MarkerMonday – The Kaintuckeean

Thomas Hunt Morgan a ‘key figure in modern science’

The Thomas Hunt Morgan Biological Sciences Building at the University of Kentucky.
Author’s collection.

Lexington’s Nobel laureate has been in the news lately. Quite remarkable for a guy who received that award some 81-years ago.

But Thomas Hunt Morgan’s great contributions to science, and his hometown’s affinity for history, have kept his story alive. And an effort is underway to make sure that the story thrives.

A few weeks ago, the Women’s Club of Central Kentucky donated its home to the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation. That home was the childhood home of Dr. Morgan.

An online post by Dr. Tom Kimmerer in September profiled the Lexington buildings connected to Dr. Morgan and set forth an explanation of the import of Dr. Morgan’s research: “Morgan is a key figure in modern science not just because of his accomplishments, but because of his underlying skepticism. He did not believe any biological theory unless he could test it. But once he had thoroughly tested it over and over to his own satisfaction, he yielded his skepticism.”

The Herald-Leader‘s Tom Eblen profiled Dr. Morgan yesterday and observed that, as a community, we celebrate the wrong Morgan. Dr. Morgan’s uncle, John Hunt Morgan, was the Thunderbolt of the Confederacy and his statue atop Black Bess features prominently on the old courthouse lawn.

In other words, the guy who fought for the losing side in the Civil War is honored in Lexington more than the man who altered the course of research in the biological sciences. So … maybe that should change?

2016 will mark the sesquicentennial of Thomas Hunt Morgan’s birth and it would be the perfect time for the community to rally around this native son.

Dr. Morgan went on to attend the University of Kentucky and Johns Hopkins University before entering academia at Columbia University.

Utilizing an experimental approach to science, unlike the then-prevalent ‘stamp collecting’ method which disproved nothing, Dr. Morgan discovered a link between chromosomes and inherited traits. For this, he is known as the “Father of Modern Genetics.”

Oh, and yes. It is #MarkerMonday. Dr. Morgan’s alma mater had a historic marker placed in front of the biological sciences building at the University of Kentucky which is named in his honor.

Born in Lexington, Ky. on September 25, 1866, Morgan was a nephew of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan. He attended the State College of Kentucky(University of Kentucky) during the 1880s. Morgan graduated as valedictorian in 1886 with a B.S. and an M.S. in 1888. He earned a Ph.D. from Johns Hopkins University in 1890. Class of 2010.

(Reverse) Thomas Hunt Morgan, 1866-1945- Morgan discovered the basic mechanisms of heredity and was a pioneering geneticist, winning the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine in 1933. In 1966, the University named the new Thomas Hunt Morgan School of Biological Sciences for him. Class of 2010.

Named, too, was the Thomas Hunt Morgan School of Biological Sciences at UK. These honors occurred in 1966, 100 years after Dr. Morgan’s birth. In 2002, however, the biology school was absorbed into the Department of Biology. The department no longer bears Dr. Morgan’s name.

Tying the knot that gave us Abraham Lincoln

Historic Marker at the Homesite of Jesse Head. Author’s Collection.

Postcard of Jesse Head. Ky. Hist. Soc.

A block or two off of Springfield’s Main Street is the homesite of Jesse Head. Though the home is long gone, replaced in a prior century by a rural Victorian which itself has seen better days, the once-occupant of the site is uniquely tied to history.

One of Springfield and Washington County’s greatest claims is their relationship with Abraham Lincoln.

It was in Washington County that Lincoln’s parents, Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, were wed in 1806.

Three years later, the Great Emancipator was born in nearby Hodgenville.

The preacher who wed the two was Jesse Head.

Rev. Head, a Marylander born in 1768, had lived in Springfield since the 1790s. On the place of his old homesite now stands a historic marker which reads

On June 12, 1806 he performed the marriage of Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, who, in 1809, became the parents of Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the U.S. Head, born in Maryland in 1768, “came-a-preaching” to KY in 1798. Cabinet maker, justice of peace, on Sundays he preached fearlessly. Moved shop to Harrodsburg, 1810, kept on preaching, began newspaper.

In 1922, a monument was dedicated at the Spring Hill Cemetery in Harrodsburg which is Head’s final resting place. At the time, a poem was prepared and read by Henry Cleveland Wood which spoke of the marriage ceremony once officiated by Rev. Jesse Head:

That from this lowly union there would spring
A modern Moses to a captive race;
A just man, fashioned in heroic mould-
Of Hero’s stuff-a fearless President-
Emancipator-yet a Martyr, too-
Abraham Lincoln-Man of Destiny.

A Plaque for the Friendliest Pooch, Smiley Pete.

Smiley Pete Plaque – Lexington, Ky.

Two plaques in downtown Lexington recall Lexington’s friendliest pooch, Smiley Pete. He was a roving landmark with a grin resembling a human smile. For that, his nickname was “Smiley.”

