Tag: Fayette

Daniel Midkiff rose from ‘Inmate’ to a leader in the Sport of Kings

This now-demolished structure at 224 Walton Avenue is zoned commercial in an area that is being revitalized as The Warehouse Block. A demolition permit was sought on September 23, 2015 for the 1,052 square foot house that, according to the PVA website, dates to 1946.

The house, however, looks and is quite older.

A Sanborn Map of Lexington from 1920 reveals that a similarly designed structure (1.5 story dwelling with full front porch) then existed at 224 Walton Avenue. So I would suggest that the structure was built ca 1910-1920.

Sometimes, however, a seemingly inconspicuous home has a rich history. That is the case here.

Wreckage of 224 Walton Street on September 30, 2015. Author’s collection. 

The 1921 City Directory identifies 224 Walton as the home of several members of the Midkiff family: Bernadine, Con, Daniel, Earl, and Nora. A quick check of ancestry.com helped determine that the first four were Nora’s adult children. Bernadine was a stenographer, Con a laborer, Daniel a foreman, and Earl an oiler.

It also appeared that the house was rented by Mrs. Nora Midkiff who was, according to the City Directory, a widow (Oscar being the name of her late husband who passed away in 1907). The adult children, all natives to Kentucky, weren’t Lexingtonians. All were born in western Kentucky.

I immediately wondered what tragedy must have befallen Nora’s late husband so that she would relocate from the western part of the state to Lexington with a handful of young children?

Elected Official Succumbs to Fever

I found the answer on the front page of The Hartford Republican dated July 12, 1907 through a search on newspapers.com under the headline: JAILER OSCAR MIDKIFF SUCCUMBS TO TYPHOID.

The Hartford Republican, July 12, 1907. UK Libraries.

Mr. Midkiff was “elected Jailer of Ohio County November 1905, on the Republican ticket, and has made a competent, careful official.” At the cemetery, he was given full military honors “including the firing of salute over the grave and the solemn sounding of ‘taps’ by bugler Allison Barnett.”

The news article further noted that Midkiff “leaves a wife and five small children, one of whom a little girl is also quite ill from typhoid fever.”

A sad story indeed. And did the ill child survive?

Inmates at the Pythian Home

By 1910, the remaining family had already made the move from Ohio County to Fayette County: that years federal census identified each as an “inmate” at the Pythian Home of Kentucky.

Pythian Home for Widows and Orphans at Clays Mill, Lexington. UK Libraries.

The Pythians were a fraternal organization and secret society founded in 1864. The local chapter acquired the residence and farm of Richard T. Gibson, near the intersection of the pikes to Clays Mill and Harrodsburg, making it a home for widows and orphans in either 1907 or 1908. The site is now occupied by Lafayette High School.

It was here in 1910 that the Midkiff widow and five children resided, so it seems that the little one who was ill with typhoid fever at the time of her father’s death did survive. And within the decade, each of the children took a vocation and supported their mother.

Daniel Midkiff

One of those children was Daniel Boone Midkiff.

He worked for the Lexington Utilities Company until 1923 when he joined his brother-in-law in the construction business. The two also partnered in establishing a quarry, although he sold his interests in each of these entities to his brother-in-law in 1939. At this time, he began to manage an equine stock farm. Ultimately, he began to take “a string of horses to the great meets and racing them under his own colors and operating the Overbrook Horse Farm on the Tate’s Creek Road” according to the Sesquicentennial History History of Kentucky edited by Wallis and Tapp in 1945.

He was a charter member of the Thoroughbred Club. He partnered with Joseph Mainous to establish the Mainous & Midkiff Insurance Company. In 1952, the Lexington Leader described Midkiff as a “farm manager, real estate dealer and insurance man.” His Lexington Herald-Leader obituary, dated September 26, 1990, stated that “Daniel B. Midkiff Sr., known for his love for thoroughbred horses, died yesterday at his home in Lexington. He was 91.”

And the house in which he, his widowed mother, and his siblings struggled to stay together during the early 1920s was demolished 25 years to the week after Midkiff’s death.

224 Walton Avenue, post-demolition. Author’s collection.

Catching up on Lexington’s recent demolitions

Due to scheduling, I haven’t been able to maintain and keep up with those structures on Demolition Watch. Below the jump is a list of properties that have been subject to demolition requests since I last updated y’all.

