Tag: Fayette

Maps! Finding History in the Most Unusual Place: The Doctor’s Waiting Room

No one likes waiting to be seen at the doctor’s office. Although I recently visited a physician whose waiting room offered more than stale magazines. As art on the walls, the physician’s practice groups used historic maps of Kentucky, of Fayette County, and of Madison County. Fortunately, with few other patients waiting I was able to stand, examine, and photograph the historical maps of Lexington dating from 1904, 1930 and 1946/47.

1904 Map

1904 Map of Fayette County

The 1904 map of Fayette County was compiled by associate engineers J.P. Mullin and J.M. Corbin. The map noted the locations of schools, streams, and most notably structures in the rural parts of the county.

Small black squares accompanied by names of landowners revealed who lived in and around Fayette County’s lost communities. These communities, like Athens and South Elkhorn, are represented in larger typeface on the map.

A high-resolution copy of the map, though in poor condition, is also available online through the Kentucky Historical Society.

Below I have zoomed in, using the KHS map, on the city of Lexington. You can clearly see both the Kentucky Association racetrack on the city’s east side as well as the KTHBA (the Red Mile).

City of Lexington the 1904 Map

1930 Map

1930 Road Map of Fayette County

The 1930 Road Map of Fayette County was published by T.B. DeWhurst of Lexington as a road map showing the major arteries and connectors comprising Fayette County’s roads. Two tables noted the locations of “Stock Farms” and “Points of Interest.”

Most of the “points of interest” were churches, but several non-ecclesiastical sites were noteworthy. Related to Henry Clay, both Ashland and the Clay Monument at the Lexington Cemetery were considered of interest.

Two country clubs made the list as did the Iroquois Hunt Club. Two springs, the municipal water works, and Joyland Park also made the cut.

Of particular note, however, were the two airports listed. Lexington’s first airfield, “Municipal Airfield, Leestown Pike” existed on a “level pasture surrounded by trees and telephone wires.” The private field was located where the Meadowthorpe neighborhood is now located. The first municipal airport in Kentucky, also mentioned as “New Municipal Airpot, Newtown Pike” was also noted; it sat on ground now occupied by Fasig-Tipton and opened in 1930.

1946/47 Map

1946/47 Map of Lexington, Ky.

The 1946/47 map contained a great amount of detail as to the roads in central Lexington. Like the 1930 map, a list of “Noted Fayette County Farms” was included. So too was a small map of the “Highways out of Lexington, Ky.”

The map, compiled and drawn by Thomas Monson, was the only in the physician’s collection which extended to the city limits of the day. A drive out Richmond Road would reach the country after Chinoe. Near campus neighborhoods, like Clifton Heights, remained.

And the “Government Houseing Project” known as Bluegrass-Aspendale stood on the old land once occupied by the old Kentucky Association racetrack. As you can see, the housing project was segregated: Bluegrass Drives for whites and Aspendale Drives for coloreds.

Bluegrass-Aspendale Housing Project Map

Have you found history in an unusual place? Share in the comments!

More photos of Fayette County maps are on flickr.

Sources: Meadowthorpe N.A.; Tom Eblen (H-L)

Federal Courthouse is of “classic architecture, according to the Greek motif”

Lexington’s Federal Building, ca. 1934. Photo: Nat’l Archives.

Since it opened in 1934, the Barr Street façade of Lexington’s Federal Building remains unchanged. Its four stories of steel, brick, and limestone construction are a classic example of federal construction in the 1930s (Neo-Classical), evincing the strength of a government and nation fighting off the consequences of the Great Depression. But even this powerful building shows signs of the era’s economics: the central eastern façade (less visible) has a less-costly brick exterior surface. In 1957, an annex was added to the federal building to better accommodate post office operations.

Lexington’s Federal Building, ca. 2013
Grand Lobby of the Federal Building – Lexington, Ky.

Flanking the building’s Barr Street frontage are two projecting pavilions which operate as the building’s primary entrances. Each admits visitors into small anterooms off the central, grand lobby. Originally, the grand lobby operated as the main post office with sorting facilities in adjacent rooms and in the basement. Today, the post office is long gone though vestiges remain in the extensively decorated room comleted with “bronze grills, marble pilasters, and a terrazzo floor.”

