Tag: Jessamine

The Lady Sterling House. Nicholasville, Ky. Author’s collection.

 In 1804, Thomas Jefferson was president of the United States. The Louisiana Purchase was completed. And Christopher Greenup was elected the commonwealth’s third governor.

Only six years earlier, Nicholasville was founded and Jessamine County was formed. These were the earliest of days for our nation, our commonwealth and our community.

Original 1802 Plat Map of Nicholasville. Jessamine Historical Society.

Also in 1804, a log cabin was built on lot 104. Lot 104, as found on Nicholasville’s original plat map dated 1802, was at the northwest corner of West and North Cross streets. Those road names are today known as First and Walnut streets, respectively.

In 1839, the log cabin was owned by rented out to a young Englishman, Ross Hughes, and his wife. Mr. Hughes was a stagecoach driver and was on the road often and for considerable time.

Lady Sterling House. Jessamine PVA.

Even so, a little girl was born in the log cabin to Hughes’ wife in 1841. Mother and daughter tracked the absent father to St. Louis where it was discovered that he was, in fact, quite wealthy. The young girl “became a lady in fashionable society in St. Louis, and later the wife of an English lord, and the mistress of a superb mansion in London society.” As wife of the English lord, she received the honorary title of “lady” and so the moniker for the now defunct log cabin could appropriately be the Lady Sterling House.

The story was told in Bennett Young’s 1898 “History of Jessamine County” and retold by Robin Fain in a 1993 history of the county. The 1898 history of the county said of the log cabin’s condition that “it has been altered and weatherboarded anew, and is still one of the most comfortable residences in the town.”

That weatherboarding disguised history for generations. When Dr. Rice Teater moved from his large home at West Third and Maple streets, many were surprised that the popular physician chose to downsize to the old weathered structure at First and Walnut streets.

But the history-loving Dr. Teater must have known the building’s storied past. Dr. Teater died from injuries sustained during a fire in the structure in the early 1950s.

A second fire, about 25-years ago, resulted in the discovery of the old hewn logs and the revelation that the house had stood since the early days of lot 104. When the Kentucky Historic Resources Survey looked at historic places in Nicholasville in the mid-1980s, it overlooked this covered property which today lies just outside the district listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Yet, it was still a piece of our community’s history that had witnessed nearly all of it. That is, until the events which followed the third fire.

On Thursday evening, another fire consumed the log cabin.

A number of individuals took to social media to express their hope that the 210-year-old building would see another day. Wrote Kim Shea, “if the old cabin could be saved and restored, that would be great.” Ann Royalty hoped that, at a minimum, someone could “have a few of the logs to put on display for history or museum purposes.”

It would have taken preservationists only a few days to determine if some form of salvage was possible.

But those few days weren’t to happen. Despite attempting to save at least the old log cabin to be assessed, the entire property was razed early Saturday morning.

How much more of our past must be destroyed before we at least pause to consider it? Remember, demolition is forever.

The post above was originally published in the Jessamine Journal on December 11, 2014.  

Political signage from 2010. Author’s collection.

A couple weeks ago, I drove through a few different central Kentucky counties. As is the case throughout the Commonwealth, each is in the midst of election season. Political signage dotted the rolling hillsides.

But the hillsides and intersections weren’t overrun like they are here in fair Jessamine County.

Without a doubt, political signs could be found in the counties I visited. I saw numerous signs for both local offices and state representative.

Yet, I wasn’t inundated. I could drive more than thirty second without encountering a political sign of any sort.

It seems as if I cannot travel thirty feet in Jessamine County without spotting a yard sign for some candidate or another.

So why are yard signs such a part of Jessamine County’s political culture?

I’ve only lived in Jessamine County for about a decade, so admittedly I’m not sure how long our streetscapes have been inundated by political signage. But since the 1980s, the number of political yard signs nationally has quadrupled. And during the same time, Jessamine County’s population has exploded.

With more and more new voters in the county, yard signs become an effective way of raising name identification for the candidates running for elected office. Studies have shown that this is true, particularly in competitive races that are described as “low-information.”