Of course, his other nicknames gave a more perceptive look at what Smiley was really up to. Magnificent Mooch. Canine Con Man. Panhandling Pooch.

Yes, Smiley Pete new how to work it.

And he did. With a daily routine of hamburger and waffles for breakfast from Brandy’s Kitchen (Main & Limestone) followed by a bowl of draft beer from Turf Bar (122 North Limestone). A little bit later, chocolate was needed from the Short & Lime Liquor (figure it out). The Panhandling Pooch finally would eat a dog treat and water from Carter’s Supply (339 West Short) before retiring for popcorn at the movie theater operating at the Lexington Opera House. According to a 1950 Lexington Leader report, Smiley would also make the trek to U.K. where he would enter a classroom only to yawn at a professor’s lecture.

Local police turned a blind eye to Smiley Pete, even as other strays were regularly rounded up. Only in 1949, during a rabies scare, was Smiley “incarcerated” by his friends in quarantine at a veterinary clinic on Southland Drive.

At the age of 14 (that’s 98 in dog years), Smiley Pete died in June 1957 and he was buried by his human friends at 904 North Broadway under a marker which reads “Pete – Our Dog – A Friend to All and A Friend of All.” Another plaque was placed closer to the dog’s old stomping grounds at Main & Lime in front of Welch’s Cigar Shop. The plaque was removed in 1990 but replaced close to its original location at the courthouse plaza.

Smiley Pete is also remembered annually by an award given by the LFUCG to those who make “people feel good about being downtown.” Live on, Smiley!

Sources: BizLex; local.lexpublib.org; LuAnn Farrar (H-L)

Beautiful Architecture and Rich History of Transylvania Revealed from Simple Marker

Marker affixed to a Stone at Gratz Park – Lexington, Ky.

In the lawn of Gratz Park, the children of James Lane Allen play while nearby a memorial plaque honors:

Transylvania

Pioneer College of the West

Founded by Legislature of Virginia – 1780

Moved to this Site – 1793

Erected by Bryan Station Chapter N.S.D.A.R. – 1931

To the uninitiated, the marker may seem out of place surrounded by the historic homes of Gratz Park while the stately Morrison Hall of Transylvania serves as the icon of the school that spreads north from Third Street. But it is here in Gratz Park that Transylvania flourished and with it the seat of knowledge that made Lexington the Athens of the West.

The Main Building of Transylvania was “the crowning architectural jewel of this square.” It was designed by architect Matthew Kennedy and evidence of its style appears on an “elevation and first-floor plan rendering for the project, signed and dated ’18th April 1816′.”

Of the Main Building, Clay Lancaster wrote in in his Vestiges of the Venerable City,

a building with a wide pedimented central motif, with the first story given a basement treatment and te second and third stories laced by four engaged columns and two pilasters. Lower openings are arched, and a host of chimneys rises from the long, plain roof with end gable. … Its center pavilion was pedimented, it contained a fan window in the tympanum, a balustrade surmounted the cornice to the hipped roof elsewhere, and an elaborate cupola climaxed the composition. The topmost elements – the lantern with its colonnettes, finial urns, and bulbous roof and vane, and the balustrade – were Georgian Baroque in the manner of Sir Christopher Wren and considerably more old-fashioned than the Classic deliniation would have been; but together they comprised a more pleading form.

Restoration sketch of Gratz Park by Clay Lancaster, Vestiges of the Venerable City.

A fire in May of 1829 marked the end of the Main Building and only its east dependency (a supporting structure) remains today as it serves as the home of the Blue Grass Trust. When Transylvania was reconstituted and the work of the school continued, it did so on the north side of Third Street with construction of Old Morrison beginning in 1831.

Our marker also suggests and earlier home for Transylvania with it having been formed in 1780 by the Virginia Legislature and moving to the site thirteen years later. As has been noted here before, the Transylvania Academy was first established in Danville. One of its first Transy trustees was Willis Green, whose Danville home is a historic gem currently for sale by a consortium of preservation-minded organizations.

A lot of history hidden on that little marker affixed to a stone in Gratz Park…

A Plain Marker Alludes to Rich History for Duncan Tavern in Paris

Historic Marker for Duncan Tavern – Paris, Ky.

I’m amazed at how much information we now fit into the roadside markers with great care being taken to sentence syntax, etc. In its early days, however, the program might simply list a few notable facts about a person or place being memorialized. This was the case with Duncan Tavern in Paris, Ky. Reads Marker #93:

Duncan Tavern
Built 1788
Gathering Place of Pioneers
Shrine, Museum, Library.
Restored by
Kentucky Daughters of the
American Revolution.
That’s all folks!

But if you simply bear it and must know more, (and you should, because Duncan Tavern – formerly the Goddess of Liberty – was a hotbed of political activity in Kentucky’s early days) read on!

If you have been to historic Williamsburg, Va., you know the import of the local tavern in colonial America. I think of all the taverns near Virginia’s colonial government seat, where our nation’s founders would gather to discuss the issues of the day.