The eastern anteroom/lobby features “an elliptical staircase with original wrought iron balusters and a wood handrail” while the lobby has “walls of St. Genevieve Golden Vein marble.”

Courtroom A in the Federal Building, as viewed from the Bench

On the second floor is the main Courtroom A which remains as it would have appeared when the building opened in 1934, though with the addition of advanced technology necessary for today’s legal system. As described in the National Register application, it is “the most significant space of the upper floors.” The room features a “marble wainscoting, and original acoustical tile walls,” as well as original “Gothic design hanging chandeliers [having] fleur-de-lis and quatrefoil designs” hang from the coffered wood beamed ceiling.”

Ward Lockward’s
Daniel Boone’s Arrival in Kentucky

At the rear of the courtroom, opposite the judge’s bench, is a 1938 mural by Ward Lockwood entitled Daniel Boone’s Arrival in Kentucky. Commissioned by the Section of Fine Arts of the Works Progress Administration, it recalls Boone’s first crossing into Kentucky on a hunting and trapping expedition in the 1760s. Boone would, of course, return to this “promised land” calling “heaven … a Kentucky of a place.” (As legend would have it…)

Behind the bench is a portrait of Judge Cochran who was the first judge to preside in the Eastern District of Kentucky. Appointed in 1901 after the old District of Kentucky was split, Cochran would serve until his death in 1934. Flanking the walls of the courtroom are additional portraits of former and senior status judges from the District.

Grandeur of Courtroom A, as seen from the Jury Box

Building A Landmark.

North Limestone from Pleasant Green to Barr, ca. 1921
Source: Asa Chinn Collection/KDL

During the roaring twenties, Washington and Lexington leaders debated the ideal spot for a new federal courthouse in the city. City leaders opposed the federal governments proposal to erect the courthouse on Short Street at the head of Esplanade, and being owners of the property were quite persuasive.

Instead, the northeast corner of Barr and Limestone was selected in the spring of 1930 for the erection of a new federal courthouse and post office, as well as offices for other federal agencies. As a sign of the times, this included offices for the prohibition enforcement agency. The building would be located on a plot running “from Limestone east on Barr to St. Peter’s school, and north on Limestone from Barr to Pleasant Stone Street, or what is known as Sayre College alley.”

A title abstracter, J.W. Jones, was employed by the government and found “no serious defects in the titles to any property which affronts approximately 263 feet on north Limestone street and 213 feet on Barr street.” Though clearing title seemed effortless, property acquisition would not be.

In December 1930, Sawyer Smith – the U.S. District Attorney – instituted condemnation proceedings against those property owners who didn’t voluntarily sell their land. The total land value was appraised at $184,648.50; final judgment in the condemnation suit was entered in early March, 1931. On April 2, 1931, a blanket deed was filed in the Fayette County Clerk’s Office identifying the U.S.A. as owner of the land.

During the heat of late summer and early autumn, 1931, “an adequate force of workmen and equipment” from the Thurman Wrecking & Supply Co. worked to dismantle the old structures on the site of the proposed federal courthouse. But the proposal was not yet complete.
Old Federal Building at Main and Walnut

On November 6, 1931, the architect’s drawing of the “New Lexington Postoffice” was published on page one of the Lexington Leader. It was the “first official announcement of plans and specifications today.” Facing Barr street, the 170′ x 125′ structure would be “of classic architecture, according to the Greek motif.” Over the next year, the Churchill and Gillig architectural firm worked to finalize plans for the new federal building. As is often the case, it came down to the last minute. The Lexington Leader writes on March 1, 1932, “Nine draftsmen worked all night Monday  … and completed plans for Lexington’s $761,000 federal building.” Plans were then taken for a “final check by Brinton B. Davis [of Louisville], consulting architect on the project, prior to final review and approval by Louis A. Simon, Superintendent of the Architectural Division of the Treasury Department. 

With deeds acquired, land cleared, and plans approved, construction could commence! 
In December 1934, the post office and other federal offices were finally moved from the old federal building at Main and Walnut) to the new building at Limestone and Barr streets.

Postal Operations and First Class Mail.

