter, Sue Helm, upon his death in 1865. In 1978, Walnut Hall was listed on the National Register of Historic Places along with two other important and similar Mercer County Greek Revival houses: Lynnwood (off KY Highway 33 near the border of Mercer and Boyle Counties) and Glenworth (off Buster Pike).

The James Harrod Trust has notified the Blue Grass Trust that the house may be under threat of demolition, as it is owned by a prominent Central Kentucky developer known to have bulldozed several other important historic buildings.

Scott County – Choctaw Indian Academy 

Located in Blue Springs, KY, off Route 227 near Stamping Ground, the Choctaw Indian Academy was created in 1818 on the farm of Colonel Richard M. Johnson, who served as Vice President of the United States under Martin Van Buren (1837–1841). The Academy was created using Federal funding and was intended to provide a traditional European-American education for Native Americans boys. (It was one of only two government schools operated by the Department of War – the other being West Point.) Originally consisting of five structures built prior to 1825, only one building – thought to be a dormitory – remains. By 1826, over 100 boys were attending the school, becoming well enough known to be visited by the Marquis de Lafayette in 1825. The school was relocated to White Sulphur Springs (also a farm owned by Colonel Johnson) in 1831. The site was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1972. Read more about the site from the Kaintuckeean’s earlier post on the Choctaw Indian Academy.

Remaining structure of Choctaw Indian Academy. Photo by Amy Palmer.


Woodford County – Versailles High School 

 Located on the corner of Maple Street and Lexington Pike in Versailles, the Versailles High School is a substantial structure built in 1928. The building operated as a high school for 35 years before becoming the Woodford County Junior High in 1963, operating as a middle school until being shuttered in 2005. After 77 years of continuous operation, the building has been empty for nearly 10 years.

With no known maintenance or preservation plan, concern exists that the historic Versailles High School will deteriorate from neglect and, ultimately, be demolished.

You can learn more about the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation on its website, www.bluegrasstrust.org.

150 Years at the University of Kentucky

Maxwell Place – Home of the University of Kentucky President. Author’s collection.

This week, the University of Kentucky is celebrating Founders Week. The annual occasion is more significant in this year which is the University’s sesquicentennial.

In 1865, James K. Patterson assumed a professorship at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky. At that time, and through 1878, the college was a part of the larger Kentucky University.

Kentucky University, like many institutions of higher learning of the day, was founded in affiliation with a religious organization. Its College of the Bible evolved into a significant seminary for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In 1878, theological differences caused the two schools to separate.

Kentucky University retained the campus in the Woodlands, but leased it to the State A&M College. The Woodlands campus was to the immediate west of Clay Avenue and would today be recognized as Woodland Park.
The cost of renting its campus, along with plummeting tuition numbers, sparked great concern in Frankfort for the face of the Commonwealth’s only public college. This was a big moment for the future of both Lexington and for what would become the University of Kentucky.


A bidding war began amongst a number of Kentucky communities vying to be the home of the only state college in Kentucky. Bowling Green made a strong bid and nearly stripped Lexington of its opportunity to be the home of two major institutions of learning—UK and Transylvania University.

Administration Building, ca. 1882. University Architect & Facilities Planning.

But the City of Lexington finally offered $30,000, plus its fifty-two-acre city park on the southern edge of town, to serve as the home of the state college. Fayette County added $20,000 to the effort to entice the legislature in Frankfort to keep the state college in Lexington. In 1880, the legislature made Lexington the permanent home of the state college.

For a number of years still, the school largely emphasized agricultural and mechanical studies. President Patterson continually added more and more liberal arts to the curricula. The shift from agricultural and mechanical studies to liberal arts was recognized by the state legislature in 1908, and the school was re-chartered as State University: Lexington, Kentucky. And in 1916, the University of Kentucky moniker was formally adopted.

Happy Birthday, UK! Festivities go on throughout the week, but the big shindig was on Monday with a convocation service featuring a keynote address by Brit Kirwan. Kirwan is the chancellor of the University System of Maryland and the son of former UK president A.D. Kirwan.

