When Chestnut Street opened in the mid-1880's, Ellen Davis, a former enslaved woman, bought one of the first houses on the street. Garrett Wilgus, a building contractor and brickyard owner, announced plans in 1884 to open Chestnut Street from Third…

William A. Gunn, a noted civil engineer from Shelby County, built this Italianate residence in 1866 for his uncle Winn Gunn, a wealthy Virginia farmer and strong Union supporter who moved to Lexington after the Civil War. Winn Gunn bought land…