‘Hearsay’ at Bowling Green’s Warren County Courthouse

Warren County Courthouse – Bowling Green, Ky.

Bowling Green is much larger than you think it is. My usual method of heading downtown and looking around for something that looked like a courthouse misled me a bit here. I ended up on a street just outside of downtown that had a justice center and the Federal Courthouse. After realizing that there had to be an “old courthouse” I headed further in town and found this jewel. The picture really doesn’t do it justice.

William H. Natcher Federal Courthouse
Bowling Green, Ky.

Unlike most courthouses in the state, Warren County has a plaque on the outside that gives some amazing history. This courthouse was erected in 1867 to 1869 at the cost of $125,000. Designed by D.J. Williams, it contains elements of both the Greek Revival and Italianate styles. It is the fourth courthouse for Warren County. According to the plaque, the courthouse looks much as it did in 1869.

Perhaps my favorite part is the original Victorian iron fence that surrounds the courthouse lawn and remains intact. Interior changes have been drastic and unique. Before the advent of automobiles, the courtroom was moved from its original location in the front of the building to the back to muffle out the sounds of animal hooves on Bowling Green’s cobblestone streets. When these hooves were no longer an issue, the courtroom was moved back to its original location in the front of the courthouse.

Perhaps my favorite part of the plaque is a “hearsay” portion, that notes a few local legends about the courthouse. My favorite is that prominent lawyers would frequently climb in the windows after dark to gather in the empty courtroom to play cards, and that nails can still be seen in the main wall of the building where old campaign flyers and event posters used to hang.

This courthouse is the jewel of a beautiful downtown area. I definitely need to make another trip.

Spindletop Hall is “a masterpiece which has no parallel in Kentucky”

Entrance to Spindletop Hall – Lexington, Ky.

Spindletop Hall – Lexington, Ky.

A forty room mansion in the Georgian Revival style located on Lexington’s Ironworks Pike was constructed in 1935-1937 for Ms. Pansy Yount. The mansion, at 45,000 square foot, stands at the end of a quarter-mile long, tree lined private drive. When one considers the massiveness of this home – along with its numerous outbuildings including a garage, pool house, stables, aviaries, and kennels – the constructions costs of a mere $1 million seem quaint. Today, the PVA has assessed the value of the 1,066 acre property at $20 million which is far short of its actual value.

The 17-bay mansion itself consists of a rectangular 9-bay plan with two receding flanking wings to create the balance of the structure with most of the structure in Flemish bond laid red brick. The original copper roof remains. Dominating Spindletop are the six Ionic limestone columns on the temple portico behind which a limestone block facade contrasts with the dominant red brick.

There are wrought iron features throughout Spindletop, but none quite as spectacular as as the Palladian window on the northwestern elevation of the porte-cochere. There, the setting sun creates a canvas which brightly displays the detailed iron work.

And although the porte-cochere would have been a primary entrance to the home, the entrance hall is not want of beauty. The double doors through which you enter cost $14,000 for the pair at the time of their installation and are made of bronze. Also of bronze is the three part chandelier hanging overhead from the molded plaster ceiling. The hall is flanked by a pair of winding stairs, though the centerpiece is a large white mantel which had been extracted from Wornersh Park in Surrey, England.

Elizabethan Living Room – Spindletop Hall

Three main rooms off the Great Hall: the Georgian Dining Room, the Elizabethan Living Room, and the William & Mary Music Room. The dining room features a carrara marble mantel built for Shapwick Hall in Somerset, England, ca. 1750. The colossal living room – 30′ x 60′ – has oak paneled walls and a beautiful wooden mantle carved with the phrase “East, West, Home’s Best.” This Flemish phrase complements the 16th century tapestry hanging on one wall (hiding those panels which are not carved). The music room contains a ca. 1735 mantle from London, wainscoted mahogany walls, a fare violin collection, and a Kimball reproducing organ. The organ can be played in the music room or remotely controlled from six locations throughout the house. One hundred rolls of music were specially recorded for the Yount organ and are contained next to the instrument in a Chinese lacquered cabinet. The organ pipes are largely contained underneath the Grand Hall, though nearly a mile of organ pipe is contained within the mansion.

