AlV[BRICAN GUIDE SERIES OLD CAPITOL AND FRANKFORT GUIDE Compiled and Written by the FEDERAL ,vRITER.S' PROJECT of the WORI{S PROGRESS ADMINISTRATION in the State of l(entucky Sponsored by THE I(EN'rUCICY STATE I-IISTORICAL SOCIETY Frankfort, Kentucky Published by HARRY McCHESNEY WOR.J(S PROGRESS ADl\iIINISTRATION F. C. HARRING'l'ON, A<lniinistrator J:i1LOl{EN cg 8. KERl~, Assistant Adrnin·istrator IIEN Ry (}. ALSBERG, Directo;· vf the Ji'ede1·al ll'riters' Project rr.A.BLE 01◄, CONTENTS 1->re face ........ .. ................................ ...... .. .. ....... .. .... ... .... .. .. .. .. .. ...... .... .. 5 Historical Sketch of F~rankfort........................................................ 7 Points of Interest in Frankfort........................................................ 13 Tour Through the Old Capitol Building..................................... 17 Catalogue of Contents of Old Capitol............................................ 21 Appendix ................................................................................................ 89 PREFACE Old, CapUol and Frankfort Guide is a product of the Federal Writers' Project of the Works Progress Adn1inistration in Ken­ tucky. It is designed primarily as a catalogue of the contents of the Old Capitol Building which houses the Kentucky State Historical Society. The tours through the building are intended to expedite a trip for the casual visitor, while the catalogue is intended to aid the student or research worker who is interested in a more detailed study of the contents of the building. All objects in the building have been systematically renumbered according to the catalogue. Certain outstanding points of interest in the city of Frankfort are described and located in a chapter devoted to the city. The editors particularly wish to acknowledge their gratitude for the guidance, assistance, and supervision of Mrs. Jouett Taylor Cannon, secretary of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Miss Nina Visscher, librarian, Miss Lockett. Smith, curator, and Mr. Bayless Hardin, assistant librarian. Without their cooperation this wor,k could never have been completed. They also appreciate the cooperation and assistance of Mr. Harry McChesney, president of the Kentucky State Historical Society, and publisher of the book. He has been a congenial and sym­ pathetic friend throughout the life of the project. THE EDITORS. HISTORICAL SI(ETCH OF FRANI(FORT Frankfort ( 504 alt., 11,692 pop.), Kentucky's capital city, lies in a deep, narrow valley encircled by rolling hills cut through by the deep-flowing, winding Kentucky River. As the vistor rounds the curves of the steep highways that descend the high limestone cliffs, there suddenly unfolds to the vision the city, with its com­ pact business area, its checkered streets with their tree-sheltered homes, and the New Capitol that lifts its gleaming white dome high above the roofs and spires of the town. As the river in its meanderings thrusts first against the eastern, then against the western bluffs, it separates the city into north and south sides, the two connected by three bridges. The north side e1nbraces the downtown business section, the Old Capitol, and the older residential area; the south side, chiefly residential, expands be­ yond the New Capitol. Along Main and intersecting streets, old buildings of brick and stone recall the business activities of more than a hundred years. Modern buildings, substantial but unim­ posing, serve the needs of a clientele that is a cross section of Kentucky life. Politics dominate the scene when Frankfort becomes the temporary hon1e of the State executives and legislators-an ever­ coming and ever-going group that brings a metropolitan vitality to the scene. During the rest of the year Frankfort is an old­ fashioned country town, its streets filled with a leisurely-moving, chattering crowd. Farmers with their families from the rich agricultural lands in the vicinity come in, especially on Satur­ days, to do the-ir trading. Workers, white and Negro, from the factories and distilleries in the environs, throng the streets on holidays or when the work of the day is over. Daily, among all these, move men and women whose traditions root deeply in the past, who live on quiet streets, in old houses rich in history. On July 16, 1773, Hancock Taylor, deputy surveyor of Fin­ castle County, Va., of which the region of Kentucky was then a part, surveyed the site of the present city of Frankfort for Robert McAf ee of the McAfee Company of Virginia. This sur­ vey, however, was never recorded. When this fact was discovered in the late winter of 1784 by Humphrey Marshall, he had the site of old Frankfort on the north side of the river surveyed in his 7 own name while working as an attorney for the estate of Francis McConnell. Marshall even secured a grant