If you are interested in keeping fully up-to-date on these matters, you don’t have to wait for a Kaintuckeean post. A free service called Citygram provides the information to your inbox for free. Citygram is available only to a handful of cities around the country, but Lexington is on this exclusive list.

In addition to that solution, you can also request a weekly report from Lexington’s Planning Commissioner Derek Paulsen by filling out this form. The availability of this information is a great example of a more transparent government!

Unfortunately, I didn’t catch images off of the Fayette County PVA‘s website in time for all of these parcels. Luckily, Google Maps can help out, too.

4100 Nicholasville Road

ca. 1875. This farmhouse on the northeast corner of Nicholasville Road and Man-o-War Blvd was on the last good-sized farm in south Lexington. It is the future site of a commercial development, The Summit at Fritz Farm. 

via Fayette PVA


A Commercial Block

Several nondescript buildings in the block bounded by Midland Ave., East Third Street, and Lewis Street are being demolished to make way for an expansion of opportunity by Community Ventures Corporation. These properties include 225 Midland, 261 Midland, 265 Midland and 250 Lewis.


via Google Maps


NOLI CDC

142 York Street via Fayette PVA as an example of the shotguns demolished.


You may recall a couple of previous Demolition Watch posts that focused on demolitions in the NoLi area of Lexington, including some on York and Eddie Streets (here and here). Well, redevelopment of that area continues. Structures implicated in this round are on York Street and all were built ca. 1900. Parcels include 142, 140, 136, 134, 132, and 130 York Street.


According to NOLI CDC, the program (which implicates funding by Lexington’s Affordable Housing Trust Fund) “transforms vacant or condemned properties in the North Limestone neighborhood into affordable live/work units that respect and respond to the neighborhood’s historical context.” Each of the rebuilt York Street properties will sell for $72,500 and will be deed restricted based on income limits. 

Rendering via NOLI CDC

509 Smith Street


via Google Maps


537 West Fifth Street 

ca. 1909

via Fayette PVA



646 Maxwelton Court

ca. 1924

via Fayette PVA


849 Whitney Avenue

ca. 1910

via Fayette PVA


301 Preston Avenue

ca. 1920. From the picture, we can see why this one was demolished. According to the Lexington Leader, Joseph Lee Robinson lived here when he died at a short illness. A native of Augusa, Ky., Mr. Robinson lived in Lexington for 35 years before he passed away on January 13, 1930. His funeral was held at the Kerr Brothers Funeral Home.

via Fayette PVA

Kentucky’s Oldest Presbyterian Church

Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church in Lexington, Ky. Jason Sloan. 

For the next edition of #BGTdeTours, you have the opportunity to explore the oldest Presbyterian church in Kentucky. The site is the Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church which is located on Walnut Hill Pike near Old Richmond Road.

The church was formed on land given it by General Levi Todd, Mary Todd Lincoln’s grandfather, in 1785. That year, a log structure was erected for the pioneers. One of the first ministers, Rev. James Crawford, is buried in the church cemetery. In 1791, Crawford created a school of Latin, Greek and the Sciences at Walnut Hill. Crawford is among the 85 individuals interred at the church cemetery.

Amidst the 1801 “great revival” that overtook Kentucky in religious fervor, the church at Walnut Hill was demolished and the extant stone structure replaced it. Originally and until an 1880 remodeling, the stone sanctuary had “eight square windows on two levels that allowed light to enter the sanctuary at the ground level as well as in the galleries that surrounded the inner room on three sides.”

Windows at Walnut Hill. Jason Sloan. 

Since 1880, however, eight large Gothic windows have provided light into the holy space. But the church has not been in continuous operation since the church first opened. According to the structure’s application to the National Register of Historic Places, the Walnut Hill Presbyterian Church was ‘unoccupied’ in 1973. In fact, after 168 years of use the structure was abandoned in 1953.

Floorplan of Walnut Hill. National Register.

In June 1974, the church doors were reopened and the sanctuary rededicated in 1975. In 1977, a silver communion set and baptismal bowl that were gifted to the church in 1851 were returned from a North Carolina museum that had housed the artifacts since the 1940s.

In 1985, an education and social wing was added to the Walnut Hill Church which is now an ecumenical facility with ties to both the Presbyterian and Episcopal denominations.