A few steps down from either the music or the living room is the Gothic Library. There one will find oak paneling, faux hammer beam ceilings, and a gray stone English Tudor mantle removed from Trentham Hall in Staffordshire, England. The texts on the shelves have been gifted to Spindletop; Mrs. Yount removed her 7,000 volumes with her to Texas. Also gone is the original oriental Persian rug which reportedly cost $40,000 in the 1930s. The porte-cochere enters into the library, which has long been my favorite room in the mansion.

Upstairs, two palatial bedroom suites offered respite for Mrs. Yount and her daughter, Mildred. Mrs. Yount’s suite is decorated in the French style while Mildred’s is in that of 18th century England. Each suite consists of four rooms. Off Mrs. Yount’s bathroom is a safe which is alleged to have contained a necklace once belonging to Marie Antoinette.

Given the infamous Lindbergh kidnapping, Mrs. Yount was concerned that her Mildred – the richest little girl in America – would also be kidnapped. It is believed that under the house, there is a tunnel to safety. Mysteries and great beauty about at Spindletop Hall. More can be found on flickr.

Yount lived at Spindletop until she relocated in Texas in 1955. In 1959, the University of Kentucky purchased the property for a discounted $850,000 as Yount viewed the transaction as a gift to UK.


The Bluegrass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart); Spindletop was our deTour in Sept. 2012. The group meets on the first Wednesday of each month. Our February gathering will be at the Oldham House on South Limestone Street. Join us there at 6:30 p.m.; learn more details on Facebook! You can see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

This Just Happened

As part of my soft relaunch of The Kaintuckeean, I’m going to reintroduce a previously failed attempt to do news updates about Kentucky, Kentucky history, &c. Consider it your Sunday morning paper.

Mill Springs National Cemetery
Rep. Hal Rogers has reintroduced legislation (H.R. 298) to incorporate the Mill Springs Battlefield into the National Park Service. Reps. Yarmuth and Guthrie have joined as co-sponsors. The second largest Civil War battle in Kentucky, the Battle of Mill Springs was the Union’s first significant win in the western theatre. The battlefield lies in Pulaski and Taylor counties. [Rep. Hal Rogers Website]
Lexington’s Christ Church Cathedral is steeped in an incredible amount of history. The latest is the golden anniversary of its men and boys choir. A special concert on January 27th will commemorate with the joint voices of current members and alums alike. [kentucky.com]

Mmmm… beer.

After much “deliberation,” but way ahead of schedule, the West Sixth Brewing Company will begin canning its second beer. Deliberation Amber will be canned as West Sixth Amber and will be tasty. Duh. [West Sixth]

Even though I told you about it first, I didn’t have a video to go along with the announcement of the Blue Grass Trust of their Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour. I suppose if a picture is worth a thousand words, WKYT’s video is worth even more. [wkyt]

In 1964, the Virginia Iron Coal and Coke Company established a coal town in Perry Coutny, Kentucky, naming it Vicco (named after the company). With 334 residents, the town this week may have become “the smallest American municipality to ban discrimination based on sexual orientation.” [ACLU]

The Cabin Creek Bridge in Lewis County is set to undergo a $1.2 million design/build restoration. The bridge was originally constructed in 1873 as a 114 foot, single-span covered bridge; it was closed to traffic thirty years ago. [Maysville Independent-Ledger]

If you don’t already, be sure to “like” the Kaintuckeean on Facebook!

Immersed in Seed Catalogues

My love of history has become matched by a passion for gardening. My genealogical roots are found with farmers as recently as my father’s childhood, but I grew up with little more than a well-tended herb garden. 