Author’s Lego interpretation of the Kirwan-Blanding residential complex at UK named, in part, for President Kirwan.
Author’s collection.

This post is based on an excerpt about the Lost Campus from LOST LEXINGTON, KY.

Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but so many more are lost forever. The famous Phoenix Hotel, long a stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants are unknown to natives now.

Where to purchase LOST LEXINGTON?

A Snow Covered Nicholasville

The Jessamine County Courthouse in Nicholasville, Ky.

In the height of last week’s snow, I set out on a walk from my house through downtown Nicholasville. I was well bundled, stayed quite warm, and had fun seeing this town covered in a thick layer of beautiful white snow. I saw a few others out and about, but it was by and large a quiet affair.

By my measurements at home, we received a full 12″ of snow in Nicholasville. An additional 2.75″ had fallen on the ground by Tuesday morning. Although the students in Lexington are headed back to class today, Jessamine County schools will be closed for the 6th consecutive school day.

In a twist of irony, Nicholasville Elementary’s winter production is entitled “The Big Chill.” 
No kidding.

Outdoor dining at Nicholasville’s Euro on Main Street.

Walker Hotel
The old Walker Hotel at Main and Chestnut streets.

Two friendly faces I saw on my walk – Danny and Libby Barnes had an “open” sign at their 
Alternative Jewelry Store on Main Street in Nicholasville.
If you enjoyed these photographs, be sure to check out the other images of a snow covered Nicholasville as posted on flickr. 

Kentucky County WordCloud

There are 120 counties in Kentucky. I haven’t been to all of them, but there are Kaintuckeean posts which concern 95 Kentucky counties. For years, a “wordcloud” list of counties has rested in the sidebar of this site, but I wanted to bring it to the forefront and explain it a bit:

Adair


Anderson


Bath


Bell


Boone


Bourbon


Boyd


Boyle


Bracken


Breathitt


Breckinridge


Bullitt


Butler


Calloway


Campbell


Carroll


Carter


Casey


Christian


Clark


Daviess


Elliott


Estill


Fayette


Fleming


Floyd


Franklin


Gallatin


Garrard


Grant


Grayson


Greenup


Hancock


Hardin


Harlan


Harrison


Hart


Henderson


Henry


Jackson


Jefferson


Jessamine


Johnson


Kenton


Knott


Knox


Laurel


Lawrence


Lee


Letcher


Lewis


Lincoln


Livingston


Madison


Magoffin


Marion


Martin


Mason


McCracken


McCreary


McLean


Meade


Menifee


Mercer


Montgomery


Morgan


Muhlenberg


Nelson


Nicholas


Ohio


Oldham


Owen


Owsley


Pendleton


Perry


Pike


Powell


Pulaski


Robertson


Rockcastle


Rowan


Russell


Scott


Shelby


Simpson


Spencer
Taylor


Todd


Trimble


Warren


Washington


Wayne


Whitley


Wolfe


Woodford

By clicking on any of the named counties in the wordcloud, you can access Kaintuckeean posts about that county. The bigger the county name, the more posts exist relating to a particular county (though the sizes aren’t proportional). For example, there have been 257 posts about Fayette County but only 3 about Magoffin County.

For those interested in exploring a particular county, the County WordCloud is a particularly useful feature. So check it out. And remember that it can always be found in the sidebar.

Lost Lexington Events Next Week

Mark Your Calendars!!

On February 26, 2015, there are two awesome and exciting Lost Lexington events on tap so mark your calendars!

Good Day Kentucky

Be sure to tune into ABC 36’s Good Day Kentucky on February 26 from 9am to 10 am. There will be a short 2-3 minute segment on Lost Lexington. Don’t miss it!

Lexington Public Library

In the evening, I’ll be discussing Lost Lexington in the Farish Theater at the Lexington Public Library’s Central Branch. The event begins at 6:00 p.m. and will be in the Farish Theater or upstairs in the 3rd floor Kentucky Room signing books until 8:00 p.m. Books will be available for sale, or you may bring your own copy. RSVP not required, but you can do so on the event’s Facebook page!