When Kentucky was divided by Virginia from its original three counties, one of the earliest new counties was Bourbon County. Its seat has always been Paris (originally chartered as Hopewell, Va. [*]). Thirty-three counties have been carved from Bourbon’s original borders. Needless to say, people traveled long distances to visit the county seat of Paris. And these individuals needed a place to stay and to eat.

The Goddess of Liberty, the original name of the Duncan Tavern, was the gathering place for Kentucky’s earliest leaders, including Daniel Boone, Simon Kenton, Peter Houston and Michael Stoner. [*]

The three story tavern was constructed in 1788 by Maj. Joseph Duncan. According to the Kentucky Encyclopedia, the architecture is remarkable given that most structures of the day in Paris were log buildings. According to at least one account, the tavern towered over the 20′ x 30′ log courthouse below. [*]

So while it may have a plain marker, its history is remarkable.

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

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

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

Five Kentuckians have served on the Supreme Court with Justice Stanley Forman Reed holding the position most recently. He was on the bench for nineteen years before he retired in 1957.

Other Supreme Court Justices from Kentucky with their dates of service are Thomas Todd (1807-1826), Robert Trimble (1826-1828), John Marshall Harlan (1877-1911), and Fred M. Vinson (1946-1953).

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

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

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

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

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

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

Roadside Historic Marker #1536 reads:

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

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

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

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

First Oil Well in Kentucky

Historic Marker #702: “First Oil Well in Kentucky” – Whitley City, Ky.

Energy resources are a common topic of conversation in Kentucky, usually dominated by coal. But last week, there was mention of wind power coming to Kentucky. And the airwaves are currently focused on the proposed Bluegrass Pipeline project which would cut through the Commonwealth with natural gas derived by the fracking process in Ohio, West Virginia, and Pennsylvania to refineries along the Gulf Coast for use in the northeastern U.S.

All this made me wonder about Kentucky’s history with oil. Well it seems that the first oil well in Kentucky was dug in 1818, but no one seemed particularly interested with the product. According to Historic Marker #702,

In 1818, Marcus Huling and Andrew Zimmerman were drilling salt wells along South Fork of Cumberland River. On land leased from Martin Beaty they struck oil. Attempts to market it downriver were not successful, so oil was barreled and carted away for medicinal use. This was the first commercial oil well; its production reached one hundred barrels daily.

Site of First Kentucky Oil Well
Illustration: U. of Kentucky.

The historic marker is located on the lawn of the McCreary County Courthouse in Whitley City. The well itself was located very close to the Tennesee state line, as seen on the map at right.

As noted above from the text of the marker, the land was owned by Martin Beatty who contracted with Huling and Zimmerman to drill salt brine wells.

That process resulted in an important agricultural product, salt. Once discovered, the brines could be evaporated to leave behind the necessary ingredient to curing and preserving meats in the pre-frigeration days.

Instead, they struck oil.

Skaggs Trace, a tributary of the Wilderness Trail

Historic Marker for Skaggs Trace
Rockcastle County, Ky.

Just after crossing the Rockcastle River into the county of the same name along highway 25, one encounters a historic marker proclaiming “SKAGGS TRACE.”

The trace stretched north out of Hazel Patch to Crab Orchard where early pioneers would continue on via Logan’s Trace to the Falls of the Ohio (aka Louisville). Pioneers heading out of Hazel Patch on a more easterly track would have taken Boone’s Trace toward Boonesborough.

The two side of Marker #1622 read as follows:

This trail, from the Hazel Patch to Crab Orchard, crosses Rockcastle County. It was a widely used land route through Kentucky for several years and became part of the Wilderness Road. Daniel Boone crossed the Rockcastle River near here in 1775 in blazing Boone’s Trace from Cumberland Gap to Boonesborough. See over.

(Reverse) Skaggs Trace – This trace was named for Henry Skaggs, a Long Hunter. Many famous pioneers, including John Floyd, Benjamin Logan and William Whitley, traveled over it. On Oct. 21, 1861, the first Kentucky Civil War battle occurred near here at Camp Wildcat. This first Union victory took place in the Rockcastle Hills. Over.

It is important to distinguish this important path for Kentucky pioneers and note who is missing from the list: Daniel Boone. Despite our desire to treat him as such, Boone was not omnipresent. He took that easterly path out of Hazel Patch.

Only a historic marker remains of Main Street Christian Church

Historic Marker #19 – Lexington, Ky.

On Main Street in downtown Lexington, in front of the police station, stands a historic marker recalling the Main Street Christian Church which once stood on the site.

Historic Marker #19 reads:

Built on this site in 1842. The 12-day Campbell-Rice debate on Christian Baptism, etc., was held here Nov. 1843, Hon. Henry Clay presiding.

The grand church once located here became too small for the congregation which ultimately became Central Christian Church.

The only physical vestige remaining of the historic church is this marker on Main Street.