Mayomansionhistory.Com

1 MAYO MANSIONS AND MUSEUM HISTORY 10-4 John C. C. (Caldwell Calhoun) Mayo (1864-1914), was an American entrepreneur, educator and politician.” He enticed the interest of large corporations in the coal deposits of Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia, which led to commercial coal mining developed in Paintsville and surrounding area. 4. Coal was king and wealth prevailed. Many coal barrens were born or immigrated to East Kentucky. Mayo was born in Gulnare, Pike County, Kentucky. Mayo’s family moved to Johnson County, Kentucky in 1870. He later attended to Kentucky Wesleyan College, graduated in 1879 and began teaching school in Paintsville at 22 years old. 5. 6. He married Alice (Alka) Jane Meek. “The steamship Thealka (The Alka) was named for Alice Jane Meek, daughter of Captain Green Meek. During the 1890-1910 period, no less than eighty-eight steamboats operated on the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy. They included boats like Miles H., Lena Leota, Mountain Boy, Mountain Girl, Beulah Brown, Ingomar, Ada, Maxie Yost, Fanny Freese, Sonoma, Mary L. Hatcher, Guyandotte, Dewdrop, Sandy Valley, Sea Gull, and Cricket.” 2 Thealka was a batwing boat due to the 2 paddle side wheels positions at the stern and navigated the Big Sandy River from Ashland to Pikeville and back. Thealka set the speed record of traveling roundtrip 240 miles in 24 hours. “During his early years as a school teacher, Mr. Mayo became acquainted with Captain Green Meek's pretty daughter Alka. In early 1895, following a business trip through the region, Mayo developed pneumonia and took to his bed. After returning to Paintsville, his place of residence, he obtained lodging in the Alger House Hotel, which was owned and operated by Captain Meek.” “Mayo convalesced at the Alger House for more than a year. During his stay, his friendship with Alka blossomed into a full-fledged romance. They were married on February 21, 1897 in the parlor of her father's Paintsville home.” 1. Mayo began buying land and mineral rights with his teaching salary. He established a real estate company in 1888 that specialized in acquiring land and mineral rights in Eastern Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia, the Paintsville Coal and Mining Company. That within two years owned most of the Elkhorn Creek Coalfield. He profitably sold land or the rights to the land to coal companies up East and convinced them to explore and mine the coal in the region. 7. Both the 3 Minix and Wheeler families and others, from pioneers’ original land patents, retained coal and oil mineral rights. Some were leased for 99 years. Mayo's land value increased in 1893. During the Chicago's World Fair, Mayo exhibited his coal assets and investors helped him increase land and mineral rights owned by the Paintsville Coal and Mining Company. “In 1901 Mayo founded the Northern Coal and Coke Company and transferred his landholdings in Johnson, Floyd, and Lawrence counties in Kentucky into the company. This greatly increased Mayo's wealth. He sold his company, land holdings and mineral rights to Consolidation Coal Company in 1909. He constructed his residence and office, the Mayo Mansion, 405 Third Street in Paintsville, Kentucky which was added to the National Register of Historic Places on May 3, 1974. The mansion currently serves as Our Lady the Mountains School. He constructed the Mayo Memorial United Methodist Church 30 July 2014 assembled by one hundred Italian masons hired by Mayo and the Mayo State Vocational School had its beginnings as the John C. C. Mayo College. 8. The Church pipe organ was donated by his New York friend, Andrew Carnegie. The following background is an excerpt taken from The Missile Launch to Targets, an autobiography by Micheal B. Minix, Sr. M.D. The reader might read the autobiography to augment additional historical facts. *beginning to ** end. Mayo Mansion I, Paintsville, KY, Wikipedia, Creative Commons] 4 Mayo Memorial United Methodist Church, Paintsville, KY Mayo Mansion to Left, Author J654567 Wikipedia, Creative Commons] *Dr. Minix practiced general medicine for a short time in Prestonsburg, KY prior to his ophthalmology residency. When Dr. Minix completed his residency, Prestonsburg was ruled-out as a practice site, because of the Dr. George Archer murder and other events that impeded the progress, office purchase and management of the Archer Clinic, Dr. George had envisioned. Several doctor friends of Dr. Minix sought offices in Archer Clinic, which they eventually occupied. Because of many happenings, Minix considered other locations. He was recruited seriously and impressively by Doc Layne and the Ashland patient, cured of melanoma, whom Dr. Minix, the residents and teaching staff treated successfully at UK. From the larger Ashland, he surmised he would be able to serve the entire East KY area. Paintsville and Prestonsburg were approximately 1 hour and 1-1/2 hour, respectively, South of Ashland down Highway 23. He had also been seriously recruited with other UK graduate multispecialty residents to begin a multispecialty clinic in 1974 near the Manatee Memorial Hospital, an acute care facility near Bradenton, FL begun in 1954, which became his 2nd choice, but he was dedicated to return to the Eastern Kentucky area to practice. His ophthalmology services were desperately needed there. 