Already read Lost Lexington?

It would be a big help to me if you would be so kind as to write a review of Lost Lexington! Reviews can be submitted on as many review sites as you can find, but the easiest to use are amazon.com and barnes & noble. If you use GoodReads, you can also submit a review there! Many thanks!

Be sure to check out the Lost Lexington for other updates about the book!

Lexington Landmark: St. Paul’s A.M.E. Church

Lexington, Kentucky has fifteen historic districts and two historic landmarks. One of these two local historic landmarks is the St. Paul A.M.E. Church on North Upper Street.

Prior to 1826, a small number of blacks worshipped at the predominately white Lexington Methodist Church which was located “on the north side of Church Street, between Limestone and Upper streets” in the “large two-story brick Methodist Church, built in 1822” according to Wright’s Lexington: Heart of the Bluegrass. In 1826, however, the Methodists congregation aided their black brothers and sisters in the acquisition of an “old stable on North Upper Street.”

That mission on North Upper Street would become, over time, the St. Paul AME Church. This historically black congregation meets in a building that was erected on the site of the original stable in 1826. Today, that structure is said to be the oldest continually used house of worship in Lexington. Over the years, it was expanded to meet the needs of the growing church body. Significant renovations and expansion projects occurred in 1850, 1877, 1906, and 1986.

This historic house of worship was the site of the Blue Grass Trust’s February 2015 deTour.

Scenes from St. Paul AME, including the steps that once served as a station on the
underground railroad. Author’s collection.

African Methodist Episcopal Denomination

In 1787, a former slave by the name of Richard Allen helped establish the AME Church in Philadelphia as it split from the Methodist Episcopal Church. Six years earlier, Allen had purchased his freedom. Allen, along with his the Rev. Absalom Jones, regularly worshipped at Philadelphia’s St. George’s ME Church.

The church had separated its colored congregants by having them seated around the room’s perimeter. One Sunday in 1787, Rev. Absalom Jones, however, began his prayers prior to the service closer to the sanctuary’s center. A sexton ordered Allen’s friend to get up and advising that Jones “must not kneel here.” Interrupting Jones’ prayers, the sexton persisted. Jones ultimately responded to the sexton   that he ought to “wait until prayer is over, and I will get up and trouble you no more.”

After the conclusion of their prayers, all of the congregants worshipping at St. George’s rose and departed the church. The moment is perceived as the beginning of the AME denomination.

Methodism in Lexington & the Beginning of St. Paul AME

The decade before, the ME Church began a mission in Lexington which ultimately would become what is today the First United Methodist Church on High Street. By 1803, the congregation had 47 white and 30 black members.

By 1820, several black members sought their own separate house of worship and a mission of Hill Street ME Church was started in a brick stable on North Upper Street. Six years later, the St. Paul ME Church was formally established and the deed to the stable was acquired a year later. In 1830, a small brick church was built (though a portion of the original stable remains in the extant church’s foundation).

The church began to grow both in numbers and in assets as additional property was acquired. Soon after the Civil War concluded, St. Paul (along with another 300 predominately black ME churches) withdrew from what was then known as the ME Church Conference of the South, or simply ME South).

Within a year, St. Paul affiliated with the AME Church. And for many years the church continued to grow and build.

A Pillar of the Community

St. Paul’s legacy extends far beyond its walls. During the era of slavery, the church functioned as a station on the underground railroad. Although not safely accessible today, a narrow twisting staircase behind the chancel rises to a small hidden room above the sanctuary which once served as a place of refuge for slaves on their way toward freedom.

Following the Civil War, the church hosted discussions about the education of black Kentuckians. Members of St. Paul AME helped organize both the Colored Orphan Industrial Home and the Phyllis Wheatley YWCA. An 1885 assembly at St. Paul AME on the subject of black education led toward the creation of what became Kentucky State University.


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart). The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month at 5:30 p.m. Learn more details about this exciting group on Facebook! You can also see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.