Lexington, Kentucky: Changes in the Early Twentieth Century

By Wynelle Deese

From the 1890s through the 1920s, the postcard was an extraordinarily popular means of communication, and many of the postcards produced during this golden age can today be considered works of art. Postcard photographers traveled the length and breadth of the nation snapping photographs of busy street scenes, documenting local landmarks, and assembling crowds of friends and neighbors only too happy to pose for a picture. These images, printed as postcards and sold in general stores across the country, survive as telling reminders of an important era in America s history. This fascinating new history of Lexington, Kentucky, showcases more than two hundred of the best vintage postcards available.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcadia Publishing
• Release date: Jul 1, 1998
• ISBN: 9781439619292

Wynelle Deese

Collected and interpreted by Wynelle Deese, the images in this informative volume provide readers with a delightful trip down memory lane, bringing an important period of the city�s history to life for visitors and members of the younger generation.

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1910).

INTRODUCTION

Lexington became one of the first cultural communities after the Revolutionary War and one of the wealthiest cities west of the Allegheny Mountains by the 1800s. By the early 1900s, many technical changes were made with streetlights, sidewalks, and paved streets, while the invention of elevators brought taller vertical structures to the downtown skyline. The first such facility built in 1899 had five floors and was extended to seven floors by 1903. Its construction began the development of tall buildings in Lexington. The buildings were shown on numerous postcards of the time.

Electric trolleys handled great volumes of downtown commuters in the early 1900s. Lexington remained one of the pleasantest American cities through World War II. Buses soon replaced the trolleys and private automobiles multiplied. The original downtown area could no longer handle the population explosion. It became one of the 14 fastest-growing American cities by 1958, according to U.S. and World News. Companies such as IBM, Square D, and Westinghouse moved to Lexington and added to its growth. Lexington grew higher and wider during the early half of the 1900s.

The early 1900s also corresponds with the introduction of postcards in the United States. Kodak designed an inexpensive camera to produce postcard-size pictures, and they recorded nearly every aspect of American life. Many local photographs were made into postcards, and larger postcard companies hired photographers to take pictures throughout America. Luckily, many of Lexington’s early postcards have survived.

I began collecting postcards while researching the history of my place of employment, Eastern State Hospital, which was originally the Lunatic Asylum of Lexington. Although it existed for over 170 years, there were no early-twentieth-century pictures of it. I discovered several picture postcards of the facility in an antique store, and that event prompted me to start my own postcard collection and many years of my networking with other collectors.

Since one is known among postcard collectors by what they collect, I became known as the Lunatic Asylum Lady. After having worked as a psychologist for many years, it seemed appropriate. My lunatic asylum postcard collection became very extensive and helpful for psychiatric history presentations. I accumulated other old postcards, including the city of my residence for nearly 30 years, Lexington, Kentucky.

Chapter One presents postcard views of West Main Street, starting with the Court House by Upper Street and proceeding westward to the oldest section of town. Chapter Two takes over between Upper and Limestone Streets on Main Street and continues through the east side of town. The remaining seven chapters are divided into categories that show historical and cultural aspects of Lexington.

All of the postcard views in this volume were published from the early 1900s to the mid-1950s. Pictorial changes of each view follow a sequence of the earliest dated postcard view to the latest dated postcard view. Postcard dates were determined from either a postmark or a range of publication dates from the backs of the postcards. An index of the postcard views with their page locations appears at the end of the book.

Although all of the postcards were selected from over 20 years of collecting Lexington postcards, those chosen for this volume were selected for displaying changes in Lexington from 1900 to 1955. This book was a labor of fun during my time of retirement.

Wynelle Deese

One

MAIN STREET, WEST END

This chapter focuses on West Main Street and identifies the first four tall structures built in Lexington (1899–1914), ending with the New Fayette National Bank Building. Many other buildings followed, but none equaled in height to the Fayette National Bank Building for several decades. Other changes are evident around the tall buildings.

This c. 1905 postcard is a view of Fayette County’s fifth courthouse, which was built between 1898 and 1900. The courthouse faces Main Street between Cheapside Street on the left and Upper Street on the right. Two buildings seen in the background, located on Short Street, are worthy of closer consideration. The building on the left, overlooking Cheapside Street, is located on the northwest corner of Short and Market Streets and identified for years as Northern Bank Company.