(Yard signs have been shown to have little or no effect in larger races, like those for President or Congress.)

A low-information race is one in which candidates don’t express, or aren’t forced to express, opinions on the issues. Or perhaps the issues aren’t well-defined. (Yet sometimes it feels that describes races for Congress or even President.)

As I’ve written in recent weeks, our local government races are the most likely to be low-information.

In the race for Nicholasville city commission, some of the political newcomers bring new ideas and tremendous experience which would bring value to the deliberations made at city hall. There are important issues like improving the resources of our fire department, strengthening our police department in the face of increased drug activity, and developing the ever-growing Nicholasville in a smart manner that is consistent with the master plan.

And those are just a few examples for one office. There are a myriad of issues that each elected official will face. More so than far-off Washington, DC or even Frankfort, those elected to serve locally have the greatest power to affect our daily lives.

So why do we allow these campaigns – which will ultimately control our police and fire protection levels, our neighborhood roads, and the utilities upon which we depend – to be low information?

How our city and county grow should not be determined by which candidate can put out the most 4’x8’ signs or the most yard signs in an attempt to increase their name recognition with voters.

Voters need to study the candidates, their qualifications and experience, and understand how those qualities best fit the office being sought. In a low information campaign, this information can be difficult to obtain. Online research is one way to start. Just “Google” the candidate’s name with the office sought and see what you can learn. Ask the candidates questions and, if they aren’t clear, ask a follow up question. Get to know each of the candidates.

But don’t just count yard signs and don’t let their presence be your guide when you enter the voting box.

A version of this column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal on September 24, 2014. It should not be republished without permission.

Jessamine Co. Public Library, Nicholasville, Ky. Jessamine Journal.

When was the last time you moved?

Packing up all of your belongings and making sure that they are secure for even a short haul is an exhausting process.

When I moved into my current home several years ago, a friend helped me to relocate a few dozen boxes of books. Afterward, he volunteered to never help me move my books again.

That awkward sofa is really a piece of cake? The insanely heavy armoire is somehow manageable, even down a flight of stairs.

But an unending stream of books is just too daunting.

So when I heard that the Jessamine County Public Library was packing up its entire collection of books (and more), I thought of my friend and of all the books I’ve moved.

But then, all of my books probably fit in less than 100 square feet floor to ceiling. The library’s Main Street location has 22,000 square feet.

This is a big and daunting job. Fortunately, the heavy lifting isn’t being done by library volunteers or staff. A moving company that specializes in commercial relocation has been hired to move all of of those books.

The books will remain on their shelves during the process, shrinkwrapped into place. The shelves will then be loaded onto a truck and moved to the library’s temporary digs on Computrex Drive. All of this will be welcome news to those at the library who won’t have to re-catalog each and every volume. Still, it will be an arduous process requiring the library to close its doors for about a month.

All of this is necessary because the existing South Main Street library has simply grown too small for the library with the eighth largest circulation in the state. The facility, built in 1996, has previously been expanded.

Of course, the library itself is a century older.

Sarah Rice Whithers McLean Co. (Illinois) Museum of History

Begun in 1896, the Acme Book Club was formed as a literary society with a collection of 600 books for members to borrow. Three years later, Sarah Rice Whithers left the Nicholasville Presbyterian Church money for the establishment of a public library.

The two merged into the library which operated from the church at Maple and First Streets until 1906 when a two story library was constructed at Main and Oak Streets where Central Bank is now located.

In the 1960s, the library relocated to Second and Chestnut Streets and then-named Whithers Memorial Public Library again moved into its home at Second and Maple Streets in the mid-1970s.

Finally, the library found its present home in the 1990s. It was renamed to the Jessamine County Public Library in 2001.

For over a century, a free book library has served the people of Jessamine County. During that time, the library has expanded to meet the growing community and the ever-changing demands.

The shelves aren’t just stacked with books. The temporary move to Computrex Drive will also include the music, the video games, the movies, and the other collections available from our library.

