Author: thekaintuckeean

Bell Court is one of Lexington’s loveliest neighborhoods

The BGT deTour of Bell Court – Lexington, Ky.

About one mile east of the courthouse is one of Lexington’s small, closely knit neighborhoods: Bell Court. Upon even a cursory exploration of the neighborhood, one can understand a portion of its history. The presence of the impressive mansion at the heart of this little community bears witness to the pattern common in Lexington of “subdividing the parks and pleasure grounds of its great antebellum houses.” Birchfield, 83.

A collection of photos of properties in Bell Court as well as our guide, Jim Birchfield. 

The good news is that in the case of Bell Court, the original mansions were not razed. Note that the plural is used because two of the old mansions remain. Each is surrounded by examples of early twentieth-century architecture of the Queen Anne, Romanesque, Arts and Craft and Colonial Revival architectural styles.

And like its variety of architectural styles, the neighborhood has drawn a variety of middle- and upper- class Lexingtonians from different walks of life to create a vibrant sense of community that has been enhanced by a strong neighbhood association (active since 1964).

And while each house in Bell Court has its own beautiful story, constraints now limit their telling. What follows are the stories of Bell Place, Clay Villa, and the Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd.

Bell Place (ca. 1890)

The primary property in the neighborhood is Bell Place which was constructed on the foundation of Woodside. Woodside had been designed and built by local architect Thomas Lewinski for Henry Bell on thirty-five acres of land which Bell had acquired for $8,750 in 1845. The land had originally been part of the 1,000 acres owned by Col. John Todd.

The planning and building of Woodside required eighteen months work and was completed in 1846. In 1848, Mrs. Abraham Lincoln visited with her mother and wrote in a letter to the future President:

Ma & myself rode out to Mr. Bell’s splendid place this afternoon to return a call. The house and grounds are magnificent. Birchfield, 87.

Upon his death in 1883, Henry Bell conveyed the thirty five acres and Residence to his only son, David Davis Bell (D.D. Bell). Lewinski had passed the year before and was thus unavailable to help D.D. Bell in rebuilding the family home after it burned in 1884.

Photos of the Bell House – Lexington, Ky.

Bell retained Cincinnati architect Samuel Eugene Des Jardins whose 23-page specifications for construction contains frequent “superlative of adjective and adverb [but] nowhere any requirement for economies.” Birchfield, 90-91. In other words, cost was not an issue.

The wealthy Bell was an attorney and an astute observer of Lexington’s growth. To these ends, he formulated a plan in the early 1890s to have a portion of his lands (retaining several acres around the residence) subdivided. D.D. Bell died, however, before this could be accomplished though a directive in his will prompted his widow to accomplish these aims with profits being placed in trust for their only child. Clara’s life and wealth were well-documented in a post on Bricks + Mortar.

Clay Villa (ca. 1846)

The earliest home in Bell Court was the contemporary to Woodside. In fact, Thomas Lewinski’s journals indicate that he worked on designing both Woodside and Clay Villa contemporaneously.

Clay Villa illustration by Clay Lancaster, “Vestiges of the
Venerable City,” 1978.

The Lewinski design was commissioned by Henry Clay for his son, James. (Interestingly, Clay also took the opportunity to commission Mansfield for son Thomas at also at the same time. Lewinski must have been quite busy in the 1840s!).

From the National Register application, we observe that Clay Villa is

Italianate in style with Greek Revival details, [it is] a square symmetrical brick house with hipped roof and four long interior panel chimneys; its walls are divided into three sections by applied segmental arches between wide pilaster-like forms with narrow vertical panels. NRHP.

Collage of Clay Villa. With a Forest Avenue address (frontage at top), the original
configuration would have faced Main Street (lower left).

It was James who would, after his father’s death, raze and rebuild Ashland which had reputed to have fallen into disrepair.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd –
Lexington, Ky.

Episcopal Church of the Good Shepherd (ca. 1925)

Formed as a mission of the Christ Church in 1888, the cornerstone for the Episcopal Church at Main Street and Forest Avenue was laid on August 30, 1925. The tale told of the funding of its construction is interesting, as told in the National Register application:

The fortunes of the church were given a great boost in 1924 when the Reverend Thomas L. Settles became the first and most effective clergyman to speak to the State Legislature against the anti-pari-mutual bill, thus gaining the support of followers of the turf. Wealth and prominent leaders of the horse industry, many not members of the church, began to support the ambitious building plans of Settle and the building committee, and the sanctuary was completed in 1926.