The award-winning #BGTdeTours program is designed to provide tours of places you might not normally get to see, helping people interact with and learn about sites that make the Bluegrass special. For young professionals (and the young at heart!), deTours are “always” the first Wednesday of the month at 5:30 pm, and are always free and open to the public.

IF YOU GO
BGT deTour
Walnut Hill Church
September 2, 2015
Gather at 5:30 p.m.,
program begins at 6:00 p.m.

575 Walnut Hill Rd., Lexington

Free and open to the public. An AfterHour at Jean Farris Winery follows.

#BGTdeTours
Walnut Hill, ca. 1972. National Register Application (H. Lynn Cravens).

Sources:
Local History Index
National Register of Historic Places Application (1973)

Celebrate National Farmer’s Market Week with Lost Lexington and Homegrown Authors

What better way to celebrate National Farmer’s Market Week than coming to see me on Saturday morning?

That’s right, it’s National Farmer’s Market Week through August 10. And on August 8 – from 9 am until about noon, I’ll be at the greatest Farmer’s Market of them all: the Lexington Farmer’s Market at Cheapside Park! (OK, I’m a little biased. But definitely one of the best!)

I will be there do discuss and sign my book, Lost Lexington, as part of the Homegrown Authors series by Morris Book Shop and the Carnegie Center for Literacy and Learning. And I’ll be joined by another local Kentucky author, Ben Woodard, who has some awesome stories to tell. He’s been writing children’s books with his latest being Bubbles: Big Stink in Frog Pond.

So come on down to to the Lexington Farmer’s Market and say hello (and support your local authors…and farmers!)

According to the Herald-Leader, the Lexington Farmer’s Market will be celebration National Farmer’s Market Week with “a watermelon and cantaloupe fundraiser to benefit the Bluegrass Double Dollars program, which matches food vouchers for fresh fruit and vegetable purchases. [Plus] there will be music by the Lexington Philharmonic, appearances by local partners, and awesome produce, meats, cheese and Kentucky Proud products from around the area.”

See you tomorrow morning, Saturday August 8, between 9 and noon at the Lexington Farmer’s Market downtown at Cheapside Park!

Rediscovering Lexington’s 146 East Third

Before and After Renovation – 146 East Third Street, Lexington, Ky. Author (left) and Linda Carroll (right)

A growing engineering firm is moving from one restored property on East Third Street to another, larger space. Both properties have been beautifully restored, but that hasn’t always been the case.

The new office at 146 East Third Street was acquired by the current owners, John Morgan and Linda Carroll, in 2009. On August 3, 2011, the structure was part of a #BGTdeTours walking tour of East Third Street. Following that deTour, I wrote this writeup:

Walking into 146 is like walking into a true construction zone. Originally built in 1847, this property was sold in 1849 to Daniel Wickliffe, the editor of the Lexington Observer and Reporter. Wickliffe would later serve as the Secretary of State under Governor Robinson. In the mid-1900s, the property was a Moose Lodge and was later converted into apartments. Morgan & Carroll acquired this property in late 2009 and have not yet begun restoration, so many remnants of its days as a tenement remain.

And a construction zone it was. The building was in less than stellar shape, but a complete transformation has taken place. Four years after first exploring 146 East Third Street, the #BGTdeTours program is returning to see the amazing restoration.

146 E. Third Street, Lexington, KY. UK Libraries

Built in 1847 by George W. Brush, the residence was acquired by Daniel Wickliffe two years later. Mr. Wickliffe served as the editor (and later both editor and proprietor) of the Lexington Observer & Reporter newspaper. The property would pass through a few more families, but would in 1955 be acquired to serve as the local Moose Lodge.

The Loyal Order of Moose is a fraternity that was founded in Louisville, Kentucky in 1888. Lexington’s local order seemed to have dissolved but was reestablished about 1944 with a lodge on East Main Street before it was moved to 146 East Third Street. And though the structure has for many years not served the Order of Moose, you can look for some decorative touches that honor the structure’s historic past during Wednesday’s deTour.

IF YOU GO
BGT deTour
Respec, Inc.
August 5, 2015
Gather at 5:30 p.m.

146 East Third Street, Lexington

Free and open to the public. An AfterHour at Columbia’s Steakhouse follows with a percentage of proceeds supporting the Blue Grass Trust.

#BGTdeTours

6 Images from Lexington’s Past (and 3,848 more!)

Cadets Parading along Main Street in 1914. Looking east from Main and Broadway, the buildings depicted
are the site of the present-day Triangle Center. UK Libraries.

