Tag: LostLexington

Maxwell Place – Home of the University of Kentucky President. Author’s collection.

This week, the University of Kentucky is celebrating Founders Week. The annual occasion is more significant in this year which is the University’s sesquicentennial.

In 1865, James K. Patterson assumed a professorship at the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky. At that time, and through 1878, the college was a part of the larger Kentucky University.

Kentucky University, like many institutions of higher learning of the day, was founded in affiliation with a religious organization. Its College of the Bible evolved into a significant seminary for the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ). In 1878, theological differences caused the two schools to separate.

Kentucky University retained the campus in the Woodlands, but leased it to the State A&M College. The Woodlands campus was to the immediate west of Clay Avenue and would today be recognized as Woodland Park.
The cost of renting its campus, along with plummeting tuition numbers, sparked great concern in Frankfort for the face of the Commonwealth’s only public college. This was a big moment for the future of both Lexington and for what would become the University of Kentucky.

A bidding war began amongst a number of Kentucky communities vying to be the home of the only state college in Kentucky. Bowling Green made a strong bid and nearly stripped Lexington of its opportunity to be the home of two major institutions of learning—UK and Transylvania University.

Administration Building, ca. 1882. University Architect & Facilities Planning.

But the City of Lexington finally offered $30,000, plus its fifty-two-acre city park on the southern edge of town, to serve as the home of the state college. Fayette County added $20,000 to the effort to entice the legislature in Frankfort to keep the state college in Lexington. In 1880, the legislature made Lexington the permanent home of the state college.

For a number of years still, the school largely emphasized agricultural and mechanical studies. President Patterson continually added more and more liberal arts to the curricula. The shift from agricultural and mechanical studies to liberal arts was recognized by the state legislature in 1908, and the school was re-chartered as State University: Lexington, Kentucky. And in 1916, the University of Kentucky moniker was formally adopted.

Happy Birthday, UK! Festivities go on throughout the week, but the big shindig was on Monday with a convocation service featuring a keynote address by Brit Kirwan. Kirwan is the chancellor of the University System of Maryland and the son of former UK president A.D. Kirwan.

Author’s Lego interpretation of the Kirwan-Blanding residential complex at UK named, in part, for President Kirwan. Author’s collection.

This post is based on an excerpt about the Lost Campus from LOST LEXINGTON, KY. Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but so many more are lost forever. The famous Phoenix Hotel, long a stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants are unknown to natives now. Where to purchase LOST LEXINGTON?

Discussing Lost Lexington with Mayor Gray in City Hall. Mayor’s Office.

In the nearly two and a half centuries since Lexington was
founded in 1775, this once–frontier
settlement has grown into a flourishing city of more than 300,000 residents. It
has produced some remarkable landmarks and people. These entrepreneurs,
intellectuals and civic leaders had the imagination and vision that helped make
Lexington what it is today: a city that embraces new ideas and innovation while
valuing its rural landscape and authentic past. … As Lexington continues to reinvent itself, it is the
city’s unique and rich past that will inform and inspire its future.

In Lost Lexington, I focused on the landmarks that once stood in and around Lexington. Those landmarks, however, are gone. I hoped that the book would encourage us to realize the history that was lost and do something about the threatened historical places that are still around.

The dome of the Old Courthouse in Lexington. Author’s collection.

The entrance to the Meadowthorpe neighborhood. Author’s collection.

Last month, a historic marker was dedicated at the Lexington intersection of Leestown Road at Boiling Springs Drive. The spot marks the entrance to Lexington’s first true subdivision: Meadowthorpe.

In the early 1950s, Lexington’s first true subdivision was developed off Leestown Road. The subdivision was named Meadowthorpe, after the large residence associated with the equine stock–farm that once operated there. The area was also once the site of Lexington’s first municipal airport, Halley’s Field. It was here that Charles Lindbergh secretly arrived to visit his friend in 1928. Despite an attempt at secrecy for Lindbergh’s visit, word spread of the famous aviator’s arrival and three thousand witnessed the challenging takeoff from the open field that was bounded by both tree and telephone wires. Subdivision of the farm and the erection of houses at Meadowthorpe began in late 1949, with the subdivision’s first homes being constructed from the limestone fences that once dotted the farm’s landscape. At the time, living in Meadowthorpe was still considered “rural living.”

Historic marker of “Lexington’s First Airport” at Meadowthorpe. Author’s collection.

The historic marker, #2440, offers this history:

Halley Field, Lexington’s first municipal airport, was located on Meadowthorpe Farm, owned by Dr. Samuel Halley. Although aircraft landed here as early as 1921, it officially opened May 28, 1927 and was dedicated June 10, 1927. World-famous aviator Charles Lindbergh landed here on March 28, 1928. Over.

(Reverse) Halley Field hosted air circuses, air shows, flight training, sight-seeing tours and small airlines. It reverted back to farmland in 1934 and became a subdivision in 1949. Meadowthorpe Farm included a two-story Greek Revival house, later purchased and enlarged by Col. James E. Pepper, distiller and owner/breeder of Thoroughbreds.

This post includes an excerpt from Lost Lexington, Kentucky. Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but so many more are lost forever. The famous Phoenix Hotel, long a stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants are unknown to natives now.

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Holmes Hall – University of Kentucky, ca. 1914. Author’s collection.

IMHO, the loss of Holmes Hall may be the most devastating of all the demolitions which occurred on campus this summer. Yes, others may have more historic or even architectural significance, but the realtor’s mantra of “location, location, location” weighs heavily (for me) with this demolition.

Holmes Hall stood at such a prominent location: the northeast corner of South Limestone and the Avenue of Champions. From its seat, Holmes Hall welcomed to the downtown area those traveling into Lexington along Nicholasville Road.

It was smartly set back from the curb with a good amount of green space. Behind, the structure consisted largely of three parts: a four-story brick dormitory not dissimilar to many other dormitories on campus, an interesting one-story brown stone appendage that wrapped the building’s frontage along Avenue of Champions as well as part of its eastern façade (the same stone was smartly used around each of the entrances), and the final part of the of Holmes Hall was what truly set it apart.

Holmes Hall – University of Kentucky. Author’s collection.

The stepped canopy that rose from the Avenue of Champions on the eastern side of Holmes Hall was always one of my favorite architectural features on campus. Stone columns held up each step of the multi-level canopy, with each level constructed of seamless concrete.

From beneath the canopy, the covered walkway appeared as a portal to another world. And from above, the canopy gave the impression of a multi-step waterfall. Its beauty was such that it could have easily been part of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Falling Water.

Demolition of Holmes Hall. Author’s collection.

It was a visible portal into the heart of Lexington. But the building and its canopy are gone.  It would have been nice if at least the canopied walk could have been incorporated into the new design, but this was not to be.

But it wasn’t the only structure on the campus of the University of Kentucky to be demolished in 2014. Gone, too, are Wenner-Gren, Hamilton House, and others. As the campus has grown or changed needs, a number of historic structures have fallen through the years like the old Carnegie Library and White Hall.

What was your favorite campus building at UK that has been removed? Mention it, or share your memories about Holmes Hall, in the comments.

This post is based on an excerpt about the Lost Campus from LOST LEXINGTON, KY. Lexington has dozens of well-restored landmarks, but so many more are lost forever. The famous Phoenix Hotel, long a stop for weary travelers and politicians alike, has risen from its own ashes numerous times over the past centuries. The works of renowned architect John McMurtry were once numerous around town, but some of the finest examples are gone. The Centrepointe block has been made and unmade so many times that its original tenants are unknown to natives now.

Where to purchase LOST LEXINGTON?