Last Week's Photo

Did anybody realize that I missed the weekly photo contest last week?  Good , neither did I.

On that note, I only got one comment on the photo of the completion of New Circle Rd.  The bridge construction in the lower left corner is the last bridge to be built on this 19.6 mile ring of Lexington.

On the right hand side you can see the initial construction of the Todds Trace Apartments which are currently undergoing a complete remodeling. The will soon reopen as the 300's on the Circle. Just above that is the newly built Woodhill Dr and beyond is its twin, Palumbo Dr. The Wood shopping center is not yet underway. One can barely make out the railroad overpass in the distance.

Of course, that means that the water body is the site of the current Home Depot and the remodeled Lexington Mall, now Southland Church. Is it any wonder that the parking lot kept sinking around the mall.

In the top center of the photo is the Idle Hour Park with all of its ball fields and no hint of the auto dealers on New Circle. Behind that and fading off into the distance is the Idle Hour subdivision.

So how many of them did you get?
 
 







This week I have two photos, taken from both side of an area. What I am looking for this time is: What prominent historical feature lies between these two photos?

Good luck.

Weekly Photo Winner

 OK, so both Steve Austin and J Sparks could tell me where these three houses are and Mr Sparks gave the addresses as being on Woodspoint Rd in Ashland Park.  Steve even points out the vast difference that vegetation makes in seeing things.  Below is a view as it looks earlier this week.

But remember that this was a two-part question and although there was a good guess, Mr Sparks ( I believe) was a little too far out Tates Creek Rd and on the wrong side.  I have always understood that the Kelly Dairy farm was just south of the Mt Tabor Rd intersection with Tates Creek.  That would put it whee the Lansdowne-Merrick subdivision is now.

Below is an aerial photo taken shortly after the Immanuel Baptist Church 

finished their initial phase of building

You can see the church in the lower right corner and the old Mt Tabor along the bottom edge.  Gainesway subdivision is in the upper left and the Lansdowne Shoppes (upper right) are yet to be started.  I would place the date of this photo at about 1963 or 64 at the latest.

This week's contest may be a little tricky.  I am looking for 4 identifiable places or locations.  Good luck.

Two Part Contest

I did have a story ready for this week but then realized that some of the family involved were still looking in on things here and may not appreciate it.  

Yes the view is on Maxwell St and many of the structures are still around.  Congratulations to all who guessed or knew it.

 For this weeks contest I am going to take a bit of a different track.

The date is 1932 and this is a staged photo for Kelly Dairy.  The processing plant was most obviously at 511 W Maxwell. (Ten or so blocks from our last entry).

 The question this week is two-fold.  Where was the farm on which the cows were milked and identify the location of this supposed delivery.  One of these houses has recently completed a major improvement.

Photo Winner For July 10

There was at least one sharp eyed reader this week who then gave away the answer to the Facebook crowd. Congratulations to J W Thompson and the others who agreed. 

Yes, the location is from South Broadway looking north and the building on the right is the Reynolds building built in 1917.

The best that I can tell, this was right in front of Beckham Place, which was the passageway beside and access to the Southern Railway station. It therefore makes sense that Southeastern Express would have a presence (advertisement or physical) along this road, although I believe that this is a rooming house.

The intersections off to the left are in order Magazine, Hayman and Chair which are probably fairly familiar to many readers as the neighborhood of Country Boys Brewing. The intersection behind and to the right would, of course, be Scott St (nee Scott Ave) since having its name changed from Bowyer St. This was done when the connection was made to Scott from Limestone/Upper area.

Roszell's Feed and Grain elevator did not last much past this photo and was replaced with produce stands and chicken coops by the end of the decade. The building which houses the Tolly-Ho is some years away from being built.

The street railway tracks served two functions as the streetcar tracks went to the Red Mile/Fairgrounds and the interurban cars turned down Angliana Ave on their way to Versailles or the baseball park.

Below is the way that it looked last week

Weekly Photo July 4 Answer

Being a holiday weekend, I did not expect too many guesses and I gave a fairly simple photo.  I was not disappointed since nobody gave more than a half-hearted attempt.

This location, of course is the intersection of Kentucky Ave and Central in the Woodland subdivision.  The store at left was then known as the J.E. Botkin Meats and Grocery, though when I was growing up I knew it as Everett Jennings Real Estate office.  It has since been re-clad in brick and essentially re-built from the outside in.

The subdivision was originally platted in 1884 and at one time hosted the streetcar line as part of the loop with Woodland Ave one block over.  The older photo, taken in 1935, clearly shows that the line has been removed, probably due to the Woodland Auditorium being superseded by better venues.

As you can see very little has changed in terms of buildings and traffic.

Today's offering is not so easy.

Last Week's Photo

There was just one response to the location of the weekly photo question and that came from Peter Brackney, a local lawyer, historian and blogger.  Peter, of course, recognized the distinctive house behind the little gas station since he drives Nicholasville Road every day.   

 See photo here

The labeling on the photo references J. S. Morton who was a local real estate agent and entrepreneur, formerly associated with Warfield Gratz.  He opened his own real estate office in January of 1926 at 108 Walnut St (now N. Martin Luther King).

In July of 1927, Morton recorded a plat for what he called the Morton Subdivision #2 on the Nicholasville Pike, outside of the then city limits.  There was on simple street running uphill from Nicholasville Rd which we now know as Hiltonia Park

The City had implemented zoning and created a Planning Commission a year earlier and shortly after applied those zoning rules to property in a buffer area adjacent to the existing city limits.  The County Fiscal Court also had to weigh in on such matters, so in July of 1930 Mr. Morton appeared before them to urge action since the sale of his lots hinged on the outcome.

The plat shows the traction, or interurban line, to Nicholasville which was removed in January of 1934.  The small gas station was placed in the former right of way, approximately in front of lot #6 (the house seen to the left).  You can see that power poles were on either side of the old interurban line in 1939.

The faint driveway apron seen on the extreme right of the photo is Suburban Ct, another residential development of the late '20s.

Today, of course, the Baptist Health Care hospital occupies the entire north side of this intersection and the Nicholasville Rd is five-laned but the distinctive little house on the corner is still there and a very good clue.

Weekly Photo Contest

No one guessed the Photo of the Month which I put up last week although there were some good tries.  I have decided to adjust the format and go with a weekly puzzler.  I think that you will be surprised as to how some of these old photo location look today.

Last weeks location was, of course, the Davidson School which was built on the foundation of the old City Work House on the corner of South Upper and Bolivar. Seen here looking in the other direction.

Lets see how many will know the next location.