There are 39 major stained glass windows in this beautiful Gothic Revival house of God.

Additional photographs of the Bell Court neighborhood and its magnificent resources can be found on flickr.

Again, special thanks to our tour guide of Bell Court: local historian and curator of rare books in Special Collections at the UK Library, Jim Birchfield.


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.

The Vogt Reel House is Home to Engine Co. 4 and the Phantom

The next time you walk the increasingly popular Jefferson Street corridor, be sure to pause about midway between Main Street and West Sixth. At 246 Jefferson Street, you’ll see in action the oldest continuously operated firehouse in Lexington.

The Vogt Reel House was built in 1904 at a cost of $9,763. The appears of this 2-1/2 story brick structure is dominated by the two central brick tourelles each topped with “small domed ‘pepperpot’ tops” beneath the styled parapet. Together, it is described as being in the neo-Jacobean style.

Henry Vogt, for whom the firehouse is named, lived nearby at 534 Maryland Avenue when he donated the land for the firehouse which now hosts Engine Company No. 4. Vogt was a high end grocer who sold his goods from his shop at West Short and Broadway. At the time of his donation, he had also served on the city council for 16 years and was the Chairman of the Fire Committee.

When it opened to much fanfare, it housed “horses in stalls, five firemen and occasional neighborhood visitors, and it had a hay loft and a pot bellied stove. And later, Dalmations.”

In 2005, the center bay entry was widened so that a modern fire truck could continue to serve Downtown,Transylvania, Manchester, and Rupp Arena. The ubiquitous fire pole brings firefighters from the upper level’s living quarters to the engine level quickly. There is also an antique red spiral staircase which was originally located in the old Fayette County courthouse which burned in the late 1800s. 

The emblem on the engine for Company No. 4 depicts a skull wearing a fireman’s hat: it is the Phantom. The Phantom honors the Vogt Reel House’s ghost.

Oh, yeah. This firehouse is haunted!

Sources: Don Edwards; Firehistory; Lexington; Northside NA;

New Term for the Supreme Court, but No Kentucky Justices Anymore

Memorial Plaque Honoring Justice
Stanley Forman Reed in Maysville, Ky.

Today, the Supreme Court of the United States opens its Term and will hear four cases. On the bench sit the nine justices, none of whom are from Kentucky.

Five Kentuckians have served on the Supreme Court with Justice Stanley Forman Reed holding the position most recently. He was on the bench for nineteen years before he retired in 1957. 
Other Supreme Court Justices from Kentucky with their dates of service are Thomas Todd (1807-1826), Robert Trimble (1826-1828), John Marshall Harlan (1877-1911), and Fred M. Vinson (1946-1953).

Shortly before his retirement from the bench, Reed’s “friends and life-long associates” had a plaque installed on the façade of the courthouse in Reed’s native Mason County.

Reed was appointed to the U.S. Supreme Court in 1938 after having served as Roosevelt’s Solicitor General. When he stepped down from the bench in 1957, he was the last Justice who had not obtained a law degree. Reed had previously obtained two bachelors degrees (Kentucky Wesleyan in 1902; Yale University in 1906) and had studied law, but not graduating, at both University of Virginia and Columbia University.

On the bench, Reed was the fifth “swing justice.” He was considered a progressive on economic and some social issues, but was decidedly more conservative on matters of free speech and national security. He is interred at the Maysville Cemetery and his papers are at the University of Kentucky.

This Just Happened, a weekly roundup (Wini Yunker edition)

Wini Yunker Rappelling the Big Blue Building in
Lexington, Ky.

Sometimes people deserve credit and Wini Yunker fits the bill. Earlier this month, she rappelled down the Lexington Financial Center in downtown Lexington to the cheering crowds. At 79, she was the oldest accomplish the feat. And all with her trademark smile.

From this week on the Kaintuckeean, there was an internet outage at home so there were no posts Monday-Wednesday. Sorry!