With a bit of land, I set my first ‘real’ garden in 2011. Though 2012 was an off year with a young babe in the house, I’ve readied myself for 2013. I hope to share my progress with you here, on The Kaintuckeean. Topically, it may be a bit off from our usual exploration of history and architecture. But so much of Kentucky is about the land, the people, and the food. With any luck, people interested in gardening will learn a little about Kentucky and vice versa. 

But for now, in the cold of winter, I’ll just contemplate what the garden will be. With seed catalogues, excel spreadsheets, and a calendar, I’m creating a schedule and layout for Garden: 2013.  
The following is subject to change, but the following illustration shows the layout I’m considering for this year’s garden. From prior years, I’ve expanded it from 64 sq. ft. to 112 sq. ft. – an increase, but I believe a manageable one. 
Regrettably, funding (both time and financial) for this increased endeavor has to come from somewhere. Over the past couple years, our family has participated in a CSA share which I picked up at the local farmers market. This involved an annual outlay of a few hundred dollars and a weekly outlay in time of about 90 minutes. Rolling these resources into the new, improved garden will bring me closer to my food in a relatively cost-neutral manner.
Well, I’m looking forward to sharing some green pictures on here. If you’d like to see less, or more, let me know!

“Preserving Boyle County for Generations to Come”: The Boyle Landmark Trust

Merchant’s Row – Perryville, Ky.

Last autumn, our collective attention turned to Boyle County. Within one week, this small central Kentucky county hosted both 2,000 Civil War reenactors and thousands more visitors for the Battle of Perryville’s sesquicentennial celebration as well as the hundreds of political and media luminaries assembled for the Vice-Presidential Debate.

The national attention received in October 2012 is not new for either Boyle County or its seat of government, Danville. The area’s history, for Kentuckians, is richer still.

Danville was the home to Kentucky’s first courthouse, the first U.S. post office west of the Alleghenies, and the ten Constitutional conventions which culminated in Kentucky becoming the fifteenth state (or fourth commonwealth) in the Union. The Virginia legislature established Danville five years before Kentucky achieved statehood. Lexington’s Transylvania University originated in Danville. Centre College was chartered in 1819.

Without a doubt, the history of Boyle County is rich.

And so, in 1971, the Boyle Landmark Trust (“BLT”) was organized “to put back into use historical structures so that they may better serve our community and illuminate their important educational, social and cultural function.” BLT was organized by Cecil Dulin Wallace whose wife, Lily, would lead BLT for over a quarter century. The original “landmark” was Mrs. Wallace’s family home – the Cambus-Kenneth House – had been won in a hand of cards by Dr. Ephraim McDowell years before.

Perryville’s Merchant’s Row was the first major project for the BLT. These beautiful structures stand at the heart of a historic crossroads and were recently revitalized once again through the Main Street Perryville Program. But without the earlier work of the BLT, historic Perryville might not have survived the twentieth century.

More recently, the BLT has continued its decades long restoration of the Willis Russell House. Long owned by various local organizations committed to its preservation, the BLT has informed the public about this historic property.

“People here in Danville had seen this log structure, didn’t even know what it was, had no idea what it was about, the history of it. They hadn’t been in it. It’s just been kind of lying dormant for a number of years,” said Barbara Hulette, the President of the Boyle Landmark Trust in an interview with WUKY-FM. Hulette, of course, is no stranger to The Blue Grass Trust; she was very involved in this organization prior to her move to Danville several years ago. Since, she has shown her dedication to historic beyond Fayette County in Boyle County and elsewhere. For these efforts, Hulette received the 2012 John Wesley Hunt Award from the BGT.

Willis Russell House – Danville, Ky.

Under Hulette’s leadership, the BLT has continued its efforts. Earlier this year, the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet placed a historic roadside marker in front of the Willis Russell House, located at 204 East Walnut Street. Not surprisingly, the funds for this historical marker were raised and secured through the efforts of the Boyle Landmark Trust.