One can easily get lost in the archives of a library’s special collections department, especially those of us who are self-professed “history geeks” or, more nicely put, have “history in our genes.” No matter how you want to label the history junkie, we are a breed that loves discovering new things from our past.

So when a library unveils a ‘new’ digital collection of dry plate, silver nitrate glass negatives dating mostly from ca. 1898-1918, we get a little excited. It takes awhile to sift through the new 3,854 items added to the University of Kentucky’s Special Collections, and I’m not near finished.

But there are some real gems in this glass negative collection that show special moments in the history of both the University of Kentucky and of Lexington. You can explore the entire collection by clicking here. A few gems I found follow.

A neighborhood battle of tug-of-war at the Clifton Pond, near site of UK’s W.T. Young Library. UK Libraries.
The area around the Lincoln School, in Lexington’s Irishtown, ca 1912. UK Libraries.
Students exercising at the Lincoln School in Lexington’s Irishtown, ca. 1912. UK Libraries.
Broadway Christian Church, Broadway & 2nd streets, under construction, ca. 1918. UK Libraries.
Soldiers ‘breaking camp’, ca. 1918, along Main Street. Buildings on opposite side of the street are the vacant
Centrepointe block. UK Libraries.

And a hat tip to Curiosities & Wonders, the blog of UK Libraries Special Collections, for updating us on the happenings in that most excellent of departments!

Lost Lexington Promotion to Save Peoples Bank

Earlier this week, I took you inside Peoples Bank! This beautiful structure can be preserved – with your help!

We just can’t let this incredible piece of googie architecture become part of ‘Lost Lexington’.

So here’s what I’m proposing: ORDER a copy of LOST LEXINGTON by clicking here and I’ll donate 20% of the sale price (that’s $4.00 per book!) toward the preservation fund! I’ll keep this offer open now through the end of the month!

This offer is only good for those who can pick up the book locally, but if you really need it shipped then contact me about it!

Or, if Lost Lexington isn’t your fancy, you can donate directly to the the preservation of the Peoples Bank by clicking here!

Inside Peoples Bank

They say a picture is worth a thousand words. And it’s true. I recently had the opportunity – along with others wanting to support the worthy cause of preserving and relocating the Peoples Bank now located on South Broadway in Lexington – to explore the innards of this mid-century ca. 1961 Charles Bayless-designed commercial structure. So here are a few picture collages from my trip inside the Peoples Bank!

Each exposed piece of vintage wallpaper was reminiscent of Mad Men while you could just image those gathered in the bank lobby on modern furniture around a retro fireplace.

The space is incredible and I hope that its preservation is a success. All signs of late are positive, but your help is still needed. The Warwick Foundation (which is spearheading the fundraising efforts, with the help of some other incredible organizations and individuals, for preservation/relocation) has set up a web portal where you can do just that … donate toward the final goal!

Concerns about potential demolition emerged when a grassroots organization – People for the Peoples – announced on Facebook that a demolition permit had been obtained and that demolition would begin the following morning. The late-night post prompted me out of bed to get this Kaintuckeean post written hoping that the parties might give the Peoples Bank a chance.

Fortunately, all parties have graciously and cooperatively moved forward with a common aim toward preservation. But that ultimate goal still needs additional public support! Help out here!

That goal that all are working toward won’t just preserve this landmark building, but it will also create a Peoples Portal that will serve as a central entry to the Rupp District where themes of respect and inclusion will dictate programming. It will be a place where values can be shared and opinions exchanged in a thoughtful and creative way that would be a tremendous asset for the Lexington community.

And a special thanks to my Twitter-turned-real- friend Mick Jeffries who was on the scene and caught this picture of yours truly inside this magnificent space. I’m just glad I didn’t break the camera.

Gallery Hop on the Architectural Heritage of African Americans in Lexington

Jonathan Miller’s “On Your Own” Will Launch on Friday. BGT.

Small African-American hamlets like Kinkeadtown and Cadentown used to dot Fayette County’s map, but have long since been absorbed into the larger community.

On Friday evening, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation will host an exhibit during Gallery Hop that will explore the rich architectural heritage of African Americans in Lexington with a focus on these communities and the legacy of Vertner Tandy.