  • A #TBT of a Coca-Cola bottling facility in Lexington, Ky. No one has yet guessed the location of it, so keep trying (and I’ll open the field to everyone – even the Sweepr!)
  • Inspired by her life, I profiled the very active Wini Yunker.
And from elsewhere around the Commonwealth:

There’s another set of renderings for Centerpointe in Lexington. We’ll see. [BizLex]

But a more likely project to actually be completed this century is across the street in the building that houses Taste of Thai. [BizLex]

With opening of healthcare marketplace Kynect and the government shutdown and role of Sens. McConnell and Paul, Kentucky became the political epicenter of the nation. [Gov. Beshear PR]

In 2018, the World Equestrian Games may return to Lexington? We’ll find out next year. [Courier-Journal]

Louisville’s football coach, Charlie Strong, wants another expansion of Cardinal Stadium. Not gonna happen, Charlie. [Courier-Journal]

A 300-year old Bur Oak in Lexington, Kentucky is under threat from development. [Herald-Leader]

Grave marker dedicated  for veteran of Revolutionary War in Marshall County. [Murray Ledger]

An Inspirational Woman: Nicholasville Native Wini Yunker Never Misses an Opportunity

Wini Yunker descending the Lexington Financial Center in
downtown Lexington, Kentucky

Last Wednesday, I slipped out of the office for about 30 minutes to stand at the base of the Lexington Financial Center with the rest of “Team Wini.”

A good number from Nicholasville had come to downtown Lexington to watch Wini Yunker participate in Brave the Blue II in which those fundraising $1,000 or more for the Blue Grass Council of the Boy Scouts of America could rappel down the western façade of Lexington’s tallest structure.

Let’s make sure we all understand what was going on at the moment.

Wini, 79, was strapped into a harness and prepared to rappel down the side of the 410-foot tall Big Blue Building.

I, 30, was standing with my two feet safely on Lexington’s Mill Street with a coffee in my hand.

Her experienced hands maneuvered the ropes for a quick descent and she loosened a snag herself when she became caught about two-thirds of the way down.

Yes, my friend Wini Yunker hardly acts the age of a near-octogenarian. But I’d suggest that for Wini, age has always been just a number. It has no bearing on what can be accomplished.

She is, and always has been, an inspiration for us all.

Wini was the subject of an article in the New York Times that described her proximity to the White House in 1961. It was there that she received, with sadness, a denial letter from the Peace Corps.

The Nicholasville native was told that she had insufficient educational experience to join the Corps.

An article from the Louisville Courier-Journal describes how Wini later earned her college degree from Spalding University in Louisville. A master’s degree from the University of Kentucky followed.

Those two articles were written in 2000 — 39 years after Wini was denied admittance to the Peace Corps. Both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees were received in the late 1990s.

The reason for the publication of the two articles? Wini was on her way to Ukraine as a member of the Peace Corps.

U.S. Sen. Mitch McConnell addressed the Senate on Jan. 31, 2000, in tribute to Wini Yunker as she was getting ready to depart for Kiev:

At a time in her life when most people are beginning to think of retirement and slowing the pace of their lives, Ms. Yunker is instead boldly venturing out on a new journey. She is reaching high for a new goal that will not only make a lasting impact on her own life, but also on the lives of those she leaves the country to help.

Yunker receives the key to the city of Nicholasville from
Mayor Russ Meyer. 

While in Ukraine, she met President Bill Clinton. Although she froze when he took her hand, Wini didn’t want to miss the opportunity to speak to the president. So she slipped to the end of the receiving line where they again shook hands.

“God bless you, Mr. President,” Wini said the second time around.

And Clinton responded, “Nice to see you again.”

It is just another example of this incredible woman’s refusal to miss an opportunity regardless of what obstacles might lie in her path.

Thirteen years after her departure for Kiev, Wini shows no sign of “slowing the pace” of her life. And, quite literally, she is taking her “can do” attitude to new heights.

Wini Yunker continues to be an inspiration for us all.

This column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal. 
It should not be republished without permission.

Old Southeast Greyhound Line Building Nominated for National Register Inclusion

Southeast Greyhound Line Building on Loudon Ave. – Lexington, Ky.
Photo: National Register Application.

The Kentucky Historic Preservation Review Board has recommended a number of sites for inclusion onto the National Register of Historic Places. Among them is the old Greyhound Bus Terminal on Lexington’s Loudon Avenue. The immense structure – nearly 104,000 square feet – features a “muted Art Deco style” façade divided into three distinct units. The mammoth structure at 101 West Loudon Avenue was constructed in 1928 for the Consolidated Coach Corporation.

“The taller central portion contains 2 garage doors and is framed by slightly-projecting brick pilasters that terminate with narrow limestone caps. Two units flank that central portion. Historically these were symmetrical: a three-bay unit with each bay indicated by a flush pilaster with narrow limestone cap, above which sits the parapet.”

In 1914, the Greyhound bus lines began in Minnesota as a method of transporting large numbers of workers. In 1931, the Consolidated Coach Corporation which owned 101 West Loudon renamed itself  Southeast Greyhound Lines. By 1950, Southeast Greyhound Lines merged into the larger Greyhound entity and the Loudon Ave. structure was closed as an office in 1960. It was acquired by the Transit Authority of Lexington (LexTran) in 1972.