Russell had been a slave owned by Lieutenant Robert Edward Craddock who had served in the Revolutionary War. Craddock’s will, probated in 1837, emancipated his slaves and provided some of them, including Russell, with land. Willis Russell received a ca. 1794 log house in the town of Danville as well at 509 acres on the waters near the Rolling Fork River. It was in his home where Mr. Russell opened a Danville’s first school for African American children.

The work of Mrs. Wallace, and of those of the Boyle Landmark Trust who have and will continue to follow her path, continues to preserve “Boyle County for generations to come.”

This article originally appeared in the January 2013 issue of Preservation Matters, a tri-annual publication of the Blue Grass Trust.

The BGT’s Eleventh Hour Endangered Properties List

Since 1999, the Blue Grass Trust has created an annual list of “Eleven [historic properties] in Their Eleventh Hour.” Each property is selected on the following criteria: historic significance, proximity to proposed or current development, lack of protection from demolition, condition of structure, and architectural significance.

The BGT’s goal of highlighting these properties is to find long-term solutions to preserve them for generations to come.

In no specific order, the BGT has announced this year’s “Eleven in Their Eleventh Hour” this morning at the Hunt-Morgan House.

  • Greyhound Station on Loudon Avenue, Lexington. 
  • Old Fayette County Courthouse, Lexington.
  • Willis Green House, Danville.
  • Good Shepherd Church, Frankfort.
  • 151 Constitution Street, Lexington.
  • Ligon and Matthews Houses, Lexington.
  • First Baptist Church, Lexington.
  • 601 Boonesboro Ave., Lexington.
  • I-75 Connector Corridor, rural Jessamine and Madison Counties.
  • 412 W. Third and 445 W. Second, Lexington.
More information about each of these properties can be found in the January 2013 issue of Preservation Matters, a tri-annual publication of the BGT.

Happy 146th, Dr. Morgan!

Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945)

Born September 25, 1866 in the Hunt-Morgan House, Thomas Hunt Morgan is known as the “Father of Modern Genetics” for his work with the fruit fly (drosophila melanogaster).  After attending the State College of Kentucky, he received a Ph.d. from Johns Hopkins University and began teaching at Bryn Mawr before becoming a professor in experimental zoology at Columbia University, where he ran his famous “fly room.”  Internationally known, Dr. Morgan became the first Kentuckian to win the Nobel Prize, doing so in 1933 for his work concerning the role of genes in heredity.  He eventually established the Division of Biology at the California Institute of Technology, which has produced 7 Nobel Prize winners since its inception.  He passed away in 1945 at the age of 79.

We’ve written of Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan’s family home.

Hudspeth’s Well and the Simpson County Courthouse

Simpson County Courthouse – Franklin, Ky.

First, I apologize for the quality of the picture. It was getting dark when I arrived in Franklin, and I couldn’t find an angle that didn’t put the sun directly in my face.

Franklin has a beautiful courthouse lawn. The pictured courthouse was the third on the site and was built in 1882-83. This was the “standard courthouse design” of McDonald Brothers, an architect firm out of Louisville. Wings were added to the courthouse in 1962 that attempted to match the style.

Well on Courthouse Lawn – Franklin, Ky.

People often forget the boon that it could be for a landowner when their land was chosen for the county seat. The selection of Franklin in Simpson County illustrates this very point. When the county was formed, a commission was authorized to purchase a site for the county seat. Three owners sought to sell their site, but a water source was essential.

William Hudspeth had dug a well onsite, but it was dry. Secretly, he hauled in water to fill the well, and sold the 62 acres that serve as Franklin’s downtown area based on this deception. Amazingly, the water he brought in primed the well, and the well ended up being used for years.

There is a well on the courthouse lawn to commemorate this great story in Simpson County’s history. 