In addition, Jonathan Miller’s “On Your Own” will launch on Friday evening with 20% of profits from Gallery Hop sales being donated to the BGT. The collection of short stories “follows the kind of people you know, but reveals the thoughts and feelings they might never tell you. Like the sun providing a rare glimpse down the clear water of a well, the clarity of prose in On Your Own allows us to witness people as their deeper realizations become known.”

Outside the Tandy House at 642 W. Main St. in Lexington. 

The exhibit centers on architect Vertner Tandy. Vertner Tandy was born in Lexington in 1885, and went on to become the first licensed African American architect in New York and the first African American to become a member of the American Institute of Architects.

A historic marker on Lexington’s West Main Street marks Tandy’s family home:

Born in Lexington, son of Henry A. Tandy, respected African American contractor. Attended the Chandler School, Tuskegee Institute, Cornell Univ. 1st registered black architect in New York State, where he built landmark homes & buildings. A founder of Alpha Phi Alpha, the oldest African American fraternity.

The photo above was taken during the March 2011 deTour of the Western Historic Suburb outside of the Tandy House.

Tandy designed many NYC landmarks including Mother Zion AME Church, St. Phillips Episcopal Church, and the Abraham Lincoln Houses on 135th Street. Lexington’s Webster Hall, 548 Georgetown Street, was also designed by Tandy.

For more about the upcoming Gallery Hop, you can check out or rsvp to the event on Facebook.

IF YOU GO
Gallery Hop:
Architectural Heritage of African Americans in Lexington &
“On Your Own” Book Launch
July 17, 2015
from 5:00 to 8:00

Hunt-Morgan House
201 N. Mill Street, Lexington

Free and open to the public.

Upcoming #BGTdetours at UK’s School of Art and Visual Studies Building

On Bolivar Street, impressive old tobacco facilities still stand harkening back to an era not so long ago in Lexington’s history when burley tobacco was a chief industry. Although burley tobacco is still grown in the region, it is not the cash crop it once was. Most of the buildings necessary for the industry have been abandoned, demolished, or torn down.

The University of Kentucky acquired one of these old tobacco facilities in 2011 to house its School of Art and Visual Studies (SAVS) program. Beginning in the fall of 2015, students will move into their new facility on Bolivar Street. Previously, SAVS had been located in another tobacco facility – the Reynolds Building – that is located at the end of Scott Street. (Sadly, it is anticipated that the Reynolds Building will soon be demolished.)

Prior to any construction of the building that would become SAVS, the site was the home of the Lexington Spoke Company’s manufacturing facilities. The 1890 Sanborn map, below, shows the facility as it stood on Bolivar Street. The empty space along Bolivar was then a cemetery, already kept in poor condition. And the pond was the location of many Christian baptisms.

Sanborn Map of the Site, ca. 1890 and prior to construction of re-handling plant. University of Kentucky Libraries.

SAVS moves into a building that was constructed in three main phases. The three-story 1899 structure was the first tobacco re-handling plant built by a major national tobacco manufacturer in Lexington. The company was Liggett and Meyers. A 1903 addition was “constructed of brick, and consists of 21 bays fronting Bolivar Street, 200 feet long and 80 feet wide.” This 1903 addition with its 21 bays fronts Bolivar Street to the northwest of the 1899 structure.

In 1904, Ligget and Meyers also constructed extant tobacco warehouse that stands on the southwest corner of Bolivar and South Upper (this old warehouse is not attached to the rehandling facilities and is not part of SAVS). In 1916, a final addition to the complex was added parallel to and immediately behind the 1903 addition.

The plant remained in operation until the 1960s and was sold by the tobacco company in 1973. It served as office space and storage for many years until it was converted into loft apartments in the early 2000s.

According to the property’s application for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places, the plant was built in an area that would become the city’s central tobacco warehouse district. Near the railroad, the decision to locate here made Liggett and Meyer “the leader in establishing a major architectural, cultural, economic and social trend in Lexington’s history, all centered on tobacco.”

And now, UK’s SAVS building will be a place where the University’s art program can thrive. As the Newtown Pike extension expands through the area, SAVS will become a gateway to the University of Kentucky.

IF YOU GO
BGT deTour
July 1, 2015
Gather at 5:30 p.m.

UK School of Arts and
Visual Studies
236 Bolivar Street, Lexington

Free and open to the public.

#BGTdeTours