The application describes the structure’s improving neighborhood as follows:

Much of the recent development along the North Limestone corridor fills in where historic structures once stood, creating a lively new district which still retains much of its historic character. This includes turning the old Spalding’s Donuts building at 5th and Limestone into an arcade bar, and Urban Wildlife, a public art installation created at Luigart Studios, which was a former brewery. Across the street facing the opposite direction is a new company, Bullhorn Creative, and other retail shops, including an antique furniture store, a thrift store, an art gallery and a restaurant. The building is also near a railway, constructed in the late 19th century, which transports industrial and manufacturing goods throughout the state and country.

The transformation of the NoLi neighborhood is nothing short of amazing. Hopefully, the old Southeast Greyhound Lines building will find a next chapter in its life and continue to contribute to the vitality of the city and the region.


Source: H-L (B. Fortune); National Register Application.

Book Review: “Many-Storied House”

In Many-Storied House, George Ella Lyon recalls with great emotion yet simple words her formative and adult years through the lens of her homeplace in Harlan, Kentucky. The house was built by her grandfather and it was here that she packed up her memories after her mother’s death.

We’ve all heard and probably used the phrase “if these walls could talk” before in terms of a property of either historic or personal significance.


Well, Lyon makes the walls of 108 First Street talk. Room by room (a floorplan for each of the two levels is provided), stories are told making the house into a home. In the end, we all feel “at home” in this place.

The collection of poetry begins with a locked front door and children squeezing through a bathroom window to help the rest of the family inside.

Lyon juxtaposes the local non-event of “August 4, 1944” with the seemingly non-event half a world away. But her brother’s second birthday would not stand the test of time in the way that the Gestapo’s non-discovery of Anne Frank’s diary would. It was on “this day the bookcase is swung back, staircase revealed.”

I read “August 4, 1944” twice, each with a long pause. Lyon’s simple worlds evoke so much emotion and this could not have been truer than in this poem. But emotion ran throughout Many-Storied House.

While reading, I laughed and I cried. Rarely has a book so touched me the way that this anthology of George Ella Lyon’s poetry did.

George Ella wrote of her mother’s illness and demise. The rush of the final moments in the hospital could be felt in “On Her Side.” My own memory of a similar incident at my grandfather’s funeral – slipping a memento into the coffin – was recalled when, in “Final Play.”

my son slipped
those Scrabble tiles
into the box. 

Simple moments captured in poem. And yet we are forced to decide what memories – mental or tangible – we must keep as the author decides what of her parent’s possessions should or should not be kept in “Can’t Believe.” But, I couldn’t help but remember the parallel from “Junk Drawer”:

Junk is the Secret
Service protecting what is
precious. It slows down 
traffic between this world
and the next.

A life of memories are kept in a house and George Ella Lyon has shared her most personal memories (and the “junk”) in this text. The collection is one of beauty and simplicity and comes highly recommended.

Disclaimer: The University Press of Kentucky provided the author with a courtesy review copy of the book here reviewed. The amazon.com link to the reviewed book is part of an affiliate agreement between the author and amazon.com.

A House With A Story to Tell: The Willis Green House

Willis Green House – Danville, Ky.
Photo: The Blue Grass Trust

On a 2.5 acre plot of land in Danville sits a house steeped in Kentucky history. It is owned by a consortium of preservation-minded groups who purchased the property at auction earlier this year in order to save this important part of history. With preservation easements added, it is again for sale. Details of this wonderful, historic structure are available at willisgreenhouse.com.

This is the story of those who lived here.

Willis Green House – Danville, Ky.
Photo: The Blue Grass Trust

While surveying a portion of central Kentucky, Willis Green found several thousand acres of land which pleased him greatly. He named his property Waveland after the “undulating terrain.” And it was here that he built his magnificent home around 1800 on the land which was held by the Green family nearly 130 years.

Willis Green

Headstone of Willis Green.
Photo by Yvonne at Findagrave.com.

The patriarch of this important Kentucky family was born around 1754 in Shenandoah County, Virginia, to Duff Green and Ann Willis. His maternal grandfather was Col. Henry Willis, the founder of Fredericksburg Virginia. But Willis was not content to remain in Virginia. He instead followed the call to head west into the wilderness of Kentucky.