Lexington’s “most important cultural and civic space” – The Kentucky Theatre

Kentucky Theatre Marquee – Lexington, Ky.
Shelves of Letters for the Marquee at the
Kentucky Theatre – Lexington, Ky.

The familiar marquee on Main Street identifies the only remaining of Lexington’s great, old theaters. Named as “a credit to Lexington and the entire State,” the Kentucky Theatre opened in 1922. At the time, the Kentucky was one of several theaters in the community of 40,000. The Ben Ali and the Strand also welcomed moviegoers, but none with the grandeur that was offered at the Kentucky Theatre. With its original space intact, the Kentucky Theatre is described by Steve Brown (President, Kentucky’s Mighty Wurlitzer) as “the most important cultural and civic space in the city.”

The ceiling originally featured a massive stained glass dome which was complimented with back-lighting that changed with the ‘mood’ of the film. To the best of anyone’s recollection, the stained glass was removed because the promoters of The Sound of Music thought that the glass dome had an adverse effect on acoustics. The Kentucky was designed for motion pictures and even was capable of showing the new “talkies”; the theatre was one of the first fifty theaters in America to feature sound. All these special effects, all in 1922.

Interior of the Kentucky Theatre – Lexington, Ky.

And all in a beautiful Italian Renaissance styled theatre opened as the premier movie house for Lexington by the Swiddow family. Even with management changes and numerous changes in customer demands, the Kentucky Theatre has only had one pause in operation over the past 90 years.

In 1987, a neighboring restaurant experienced a fire that caused significant damage to the Kentucky. Through a dedicated group of patrons and local leaders, the Kentucky would not remain closed. A grand reopening in 1992 revealed a beautifully restored theatre that continues to receive updates. A major renovation is planned in conjunction with the theatre’s 90th anniversary. This will be coupled with the complete restoration and reinstallation of the Kentucky’s Mighty Wurlitzer organ that first played there when the theatre opened in 1922.

Lexington in 1922, however, had its own skeletons. In particular, Lexington shares that southern sin of segregation. Since it opened, the Kentucky Theatre has had a single level and thus no feasible method for separating blacks from whites. This was not a progressive step; it was a design intended to prevent the attendance by blacks at films shown at the Kentucky. When the Kentucky’s smaller sister theatre was opened next door in 1929, it featured a balcony which allowed Lexington’s black community to appreciate the ‘old Spanish’ architectural style of the State Theatre.

Of course, times have changed through the years. Fortunately, segregation has ended. The balcony has been removed from the State Theatre.

In time, the seating capacity of the Kentucky srunk from 1,108 to 805. The stalwart manager, Fred Mills, has worked at the theaters since 1963. And the ever-popular Rocky Horror Picture Show is often a sellout at recent history’s highest grossing theater for the film. The theaters have served also as the site for weddings and funerals, for political debates, and the weekly Woodsongs Old Time Radio Hour.

Yes, the Kentucky Theatre’s cultural and civic role in Lexington has been and is incredibly rich. And if these walls could only talk. Fortunately, the basement’s floor does. There one can find shelves of letters for the marquee while on the floor there are scribbled notations reminding the signer of the letters needed. The films named with these letters include the greatest works of cinematic art this country and world have offered.



The Bluegrass 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. Our September gathering will be at the University of Kentucky’s Spindletop Hall on Ironworks Pike. Join us there at 6:30 p.m.; learn more details on Facebook! You can see Kaintuckeean write-ups on previous deTours by clicking here.

Mercer County’s Glenworth Farm

Nota Bene: An article appearing in the Lexington Herald Leader on April 15, 2013 incorrectly identified Peter Brackney as the author of this post; Chris Ertel noticed the classified and experienced this amazing Greek Revival.

In March, I noticed a classified ad for the absolute auction of a farm in Mercer County. The photo showed a beautiful Greek Revival Mansion. I saw this as a unique
opportunity to experience a seldom seen historic site. I went to the open house the weekend before the auction and found a large throng of curious visitors roaming through the house and grounds.