5 Kings Daughters Hospital and Dr. Gordon Gussler and Pikeville Methodist and Dr. Charlie Wilson were performing eye surgery, and had the ability to perform whatever procedure they wanted. Kings Daughters and other East Kentucky hospitals had no surgical microscopes Dr. Minix took a few more wide-ranging procedures and equipment to the area, such as retinal detachment and laser surgery, among others, that Gussler and Wilson had no interest in performing, but easily could have, had they wanted. Both senior Doctors were excellent surgeons and taught Mike many varied techniques and aspects in ophthalmology and its practice. They were both Dr. Minix great friends, all 3 were board certified. They encouraged his start-up practice. They needed help, particularly for the great numbers of emergencies and appreciated his emergency coverage of their patients. In those days, once cared-for patients were referred back to their regular ophthalmologist. Additionally, Marcus Stephen Minix, Sr., his younger brother became a trained optician, while Mike finished his ophthalmology residency. Mark was the first Nationally Board Certified Optician in Kentucky, which meant he manufactured, didn’t order, his glasses and fit contact lens. At that time, Mark was the best optician in Kentucky and possibly is today. He developed loyal patients of his own. Following attendance at the University of Kentucky, Mark enrolled in The Durham Technical Optician 2 year program in Durham N.C. At that time it was the best program in the Southeast. Mark was taught how to fill eye glass prescriptions and make lenses, cut them to fit into an eyeglass frame. He learned to adjust finished glasses to fit the customer and surfacing which consists of blocking, finishing, polishing, and inspecting both plastic and glass single-vision and multifocal lenses. He mastered bench work, which included edging, hand beveling, safety beveling, heat treating, chemical tempering, tinting, and mounting lenses and dispensing, which included measuring, adapting, and fitting eyeglasses and contact lenses to the patient. Mark was trained for teaching, manufacturing and retail opticianry. Upon completion of the five-semester sequence of courses Mark received the Associate in Applied Science Degree in Opticianry. Mark was a schooled optician not an apprentice optician; others were apprentice OJT types. Mark knew the entire scope of Opticianry. He was so skilled that he taught at Durham school after graduation, before he moved to Ashland. 6 Mark provided opticianry services in Ashland and other offices with Dr. Minix. Micheal didn’t particularly care about the eye glass prescription part and the “eye business” but it was a necessary pain in the neck. There were no free standing Optical Companies in East KY. Thankfully, Mark took modern opticianry to the area to fill that gap and took excellent care of patients. Until Mark, there were no completely trained Opticians in the state of KY, just ‘bench trained’ opticians. Dr. Minix and his family moved to Ashland, KY, July, 1975. The community was very receptive. The city of Ashland had in the past attempted many recruiting efforts, entertaining prospective Doctors prior to 1975, with no results. Out of the blue, six Doctors began practice in Ashland near that time: Dr. Charles Watson, ENT, Dr. Bruce Stapleton, internal medicine, Dr. Oren Justice, general practice, Dr. Jerry Ford and Bob Tackett, Ob-Gyn and Dr. Micheal B. Minix, Sr., ophthalmology. Doc Layne remodeled an office beside Layne Pharmacy that Dr. Minix leased. Mike also leased a starter home from Doc Layne, who was a wealthy business man. Doc Layne and his melanoma patient friend, who were very generous and considerate, hosted an enormous reception at the Bellefonte Country Club, Bellefonte, KY adjacent to Ashland. Most of the Ashland Oil Inc. executives lived near Bellefonte and Russell, KY. AOI Headquarters were located there. That was the time that AOI was in high gear in East KY. Most of the who’s who in the area, including the doctors attended the reception. Micheal and his family soon after became members of the club. Dr. Minix purchased and had installed very exclusive, modern ophthalmology equipment, in which solo ophthalmologist seldom invest, even to this day i.e. 2 Argon-Green Only-Yag laser combinations from Coherent Radiation in Palo Alto, California, for his offices in Ashland between 1974 and 1976, and eventually in Paintsville, an A and B-mode ophthalmic real time ultrasound, fluorescein angiography, visual field equipment, contrast sensitivity, ERG, surgical and other equipment.

Load more