Stewart Kentucky Herald

Stewart Kentucky Herald was Lexington's second Newspapers. It was published from 1795 to 1801 and consisted of 213 volumes.

THE LEXINGTON ORPHAN ASYLUM

The Lexington Orphan Asylum was established in 1833 to care for children bereft of parents by the epidemic of cholera which carried off five hundred citizens that year.

A public meeting was held at the court-house on Wednesday, July 17, 1883, to raise funds to establish an asylum for these children. It was largely attended, and $4,400 were collected for the purpose. A house and lot, formerlyalester, Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Geohegan, Mrs. Edmiston, Miss Barry, Miss M. Merrill, and Mrs. Short. The managers furnished the house, procured a matron and an assistant, and gathered and sheltered all the dest the property of Dr. James Fishback, and located on Third Street, between Broadway and Jefferson was purchased.

On Wednesday, August 14^th, the institution was organized with the following managers, viz: Mrs. Wickliffe, Mrs. Sayre, Mrs. Tilford, Mrs. Gratz, Mrs. Erwin, Mrs. Bruen, Mrs. W. Richardson, Mrs. Putnam, Mrs. Chipley, Mrs. J. Norton, Mrs. Graves, Mrs. Dewees, Mrs. Ward, Mrs. L. Stephens, Mrs. J.W. Hunt, Mrs. Peers, Mrs. Leavy, Mrs. Macitute orphans in the city who had been deprived of both parents.

Smiley Pete

He was named Smiley because he had a way of baring his teeth that looked like a grin. He had a daily routine: hamburger and waffles at Brandy’s Kitchen, a bowl of draft beer at the Turf Bar, a Hershey bar at Short and Lime Liquor, a dog biscuit and water at Carter’s Supply and, in the evening, popcorn at the old Opera House, when it was a movie theater.

Pete, who was part spitz, part shepherd, part bird dog and a few other unidentifiable bloodlines, belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody. Somebody at Welch’s Cigar Store made sure he got regular baths. And once, during a rabies scare, downtown merchants took up a collection and housed Pete in a kennel until the danger was past.

After his death on June 18, 1957, a plaque with Smiley Pete’s likeness was placed in the sidewalk at Main and Limestone. That plaque was removed in 1990 and put in the hands of Robert A. Welch, who owned Welch’s Cigar Store. He restored the plaque and gave it to the city archives, where it remains awaiting replacement downtown.

Pete’s friends buried him under a big sycamore tree at 904 North Broadway. His gravestone says: “Smiley Pete — A Friend to All and a Friend of All.”

A Smiley Pete Award is given annually by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.
Its purpose is to recognize an individual “who makes others enjoy being downtown.”
Cross it before you toss it

by Linda Niemi & Lu-Ann Farrar

Eastern State Hospital Graveyard

The Eastern State Hospital graveyard is unknown to alot of people in Lexington. Their are over 10,000 bodies buried on the property, the majority of them without grave markers, and if that was not bad enough, there is no documentation of where the bodies are buried.

The First National Building

The 15-story First National Building at Main and Upper streets was the tallest building between Cincinnati, Ohio and Atlanta, Georgia when it was built in 1914.

Patterson Cabin

At Transylvania University, on Broadway at Third Street, you can see the Patterson Cabin. It was built around 1783, by one of Lexington’s founders.

The First School House in Kentucky

The plaque is located next to the historic Fayette County Courthouse in Lexington, KY. It says, "In 1783, Here Stood The First School House In Kentucky." A nearby historic marker mentions that the first teacher was attacked by a wildcat.