frorn Virginia giving him a title to the land. The l\ilcConnell heirs considered this acquisition by Marshall a breach of trust which resulted in a famous lawsuit known as Patrick vs. Marshall. The Court ruled that one-half the profits realized by Marshall in the deal should go to the McConnell heirs. Before the suit was settled, however, Gen. James Wilkinson, friend of George Wash­ ington, and at one time commander of the American Ar1nies in the West, bought from Marshall in 1786 the site of old Frank­ fort for the equivalent of $433 in present-day United States cur­ rency. Wilkinson's title was none too clear, but in October, 1786, he was instrumental in getting an act approved by the Virginia Legislature setting aside 100 acres as a town site, providing a ferry with fixed transportation rates across the river to his home, which was at the southwest corner of Wapping and "\Vilkinson Streets. The town, as originally platted by the general, extended from the site of the New Capital Hotel westward to the river, and from Fort Hill that overlooks the north end of the city to the old bridge that connects the downtown district with the south side. Within this area Wilkinson laid out streets and named them in honor of himself and friends. Ann Street, which runs north and south of the New Capital Hotel, was named for the general's wife. Mero Street was named for the Spanish Governor General of the Province of Louisiana who became involved with Wilkin­ son and others in the Burr conspiracy. Wapping Street, on which the post office is located, was named for a famous London street at the suggestion of a visiting Englishman. Most of the streets bear the names of early An1ericans who were n1ore or less famous. Frankfort was named for one Stephen Frank, about whom very little is known, except that in 1780 an Indian foray occurred in the vicinity of Frankfort where a party, including Frank, from Bryan Station, enroute to the Salt Licks of Jefferson County, was attacked by the Indians near a ford in the river at the mouth of Devil's Hollow. Frank was killed and from that incident the place was referred to as Frank's Ford. By the time General Wilkinson got possession of the new town site, it had already become known by contraction as Frankfort. Although General Wilkinson is spoken of as the father of Frankfort, before 1792, when Kentucky was admitted to the Union, he had sold his interest in the site to Andrew Holmes for 300,000 pounds of tobacco "to be delivered at New Orleans." It 8 was largely through the ingenuity and generosity of Holmes that Frankfort became the capital of the State. When the General Assembly of Kentucky met in Lexington on the fifth of November, 1792, it adjourned to meet on the 22d of December "to hold its next session in the house of Andrew Holmes, at Frankfort, on the Kentucky River." The terms of the offer that led to the choice of Frankfort as the permanent capital over all other contestants were: 1st, by Andrew Holmes, to convey to the government: (a) For seven years, the house and tenement lately occupied by Gen. James Wilkinson; (b) Absolutely, the lots marked Public Ground, Nos. 58, 59, 68, 7 4, 7 5, 79, 83, and 84; ( c) Choice of 30 lots yet unsold, or alternate-choice of half of all the unsold lots, and if more space is requisite will lay off into half-acre lots fifty acres more and convey one-half of them; (d) The rents of warehouse for 7 years; {e) 10 boxes 10xl2 window glass, 1,500 lbs. nails, £ 50 worth of locks and hinges, and an equivalent of stone and scantling for build­ ing, all delivered upon the Public Ground--or, in place of the latter, stone that will build 1,590 perches of wall in any part of Frankfort, and the use of his sawmill, carriage wagon, and two good horses until a sufficiency of scantling for a state house is procured, and the privilege of timber from any part of his tract; 2d, the Bond, dated Aug. 9, 1792, of 8 citizens of Frankfort­ Harry Innes, Nat Sanders, Bennett Pemberton, Benjamin Craig, Jere Craig, Wm. Haydon, Daniel James, and Giles Samuel-to pay to the commissioners $3,000 in specie (gold or silver). By such shrewd bargaining was the capital of the State assured to the little village on the Kentucky River. The choice settled amicably the claims of Lexington and Louisville, chief contenders for the honor, and, by the fact of its central location, satisfied the remainder of the State. The first statehouse was erected on the "Public Grounds" in 1793 and was occupied by the General Assembly on Monday, November 3, 1794. Twice in the early years of statehood, the statehouse was burned. The present Old Capitol, dating from 1827-1829, was designed by a 22-year-old architect, Gideon Shryock of Lexington, Ky., at a cost of $95,000. The timber·s used in its construction were home-grown, the stone in its walls quarried from the river banks.