When the Post Office opened on Barr Street, the cost to send a first class letter was 3¢. The price was unchanged when many of the post office operations were relocated in 1957 to an annex on the building’s north side. As Lexington continued to grow, the Federal Building became inadequate to serve as Lexington’s main mail sorting facility.

In 1973, the Lexington post office office was relocated to Nandino Blvd and Georgetown Road and the old post office in the Federal Building became the Barr Street Station. At the time, the cost to mail a first class letter had risen to 8¢.

Security and convenience (i.e., parking) gave way to yet another change for downtown’s postal needs in April 1998 (first class letter, 32¢) when the Barr Street Station itself was closed. Downtown PO boxes were relocated to a new, modern post office on East High Street. The modern post office, however, carries a historic name: Post Rider Station hearkening to our nation’s earliest history when mail was carried over post roads by post riders on horseback and delivered to a central location in each town or community.

Above the entry to the U.S. Marshals Office for the
Eastern District of Kentucky

Though no postal service activities remain in the Federal Building, it remains an active federal building housing the United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky as well as the Office of the United States Marshals for the Eastern District of Kentucky. Among other tasks, the Marshal’s Service provides security for the federal Courts. Of course, the Marshall’s of Eastern Kentucky have been made famous by the popular FX television program Justified. Fans of the show know that Raylan Givens, a Harlan County native portrayed by Timothy Olyphant, is a U.S. Marshal. A real U.S. Marshal will advise that Givens’ office space is quite spacious and a far cry from the quarters offered the U.S. Marshals at the end of the Federal Building’s grand lobby.

Additional photos of the Federal Building may be found on flickr.


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.


Sources: Andrew Dart; KDL (Asa Chinn); local.lexpublib.org; National Archives

Civic Center Design Proposed for Lexington. In 1923.

Rendering of Proposed Civic Center of Lexington, Ky. (1923)

Before this evening’s Blue Grass Trust deTour of the United States Federal Courthouse and Post Office, 101 Barr Street (see you there at 5:15), I wanted to explore what the area coulda/woulda looked like had Lexington had followed through on her first Comprehensive Plan.

The Plan, published in 1931, was prepared for the City Planning & Zoning Commission by L. Segoe, a consulting engineer and city planner from Cincinnati, Ohio. In 170-pages, the Plan sets forth an incredibly diverse and specific set of recommendations as well as a thorough examination of the housing, transportation, infrastructure  and aesthetics of the community. One of my favorites could be echoed again today: “An attractive street picture is incompatible with the presence of poles and wires. Streets with buildings of architectural merit should be cleared of poles and wires, as these seriously mar and may completely nullify the aesthetic value of such buildings.”  A Progressive 1931.

The Plan included reports from a 1923 study on the erection of the City Hall and the surrounding Civic Center. As pictured in the above rendering, the proposed Civic Center encompassed a number of significant structures. At the top, a proposed Greek Revival Federal Courthouse looked down an esplanade toward a proposed side for the YMCA. At the east end of Barr Street stood the old (then-present) City Hall; the clocktower of St. Peter’s Catholic Church is near the center of the rendering. As the planner wrote, “The erection of monumental buildings for governmental purposes without relation to one another, or without adequate setting, is a waste of opportunity and raises the question of the justifiability of the cost of monumental architecture.”

Layout of the Proposed Civic Center of Lexington, Ky. (1923)

This old Plan called for a beautiful Lexington and it would have been quite grand had this proposed Civic Center been completed. But, as is often the case, the “best laid schemes of mice and men often go awry.”

That esplanade was not to be and the Federal Courthouse, ultimately constructed in the neo-Classic style, was erected at Barr Street adjacent to St. Peter’s Catholic Church. The fate of City Hall would be behind a mid-century edifice that destroyed all historic beauty and caused to sorrow when it was demolished to make way for an expansion of Central Christian Church.

Left-to-right: Federal Courthouse (partial), Fayette District
Courthouse, Fayette Circuit Courthouse,
surround Robert F. Stephens Courthouse Plaza

But it is interesting to note that a grand plaza did arise, albeit nearly 75 years later, at the entry to the Federal Courthouse. The two Fayette courthouses were completed in 2001 with a spacious plaza in front. The plaza is divided by Short Street and  creates a clear view from the steps of the Federal Courthouse through Phoenix Park. The plaza is named after Robert F. Stephens, a former Fayette Circuit judge and Kentucky Supreme Court justice.

