People occasionally ask me if I ever heard of a local band called “The Footwarmers.” I have, and in a column on local music written in 1999, provided a photograph of that group.
The group was formed by Leon (Hunky) Elder and was called “The…
Here are some odds and ends, not necessarily connected by a common theme or issue.
First, I present interesting items from a copy of the Richmond Daily Register of March 11, 1947. We learn the following facts: There are three movie houses in…
The recent general election results triggered my memory of some county election history. With the election to the position of magistrate of Republican Greg King, the re-election of Republican Roger Barger and Billy Ray Hughes’ return to his former…
Veteran’s Day (Remembrance Day in Canada and Great Britain) is upon us once again, and my mind goes back to my own military service. I trust you will indulge me in this reminiscence.
Many Madison Countians went to the Army in 1951. I was one of…
From the Kentucky State Register for the year 1847, we learn the following details about the people and places in Madison County over 150 years ago. These first paragraphs were gleaned from some of the earliest records kept for our county, a county…
The postwar social, regulatory and economic times provided many local area students here in Madison county with a unique opportunity to pursue a college education at Eastern Kentucky State College. Not wanting to be completely cut off from home ties,…
The year 1946 — unbelievably that was 64 years ago now — I was still a student at Model high. What were things like on the campus of Eastern Kentucky State Teacher’s College?
Well, Mildred Estes was Miss Eastern (with Marie Riherd and Ruth…
I recently came across a paperback book titled “Eastern Kentucky Review 1953.” It was actually the 1953 college catalog for the then Eastern Kentucky State College. Reviewing the booklet I recognized two of the Regents, Wendell Butler, the State…
This is the second in a series of columns recounting my personal recollections and memories of Eastern’s presidents going back to my entrance in Richmond in early 1930. I was born in Louisville in November of 1929, as I was a late baby and my…
This is the second in a series of columns recounting my personal recollections and memories of Eastern’s presidents going back to my entrance in Richmond in early 1930. I was born in Louisville in November of 1929, as I was a late baby and my…
With another successful re-enactment of the Battle of Richmond, we are reminded of the critical role Kentucky played in the Civil War. The war has many connections with the county beyond the August battle. Here is an article from some years ago…
I graduated from Eastern Kentucky State College around the first of June 1951. At the same time, I finished four years of R.O.T.C. (Reserve Officer Training Corps) and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the U.S. Army Reserve. At that time,…
On Aug. 29, the Tates Creek Baptist Church will celebrate 225 years of service to the community with a homecoming. The timing is inexact as the church was organized between 1783 and 1786, before Kentucky was even a state. To further add to the…
Wellington Court was one of Richmond’s first subdivisions. It opened around 1929. If you enter from Lancaster Avenue, you are on Wellington Drive. If you take a right from this point, you are on South Wellington Drive, crossing South Third Street…
In researching the recent column on Madison High’s 1939 trip to the basketball state tournament, I read through some of the Richmond Daily Registers of that time. Here are some bits and pieces of life in Richmond in 1939.
Mrs. Frances Black recently sent me a clipping of one of my Madison’s Heritage columns, printed in the Richmond Register on November 29, 1988. She found the clipping in the desk drawer of her late husband, Raymond. I thought the column worth…
When I was young (many years ago), South Third Street was the center of Richmond. If you arrived by bus (Greyhound or Black Brothers) at the station on the corner of Water and South Third, you were only a block away from everything.
Boone Tavern in Berea reopened last year after extensive remodeling. This famous landmark is named for Daniel Boone and is located in downtown Berea, along Boone’s historic Wilderness Trail from Cumberland Gap to Fort Boonesborough. Owned and…
I had a call the other day from a man asking me about the local Odd Fellows Lodge. I told him their hall was on the upper level of the building that was once on the northeast corner of North Second and Irvine streets. There was a sign and an arrow…
I saw in the Richmond Register the other day that Union City Baptist Church would soon celebrate its 198th anniversary. The following information comes from “Conkwright’s History of Boones Creek Baptist as Given in ‘How Firm a Foundation, a…
I read a book the other day in which the main character got off the train one evening at a small town. He entered the depot and found it empty and ill-lit. The ticket window was open, but no one was in the office. This all reminded me of experiences…
You may have noticed the pioneer monument which stands at the southeast corner or the Madison County Courthouse. If you look at it closely, you will notice that it once was a fountain. It once sat out in the street so you could let your mule or horse…
The Richmond Climax, a weekly newspaper, was a forerunner of the Richmond Daily Register, which began publishing in 1917. Here are some news items from the Climax. Jasper Castle provided this information.
The Richmond Climax, a weekly newspaper, was a forerunner of The Richmond Daily Register, which began publishing in 1917. Here are three news items from the Climax. Thanks to Jasper Castle for this information about millstones from Madison County…
I thought I had written up all of the Madison County teams that had been to the state basketball tournament. I have done articles on Berea High, Red House, Richmond High, Waco, Madison-Model (three trips in four years, a third place finish in 1944),…
In 1886, E.A. Pollard published a Southern version of the Civil War, titled “The Lost Cause.” Eastern’s library has a 1994 facsimile copy of this book. I found it interesting to read what the author had to say about our local battle of…
Newcomers to our county may wonder about the name of the Richmond hospital. Here is the story.
Brutus J. Clay II was the son of Cassius M. Clay I of White Hall. Born in 1847, he took an engineering degree from the University of Michigan. In 1905,…
In our column over the years, we have used architectural terms to describe the various historical homes in Madison County. I have no knowledge of architecture and merely pass on to you the information available. In 1988, Lavinia H. Kubiak authored a…
Here are some tidbits of county history — not necessarily connected.
The first white men in Madison County included John Finley and Daniel Boone in 1769. In 1770, Squire Boone left a message for Daniel on a rock, letting him know he was back in…
That was a long time ago. That is the year I graduated from high school. My senior class provided the nucleus of the Madison-Model state tournament basketball team. We had spent six to 12 years in school together. The first six were Ray Coy, Harold…
A third celebration in Madison County was not exactly like the 1840 and 1907 Boonesborough events. This was the Daniel Boone Bicentennial of 1934. Boone was born November 2, 1834.
Governor Ruby Laffoon appointed a 15-member commission to organize…
Although a resolution was passed at the 1840 Boonesborough celebration to conduct an annual gathering, it was not until 1907 that a second gathering was organized and carried out. The event was triggered by the erection of a marker at the site by the…
This is a listing of early settlement and preemption warrants in Kentucky County, Virginia. As there were very few boundary markers in place and even fewer towns and settlements in the period of 1795-1810, the local watercourses were common ways of…