Glenworth was built in 1848 by Robert Mosby Davis on land deeded to him by his uncle, Robert Mosby He was the namesake of his uncle. It was given to him for taking care of his uncle in his old age. The land was originally owned by the Robards family. Lewis Robards married and lived here with Rachel Donelson Robards, later Mrs. Andrew Jackson. Her father Colonel John Donelson was the founder of Nashville, Tennessee. There was a bigamy scandal when Andrew Jackson married Rachel Donaldson Robards before a divorce was finalized and Andrew Jackson was dogged by political gossip throughout his career. The land passed to Robert Mosby through his marriage to Lewis Robards’ sister.

Glenworth is an excellent example of a high-style Kentucky Greek Revival plantation house. It bears a similarity to Fayette County’s Waveland. It is a two story brick house with a full entablature divided into an architrave and frieze. The entablature
rests on paired brick pilasters. It is surmounted by a hipped roof topped with an observation deck enclosed by a cast iron cresting.

Like Waveland, the façade is divided into three parts with each bay being divided by the paired pilasters. From the four central pilasters projects a pedimented portico with paired Ionic columns. The first floor windows and doorway echo the tripartite theme of the façade with triple windows on each side of the doorway also in three parts.

The doorway features Ionic columns in antis between pilasters
supporting an entablature, forming sidelights and a triple transom. In the frieze are stylized anthemion decorations. The triple windows have simple lintels over them.



The second floor windows are framed by Greek shouldered architrave moldings crowned by cornices above. This is different from Waveland where all windows on the façade are triple windows.

A two story gallery with square brick piers ran along the back of the house with an exterior stair. It was later enclosed. Behind the gallery is a one story brick ell.

The ice house, shown in the photograph of the rear of the house, is cylindrical with a conical roof like Ashland and many bluegrass estates. The ice house is one of many original outbuildings at Glenworth.

The interior is divided by the central hallway with a pair of rooms on each side. The interior doorways also have anthemion moldings and shouldered architrave moldings. The staircase has a magnificent newel post and ornament from later in the 19th century. An opening with engaged Ionic columns divides the two parlors on the right side of the house. Also visible is the bracketed mantel, more indicative of the style ten years later. The house had minor updates throughout the remainder of the 19th century.

Glenworth has an impressive array of outbuildings. Pictured are an octagonal brick supply house, meat house, frame poultry house, slave quarters. The meat house and slave quarters are of log covered with wood siding. Vertical board and batten construction is used for the wood siding. All the original ones have a hipped roof much steeper than the main house. The last two had gable roofs and probably date to later in the 19th century.

The heyday of the property came at the turn of the century when 20 year old Adam S. Edelen from Danville, a graduate of Centre College rented the farm in 1895 and later purchased it in 1905. Glenworth Stock Farm was one of the most prominent Saddlebred farms in Kentucky. It produced many champion show horses including Bohemian King, Bourbon King, Bourbon Chief and Montgomery Chief. The Saddlebred is a breed created in Kentucky as a plantation horse. It was a favored mount in the Civil War. Due to its showy gaits it became a show horse. The Grand Championships are held at the Kentucky State Fair in Louisville. The farm also raised Jersey cattle, English Berkshire swine and Poland-China swine. His wife, Elizabeth Beard Edelen was known for her elegant entertaining at Glenworth. Mr. Edelen built the impressive 18 stall horse barn around 1910 and the farm manager’s house around 1920. Mr. Edelen sold the farm in 1927.

The auction was conducted on March 31, 2012. The house, buildings, and approximately 108 acres sold for $810,000. Hopefully, the new owners will preserve the house, farm and outbuildings for future generations to enjoy.

Only a few of the many photos of Glenworth can be found on this page. For more photographs of this beautiful Greek Revivial, check out these photographs on flickr.