And in a little over a year, all those collections will be packed up again and returned to an expanded facility at South Main Street.

Rendering of the Expanded Jessamine County Public Library. JCPL via Jessamine Journal.

Significantly expanded. Square footage of the library will nearly double to 42,000 square feet. This will over increased space for a larger collection as well as space for all of the programming which occurs each week at the library.

I’m really looking forward to seeing the finished product when the library returns from its temporary location on Computrex Drive.

But I’m also really happy that I don’t have to move all of those books!

A version of this column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal on October 2, 2014. It should not be republished without permission.

This was Friends of Nicholasville NOW’s Facebook status in early August:

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“3 steps forward, 2 steps back.” The three steps forward are easy to find in downtown Nicholasville.

New restaurants, bars and coffee shops are opening while old favorites continue to succeed. And last Friday evening, eight venues along Main Street featured the work of local artists at our town’s second Gallery Walk.

In short, it is a good time for downtown Nicholasville.

But those two steps back were too easy to find in that Facebook update…

During a Gallery Walk, my kids examined the destruction along Main Street. Author’s collection.

Rumors have swirled for several months that the building at 118-120 South Main Street, once the home of Ann’s Beauty Salon, would face the wrecking ball. Demolition began on a Friday morning last monthjust hours before many descended on Main Street for the gallery walk.

By the time the galleries opened, only the façade of the old structure remained. Demolition continued over the weekend. By Sunday, only a pile of rubble remained.

The demolition creates the second hole on a block that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Nicholasville Historic District (Caution: PDF)

In the Historic District’s nomination form, it is written that “the historic core of (Nicholasville) consists of a concentrated group of 19th and early 20th century commercial, governmental, residential and religious structures.” The District is a “well-preserved historic core of one of Kentucky’s oldest county seats.”

Importantly, the District “maintains a strong link to the past through its essentially unaltered town plan (a simple grid of streets with the courthouse on one of the quadrants of the principal intersection).”

And what was once Ann’s Beauty Shop was described in the nomination form as “one of the earliest remaining buildings in Nicholasville Historic District.”

The building at 118-120 South Main Street during its demolition. The structure was the oldest commercial building in Nicholasville. Author’s collection.

The now-demolished structure at 118-120 South Main was originally constructed between 1825-1850. The 45-foot long three-bay, two-story log and frame building served as a commercial space on our Main Street for nearly 200 years.

Nicholasville was founded in 1798; its earliest map dates to 1802. That historic map identified the early in-lots on the “simple grid of streets” highlighted in the National Register nomination.

The lot of 118-120 South Main Street appeared on Nicholasville’s earliest map as Lot #38.

Map from the platting of Nicholasville, Ky., 1802. Jessamine Hist. Soc.

Decades later, the Sanborn Insurance Company drew its maps of communities across America. The earliest Sanborn map of Nicholasville dates to 1886 revealing that 120 South Main Street was occupied by a druggist and that a grocer operated out of 118 South Main Street.

Sanborn’s last map of Nicholasville was drawn in 1909. The 1909 map identifies a confectionary, bookstore and stationery shop in the old structure.

For all those years, the people of Nicholasville shopped and visited here. In its final chapter as a beauty salon, the structure was a gathering place where the community’s latest news and gossip was shared.

Admittedly, the structure wasn’t hugely significant in the long arc of history. Nor was it architecturally significant. But it contributed to both the character of the block and downtown Nicholasville at large. It was part of our community’s history.

It has been suggested that the cost to repair and repurpose the building would have been too great. This may be true, but we’ll never know.

Last year, the city rejected a historic overlay that would have required those proposing demolition in the heart of Nicholasville to show that rehabilitation wasn’t feasible. Creating such an overlay would have been a huge step toward protecting our community’s historic fabric.

Now, with another hole on our Main Street, is the time to renew the effort to preserve our history. Before it is too late.

A version of this column originally appeared in the Jessamine Journal on August 13, 2014. It should not be republished without permission.