Jefferson Street - Lexington's Oldest Subdivision


The home of prominent black jockeys and business owners, the Jefferson Street tour takes you around western downtown, through one of Lexington's oldest neighborhoods. Explore the streets and alleys where African Americans once lived and worked and learn about some of Lexington's hidden gems.

Jefferson Street - Development of Jefferson Street

Mary Owen Todd Russell (1781-1844) owned two hundred acres here called Goshen. She began building the home Glendower in 1802 and finished it in 1815. She platted and sold lots from the remaining...

Jefferson Street - St. Joseph Hospital

St. Joseph Hospital was opened in Lexington by the Nazareth Literary and Benevolent Institution in 1877. At its beginning, African American patients were treated in two small separate cottages. By...

Alfred Russell - From Slavery To Liberation

Alfred Francis Russell (1817-1884) was the 10th President of Liberia. He lived with his mother Milly Crawford in Glendower where they were enslaved. With a legal maneuver and court case with the Todd...

Jefferson Street - Maryland Avenue

Maryland Avenue was also known as the Preston Subdivision. Margaret Wickliffe Preston (1818-1898) inherited the acreage and Glendower home from the estate of her step-mother, Mary Owen Todd Russell....

Jefferson Street - Dr. William Henry and Bessie Ballard

Lot #51 of the Preston Subdivision was purchased in 1895 by an influential black couple, Dr. William Henry Ballard and Bessie Brady Ballard. Dr. Ballard became the first African American male...

Jefferson Street - Glendower Property

In 1928, the Glendower property, originally built by Mary Russell, was purchased and used as a school of nursing. The home was razed in 1942 for the erection of Euphrasis Hall that still stands. It...

Jefferson Street - William McChesney House

This house was built around 1815 and became the home of postmaster William McChesney and his family in 1859. In 1920, it became the Cunningham Funeral Home. African Americans Elijah and Ellen...

Jefferson Street - Harriet Beecher Stowe Marble Home

Harriet Marble was the first African American female pharmacist in Lexington. She was born in Mississippi but in 1920, she purchased the inventory, equipment, and store of the People's Pharmacy at 118...

Jefferson Street - Abraham Drake House/Caulder Post #132

This house was originally built in the 1820s for Abraham Drake, Lexington's postmaster general. In 1940, it became headquarters of the American Legion Nathan Caulder Post #132. The post, organized in...

Jefferson Street - William (Billy) Klair House

Portions of this house date back to 1825. William Franklin Klair and his wife Mary lived here during the three decades in which he influenced local and state political decisions. He was a staunch...

Jefferson Street - Gustavas (Gus) Jaubert House

Jaubert was born in 1829 to French parents in New York. He enlisted in Chattanooga during the Civil War and became the company cook for the First Kentucky Regiment of the Confederate States of...

Jefferson Street - Roger's Restaurant

From the time George Owen Rogers purchased the corner building and repurposed it for a restaurant in 1923, African Americans could not come in, sit down, or be served a meal. Across the city, state,...

Jefferson Street - Western Suburb Historic District

This area was platted in 1815 and reportedly is one of Lexington's oldest, if not oldest, suburbs. Streets and alleys defined vehicle and walking pathways. The alleys, behind homes and businesses,...

Jefferson Street - Ballard Street

This street was orginally known as Gill's Alley. African Americans lived in this neighborhood of shotgun-style houses. After famous jockey Oliver Lewis and Lucy Wright married in 1881, they moved to...