Remember: tonight at 5:15, the BGT deTour of the Federal Building.

“Very Handsome,” Century Old Fence Removed from Eastern State Hospital Grounds

Remaining Fence at the old Eastern State Hospital – Lexington, Ky.

On Tuesday morning, only about 100 feet of the old iron fence that enclosed the old Eastern State  Lunatic Asylum remained. The great Lexington Land Swap is nearing completion and BCTC will soon be moving into its new campus at Newtown Pike and West Fourth Street.

In early 1905, the fence separating those two streets from the ‘lunatic asylum’ was a “high board fence” … “an eyesore for years” which “obscur[ed] from view the beautiful grounds of the institution.” While one would not ordinarily consider the grounds of an asylum for their beauty, the institution’s 1869 annual report described the “pleasure grounds” as providing “with seats, arbors, flower gardens, swings & ca., are extensive, and are growing more beautiful every day.”

Original Retaining Wall Along Fourth Street

And so it was approved that a six foot high, “very handsome” iron fence would replace it. The contract was awarded to the Stewart Iron Works of Cincinnati at a cost of approximately $3,000.

The beautiful fence on the asylum’s most prominent corner also bordered what would have been the original acreage of the institution. The asylum’s original ten acres were located where Fourth Street joined Newtown Pike (nee Henry’s Mill Road) (Fayette DB W, P158).

A widening, however, of Henry’s Mill Newtown Pike required the fence’s removal. In snapping pictures, I observed that careful attention to detail was being taken in cataloguing the old fence. Neat pallets of iron fencing were stacked along the grass and a forklift was placing them onto a flatbed. The markings on the cab of the flatbed: Stewart Iron Works.

Numbered Post 308
   
Loading onto a Stewart Iron Works flatbed

Stewart Iron Works, “a tradition of excellence since 1862,” confirmed that the fence which the company originally fabricated was being taken to its shop in Erlanger “for sandblasting, repair, E-coating (primer) and powder coat (top coat).” After its restoration, the original fence will be re-installed “in its original condition along a new retaining wall that is to be built.”

It is anticipated that the historic fence will return to the property, along Fourth Street only, sometime in late 2013.

More photos on flickr.

Sources: Asylum Projects.org; KY Archeological Survey; Lexington Leader; Stewart Iron Works

An Immigrant’s Success: David Ades and the Ades-Lexington Dry Goods Building

Ades Dry Goods Building – Lexington, Ky.

At age 13, David Ades left his native Russian homeland ca. 1895. Born in Kovno in what is modern-day Lithuania, Ades arrived penniless at the port of Baltimore, Maryland but was destined to join his brother in Lexington, Kentucky. Brother Simon owned a wholesale dry goods business and employed his younger brother for $2/day and board.

Signature of David Ades

David thrived. In addition to a full work day, the young Ades attended night school taking instruction from names like Breckinridge, Hunt, Clay, and Gov. Morrow. By the spring of 1908, Simon had announced that he as leaving Lexington for Louisville; within months, it was known that David would succeed his brother in Lexington’s wholesale dry goods market.

Within a year, David Ades had relocated the family business from Short Street to the 400 block of West Main and had broken ground on a four story building at 237-239 East Main Street. Occupation began in August 1910. According to Kentucky History (1922), business growth surpassed all “sanguine expectations.”

Despite his business successes, personal tragedy struck in 1911. Sarah Fox, his wife originally of Baltimore, birthed their first child. Premature and stillborn.  This must have caused much grief and dispair, but it did not appear to shake Ades’ resolve. He and Sarah went on to have other children and he continued to grow his dry goods empire. David Ades also was quite involved in the community, with Masonry, the Odd Fellows, and the Elks. Absent from the laundry list of community accolades in Kentucky History is any mention of Ades having been a founding member of the Ohavay Zion Synagogue or his important role as a leader in Lexington’s Jewish community in the early twentieth century. He also served on the planning commission and later, as a city commissioner of Lexington.

In 1925, Ades acquired a controlling interest in the Lexington Dry Goods Building – and with it, put his name on 249 West Main Street, our subject building. By year end, Ades had consolidated his wholesale dry goods businesses under the name Ades-Lexington Dry Goods Company.