Willis Green married fellow Virginian Sarah Reed on December 23, 1783, in “one of the first Christian marriages ever solemnized on Kentucky soil.” Together they located in a smaller home on Green’s acreage which was believed to have been located about 500 yards northwest of the historic site. Their fruitful marriage would yield a dozen children, each being born on the property.

It’s no surprise that Willis Green was involved in the earliest days of Kentucky’s statehood. His proximity to Danville gave him a front row seat to the nine constitutional conventions held there. But a front row seat was not enough for a man so committed to the Commonwealth.

Established with a family in Kentucky, Willis Green travelled back across the mountains to Richmond where he represented Kentucky County in the House of Delegates. Like so many Kentuckians of his day, Green believed in Jeffersonian democracy and pursued a more local governance for those Virginians living west of the Appalachians.

To these ends, Green participated in no fewer than two of the Kentucky Constitutional Conventions. His service included nearly thirty years as the Clerk of Lincoln County (1783-1813), with such term punctuated by three absences while he served as a judicial clerk twice for the Supreme Court of the Kentucky District and once for the Danville District Court. He was also involved in the Danville Political Club – a highly influential organization in which men discussed, and likely resolved, many issues of the day. Additionally, Willis Green served as one of the original trustees of the Transylvania Academy which was first located in Danville prior to its relocation to Lexington as the Transylvania College.

Willis Green departed this earth in 1813, leaving a life estate in Waveland to Sarah. Upon her death in 1816, the property was sold to their son, Judge John Green.

Judge John Green

Headstone of Judge John Green.
Photo by Yvonne at Findagrave.com.

John Green was the eldest son born to Willis and Sarah (Reed) Green, having been born in 1787. He studied the law under Henry Clay and was an aide-de-camp to Kentucky’s first governor, Isaac Shelby.

Governor Shelby was both the first and the fifth governor of Kentucky. During his second administration, the nation warred with Britain in the War of 1812. During this conflict, Shelby designated a number of important Kentuckians as his “aides-de-camp,” titles given to those attending a general officer. In Kentucky, aides-de-camp to the Commonwealth’s Governor are more regularly known as Kentucky Colonels. Among this honorable order, Judge John Green was among the first.

Judge Green served multiple terms in both houses of the General Assembly and was elected Circuit Judge. His first marriage was to Sarah Fry, the daughter of leading educator Joshua Fry. A second marriage was to Mary Marshall, the daughter of Capt. Thomas Marshall and niece of Supreme Court Justice John Marshall.

He was a “judge” by virtue of his service as a Circuit Judge. He also helped to establish both Centre College and the Kentucky School for the Deaf. When Henry Clay would visit the regions south of the Kentucky River, he would often stay at Waveland in the home of his friend, Judge Green.

Judge John Green died in 1838. Waveland, however, would remain within the family.

Dr. William Craig

Martha Eleanor Green, the youngest daughter of Willis and Sarah (Reed) Green, married Dr. William Craig. Craig, a native of Augusta County, Virginia, matriculated through Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) and learned medicine at Transylvania College and the School of Medicine in Philadelphia.

Dr. Craig purchased his wife’s family’s estate upon the passing of her brother, Judge John Green in 1838.

Though a successful physician, Dr. Green was also active in the community having served in the state legislature and as president of the Branch Bank of Kentucky at Danville. A notable addition to Dr. Craig’s vitae was his role as one of the first trustee’s on the board of Centre College. He also helped to organize Anaconda, Danville’s literary and social club, in December 1839.

When Dr. Craig died in 1854, his son – “a capable gentleman farmer” – became the owner of Waveland.

John James Craig

Headstone of John J. Craig.
Photo by Karen at Findagrave.com.

After his father died, John James Craig acquired the estate on the outskirts of Danville known as Waveland. Born in 1832, J. J. Craig lived at Waveland for all of his days except the first six years of infancy. To be sure, he must have also fallen for the undulating terrain which had first captivated his grandfather. J.J. Craig married Amanda Goodloe on December 18, 1855 in the bride’s native Madison County.

Mr. Craig was widowed in 1908 when Amanda died and he passed away in 1914. The couple is buried at the Bellevue Cemetery in Danville.

Outside the Family

According to the property’s National Register application, the property was sold outside the Green-Craig family for the first time in 1924 when it was acquired by Mr. J.D. Erskine. The chain of family members who owned the property during the intervening 130 years since Willis Green first fell in love with the rolling terrain was broken.

