In 1826, the Kentucky Association for the Improvement of the Breeds of Stock was established “to improve the breed of horses by encouraging the sports of the turf.” Fifty members of the group met at Mrs. Keen’s Inn to foster the industry that would…

Limestone filtered waters and tall grass meadows sustained buffalo and deer and fowl. The happy hunting grounds nourished and fedthe Paleoindians who begat the Shawnee, the Chickasaw and Cherokee who were forced out by the settlers who built…

Both the Charles Young Park and its community center were listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 2016. In 1930 the city of Lexington purchased the lot that would become the second public park to honor African Americans. The park was…

Winkfield raced in the United States from 1899 to 1904. He won 161 races in 1901 alone. When Jim Crow injustice finally reached the racetracks, like many other African American jockeys, it eventually forced him off the tracks. Winkfield was the last…

In the early twentieth century, brick houses associated with two prominent East End residents - John Caulder and William Perkins - stood on this site. Caulder, who lived at 505 East Third Street, was the principal of Constitution Elementary…

Shotgun houses were commonly built in developing African American neighborhoods after the Civil War. They generally have a gabled front porch and two or more rooms laid out in a straight line with rooms directly connected. It was said a bullet shot…

The African-American population in Lexington more than doubled between 1860 and 1870. This was due largely to recently freed people migrating from rural areas to more urban areas. In response to this influx, landowners and developers created urban…

For much of the nineteenth century, the well-camouflaged plaque property at 327 Wilgus Avenue (then 285 East Third) was the sole dwelling in its neck of the woods. The deed records do not confirm its build date, but according to its National…

This brick cottage with an unusual rounded bay was built around 1880 by Annie Welsh, who had acquired the bulk of the lots on the west side of Chestnut Street from G. D. Wilgus in 1876. When the house was put up for sale as the result of a lawsuit…

The brick church at 330 Chestnut Street was constructed in 1889 as a joint enterprise between the College of the Bible and the Broadway Christian Church, which was at capacity. It replaced a cottage on the site that was previously used for worship.…