Lexington Dry Goods Building
from the Asa Chinn Collection (KDL)

The original 249 West Main Street – the Ades Dry Goods Building or the Lexington Dry Goods Building – is a 5 story, 5 bay brick commercial building in the Chicago School style. A 3 bay addition was constructed in in 1920. After David Ades died in 1965, the Ades family ultimately closed the dry goods business (1977) as it was out of fashion and converted the building to storage. In 1987, the structure was sold to be redeveloped as a mixed-use residential/ commercial structure.

Ultimately, the residential units were removed and today it is the home of Portofino’s, the Thomas & King Company, and Cornett Integrated Marketing. The redevelopment was completed under the direction of Omni Architects, and representatives of Omni, Thomas & King, and Cornett were all available for questions and to discuss the building during our January 2013 Blue Grass Trust deTour of the building. Each of the occupants, was passionate about being downtown and found terrific benefit in being in a historic structure that had been transformed for today’s use.

Thomas & King Mail Room

In the Thomas & King mail room, as well as other first floor areas, the original tin-stamped ceilings remain visible while the high ceilings make what is normally a tight fitting area seem spacious.

The building rests upon a raised basement with a stone facing above the sidewalk. Above the total eight bays of the first floor are glass transoms which rest below a “masonry band in a simplified running dog motif across the entire façade at the base of the second story windows.” Architects of the original structure were Herman L. Rowe and Arthur Giannini, the former being the “dean of Lexington’s late 19th century architects” and the latter being his partner in later years.

Additional pictures can be found on flickr.

Sources: ancestry.com, Bricks+Mortar, Downtown Building Inventory, Fayette PVA, KDL, Kentucky History, NRHP.


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. Our March 2013 gathering will be at the Federal Building on Barr 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.

The old Centenary Methodist Church is another fine example of Lexington’s ecclesiastical architecture

The old Centenary Methodist Church, ca. 1979
Photo: National Register file

former Centenary Methodist Church – Lexington, Ky.

Local historic preservationists recognize the year 1955. It was in that year that the John Wesley Hunt residence was razed and the Blue Grass Trust was formed. Nearby, a local church congregation made another decision which ultimately led toward historic preservation. Today, a step toward preservation is once again needed at 154 North Broadway. It is an important step, as the old church – along with others in the immediate area – comprise what is described in the National Register as “an outstanding group of downtown ecclesiastical structures.”

Organized in 1866, the Centenary Methodist Episcopal Church dedicated its sanctuary at 154 North Broadway on July 24, 1870. Designed by Cincinnatus Shryock, the Venetian Gothic church cost to $32,000 to erect. Other descriptions of the style include High Victorian Gothic and Northern Gothic. Labels aside, the sanctuary’s exterior is bounded with sloped buttresses. The belfry actually shrinks as it reaches toward the heavens on account of the acute gables that impose great character for the octagonal bell tower.

Sanctuary

As is often the case with churches, the historic newspaper archives at the public library prove quite informative. A March 1889 Sunday evening service was dismissed early “because of furnace smoking out audience.” The phraseology indicates that churchgoers to the church were accustomed to some smokiness, but that this Sunday it was too much to bare. Today, any smoke beyond incense would be cause to bring in the fire department!

Of course, this smoke could have caused damage which required repairs for, in either event, the church underwent “elegent improvements on the interior” later in the month with “lovely frescoe work.”

Another renovation in 1908 saw the installation of thirteen large windows – “five on each side and three in front [each] of beautiful art design add[ing] both to the interior and exterior beauty of the building.” These windows were installed at a cost of $1,000.

Charred timbers above the sanctuary.
Photo: Laryn Karsnitz

In 1923, a fire caused $15,000 damage to the structure evidence of which is visible from the belfry. Of course, the visible damage could also have been caused by other more recent fires. The author recalls firefighters responding to a fire above the chapel in recent years.

Oh, yes. 1955. In February 1955, “the fate of Lexington’s 90-year-old Centenary Methodist Church … will be decided within the next two months. … The church expects to either relocate, remodel its present building, or consolidate.” We know not what a remodel plan would have looked like, but it would be likely to have caused serious disruption to the Venetian Gothic structure standing at the northeast corner of Broadway and Church streets.