‘Ruin Porn‘ of the Willis Green House – Danville, Ky.
Photo: The Blue Grass Trust

Waveland passed through the Erskine and Benedict families with little change. Martin and Dorotha Thompson purchased Waveland at the end of July 1975. It was entered on the National Register May 6, 1976.

After Mr. Thompson passed away the home was abandoned and has since deteriorated to its present condition.

Other Notable Occupants of Waveland

Lewis Warner Green
Photo: Centre College

And though they didn’t own Waveland, it was the home to a series of other notable members of the Green family. Chief among this list was the youngest son of Willis and Sarah (Reed) Green, Lewis Warner Green.

Born at Waveland in 1806, Lewis Warner Green was the youngest of Willis and Sarah’s twelve children. He was considered an orphan with his parents both having passed by the child’s tenth birthday. He was cared for by his much older brother and neither his stature nor studies suffered. His early tutelage was under both Joshua Fry and Duncan F. Robertson, but he was sent to the classical school (Buck Pond) in Woodford County at age thirteen.

He followed a short stint at Transylvania College in Lexington by attending Danville’s newly opened Centre College in 1822. In 1824, he was one of two members of Centre’s first graduating class.

Lewis Warner Green then went on to study law under his brother who had raised him, Judge John Green. Lewis must have found the practice of law unappealing, for he had soon shifted his professional training to medicine under the direction and advice of Dr. Ephraim McDowell.

Neither the law nor medicne nor theology retained Lewis’ interest professionally; his attendance at Princeton Theological Seminary lasted only a year. Even so, he would become a minister ordained in the Presbyterian Church. His return to Danville in 1832 was coupled with a professorship in both “belles-lettres and political economy.”

A two-year sabbatical through three European universities gave Lewis Green further opportunity to study theology, language, literature, Biblical archaeology, and natural sciences, before returning to the United States. Within a year, he would return to Danville as vice-president of Centre and as co-pastor of Danville Presbyterian Church.

In 1840, however, Rev. Dr. Green would leave Danville for another seventeen years passing through academia and pastorals in Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia. The familial call to Kentucky was strong and he returned here, first for a year as President of Transylvania University, and finally on January 1, 1858, to the presidency of Centre College.

Under Green’s leadership, Centre succeeded despite the hardships incumbent with an ongoing Civil War. A drop in attendance was never accompanied by a cancellation of classes. In nearby Perryville, a great battle of that War raged in October 1862 and after which battle Green’s campus was utilized as a hospital by both Armies.

The following May, 1863, Rev. Dr. Lewis Warner Green would die of illness. After his passing, the faculty of Centre passed a resolution calling Rev. Dr. Green “one of [Centre’s] oldest and warmest friends.”

Some of the most influential leaders in the history of Centre College, of Danville, and of the Commonwealth have called Waveland home. It is a treasure in Kentucky’s history.

Willis Green House nestled in a Danville, Ky. neighborhood.
Photo: Blue Grass Trust

For more photographs, please visit willisgreenhouse.com.

Elias Barbee, the father of the Kentucky School for the Deaf

Historic Marker for Brig. Gen. Elias Barbee – Campbellsville, Ky.

On the courthouse lawn in Campbellsville is the historic marker to honor Brigadier General Elias Barbee. Barbee, a veteran of the Revolutionary War, also served as a state senator in Kentucky.

Roadside Historic Marker #1536 reads:

Born 1763. Died 1843. Served in Rev. War from Culpeper Co., Va. His five brothers, Daniel, John, Joshua, Thomas and William, also served in Revolution. Elias Barbee came early to what is now Taylor County. Lived eight miles N.W. of Campbellsville. He was appointed Major in 1792, Colonel in 1797, and Brig. General, in 1799, in Ky. Militia, 16th Regt., Green Co., Ky.

(Reverse) Brig. Gen. Elias Barbee – Represented Green Co. in Kentucky Senate. In 1822, Senator Barbee introduced a bill in the Senate calling for establishment of the present Kentucky School for the Deaf at Danville, Ky. Bill drawn up by Judge John Rowan, passed by Legislature and signed by Gov. Adair, establishing on April 10, 1823, first state-supported school for the deaf in the United States.

The matter of aide to the deaf was of particular interest to then-Sen. Barbee as his own daughter was deaf. Barbee’s attention put Kentucky in a leadership track nationally with regard to the hearing impaired as we became the first state to support and fund a school for the deaf.

Those in love with Kentucky’s history will immediately recognize the name of the man who aided Barbee in drafting the legislation: John Rowan. Rowan’s home, Federal Hill, is better known as My Old Kentucky Home.