The congregation decided to consolidate with another church, Trinity Methodist Church with the consolidated church assuming the Centenary name but using the Trinity facilities on South Limestone (since demolished, Centenary relocated again in 1992 to Tates Creek Road). The merger was completed in May 1955 and the old Centenary Church was sold in October 1957 for $29,025.

The following year, another church – Everybody’s Church – purchased the old Centenary Methodist for $30,000. Everybody’s Church had previously worshipped at the downtown Ben Ali Theater since being founded in 1927 by the former minister of Maxwell Street Presbyterian, Rev. J. Archer Gray in an attempt to “reach ‘the man of the street.'” By 1998, Everybody’s Church had fallen on hard times and shuttered with the historic structure being purchased by Broadway Christian Church in 2003 for $25,000.

Today, the historic Centenary Methodist Church is again for sale. The listing and our recent deTour with the Blue Grass Trust revealed “incredibly preserved geometric style stained glass, flat level hardwood floors, [and] very high ceilings.” It is listed for $680,000 and the listing includes certain preservation-minded easements.

During the deTour (December 2012), the pipes of the organ were exercised once again filling this once-holy space. The space above the sanctuary reveals some charred timber evidencing the fires described above. But the space also reveals the building’s strength with some beams being appx. 18″ thick. And it A spacious, open chapel on the second floor behind the main church is ripe with potential.

Explore additional pictures of this beautiful Shryock-designed church by clicking here.

Sources: Downtown Building Inventory; Fayette PVA, Jim McKeighen, local.lexpublib.org, NRHP (Northside N.A.)


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. Our February gathering will be at the Oldham House on South Limestone Street with an afterHour at Joe Bologna’s. 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.

Lexington Children’s Theatre Ended a 60 Year Nomadic Existence with West Short Street Home

The Main Stage at Lexington Children’s Theatre – Lexington, Ky.

In 1978, the Sleepy Head House furniture store expended $350,000 on renovating a warehouse at 418 West Short Street. Sleepy Head House billed itself as “The South’s most complete Factor-Furniture Store.”  Years later, the facility closed as consumer trends didn’t bring consumers downtown to buy mattresses.

Another group acquired the old warehouse  after their “nearly 60 years of nomadic existence that scattered its operation among the Opera House, ArtsPlace, and a warehouse off Winchester Road.” The Lexington Children’s Theatre purchased the old Sleepy Head House in 1996 and immediately launched a $3 million capital campaign to create the theatrical complex the organization required.

The Lexington Children’s Theatre was not a new game in town. It’s 60 year “nomadic existence” began in 1938 to “present educational entertainment for children and to provide the opportunity for creative expression.” The following spring, the theatre’s first production, Noah’s Flood, hit the stage.

So by 1998, LCT had moved into its permanent home and in September of that year opened its new stage with The Riddling Child. It remains an incredible part of central Kentucky’s arts scene and introduces the stage to children throughout the region. During our visit, costume and set designers (all done in-house) were busy at work preparing for The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.

The four street addresses (416, 420, 422, 426 W. Short) consist of two 3-story and two 2-story multi-bay brick buildings. The properties are carved out from the surrounding Victorian Square indoor mall. While some question has arisen to Victorian Square’s future, the LCT owns its own structures and its future is wholly independent.

Check out the other photos from our visit to the Lexington Children’s Theatre in the following slideshow. Photos are also available on flickr.

Sources: Bricks+Mortar, Lex. Children’s Theatre, Lex. H-L


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. 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

The Ashland Park Neighborhood in Lexington has received approval for an H-1 zoning overlay by the city council. The neighborhood was designed by the Olmstead Brothers from land originally part of the Henry Clay Estate (Ashland). Design through completion took place from 1904 to 1930 and the neighborhood was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986. [Ace Weekly]

Two historic properties on Constitution Street are being restored for commercial/office space by developer Chad Needham. He has previously restored several buildings in the North Lime/Sixth Street area, including those housing Arcadium and North Lime Coffee and Donuts. [Tom Eblen/H-L]

On Monday, President Barack Obama was sworn into office for a second term. Four years ago, I got to attend the inaugural parade where Kentucky’s parade representative was a Corvette driven by the Warren County Sheriff’s Office. This year, Kentucky was well represented by the Letcher County Central High School marching band. Awesome! [HLN]

Lexington’s St. Peter Claver Catholic Church is a beautiful facility constructed in the 1940s. Ground has broken on a new education wing and the mid-century sanctuary is set to be demolished as part of the second phase. No word on the ca. 1887 parish center. [Merlene Davis/H-L]

Lexington’s Central Fire Station

Lexington Central Fire Station – Lexington, Ky.

On East Third Street, just east of Martin Luther King Blvd, is Lexington’s Central Fire Station. It opened in 1929 and replaced an earlier central fire house on Short Street. According to a January 1926 article in the Lexington Leader, the old Short Street fire station was “not only unsightly and dilapidated, but a ‘menace to life and property.'” A good case for new construction.

So the city hired J. Graham Miller to design the Central Fire Station which was constructed by the Skinner Brothers and the Perry Lumber Company. It remains Lexington’s most active fire house nearly 85 years later.

The  ‘Lil Kaintuckeean and his grandmother

During our BGT deTour of the station house, we explored the living areas, the boiler room, offices, and kitchens of the fire house where our first responders spend so much of their days and nights.

One notable feature of this fire station is that there are four working fire poles. To demonstrate, one of the firefighters went down a pole while those assembled watched. We all wanted to join in, but only my four year old was able to slide down the firehouse pole.

At least to the extent his grandmother could lift him! It was a fun time for even the youngest among the crowd!

After the firehouse, we explored the nearby Old Episcopal Burying Grounds as well as the London Ferrell Community Garden. Needless to say, the ‘Lil Kaintuckeean kept me from listening and photographing.


The Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation hosts a monthly deTour for young professionals (and the young-at-heart); the Central Fire Station was our deTour in Oct. 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.

South Elkhorn: The Little Church with the Red Doors

South Elkhorn Christian Church – Lexington, Ky.

Under Moses, the Israelites left Egypt for the Wilderness to ultimately arrive at the “promised land” – one where they could practice their faith freely. History has a funny way of repeating itself, usually noted through the metaphors of a historian. George W. Ranck, in his 1891 Account of the Baptist Exodus from Virginia to Kentucky in 1781 employs a host of metaphors to describe the emotions felt by the old congregation of the Upper Spottsylvania (Baptist) Church in September 1781. With the use of a quote attributed to Daniel Boone, the churchgoers found their own “promised land” as “heaven must be a Kentucky of a place.”

Only a few decades ago, South Elkhorn Christian Church was a country church a few miles from Lexington. Today, it is located between several of southwest Lexington’s suburban enclaves. Surely, it is this transforming location that has allowed South Elkhorn to continue to grow in numbers while other “country churches” have either shrunk or closed. In 1973, church leadership purchased about ten acres of land adjacent to their two acre tract providing significant opportunities to grow for the congregation.

As noted above, the church originated as a Baptist congregation and it remained so until the early 1830s when a theological divide in the church surfaced leaving the remaining congregation as part of the ‘new’ Restoration Movement.

While other congregations in central Kentucky were not so lucky, South Elkhorn seemed to remain largely intact during the Civil War. According to Pope’s history, the church’s minutes “make no mention at all of the [Civil War] or its issues.” Silence is bliss?

After the war, the South Elkhorn Christian Church demolished its old meeting house and a new brick rectangular church was built at a cost of $4,000. This 1870 structure features two front doors opening into a high ceilinged room with a raised platform on the opposite end. Originally, the center pews were divided with a wooden barrier (women and children on one side, men on the other), but this division was removed in 1958. Baptisms (by immersion in both the Baptist and Restoration traditions) were originally conducted in the nearby creek until a baptismal was installed under the floor of the raised platform.

The names of members and ministers alike are recognizable to those familiar with local history. Elijah Craig. J.W. McGarvey. Alexander Campbell. Others I recognize, but identity confirmation is only by conjecture. Col. Meade. John Curd.

The history of South Elkhorn is incredibly rich, which lends its hand to the excellent histories for which it is the central topic. Ministers Ward Russell (1933) and Richard Pope (1983) both penned a history of the church, and the current minister, Mickey Anders, is presently compiling an updated third history. So more to come…