Walking tour draws history buffs downtown

Louie Flannery listens intently as noted historian Marvin Suit shares his knowledge of what downtown Flemingsburg was like many years ago. Jim Clark assisted with the microphone, so the crowd was able to hear Suit speak.

History buffs know the best way to learn about the old days of their hometown is to attend a walking tour.

Last Sunday afternoon around 50 guests gathered to hear noted historian Marvin Suit share his knowledge of the early years in downtown Flemingsburg.

The tour, sponsored by the Fleming County Covered Bridge Museum, began at 110 East Water Street in front of the Cox building, where Suit gave a brief history of the family that first occupied the structure.

“Built in the last years of the 19th century, and known today as the Cox Building, this structure was first purchased and occupied by the John G. Fisher family who immigrated from Germany in 1848. John G. had seven children.

He bought the three houses along this stretch. He was a jeweler and next door to the left; his son operated a grocery store. It originally had a cast iron storefront. John G. had a jewelry store along this stretch, which eventually became the Dan T. Fisher Jewelry store.

When I grew up here in the 1940s the jewelry store was operated by John’s son James C. Fisher.

Many of you may have seen the pamphlet written by Dan T. in 1906 or 1907.

As a young teenager I heard they had copies of the little book, so I went in to see Mr. Fisher and asked him if they had any copies of the book and he said, “well let me see, I think there is one here under the counter” and he handed me the copy. I asked how much, and he said, “well it says 15 cents”, so I gave the 15 cents and I still have that book.

McMullin Cox bought the building in 1926 and established a grocery store, then later the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Company took over the store for several years.

In 1946, my father Wilson Suit and banker Floyd Kearns leased the building from Mr. Cox and built a frozen food locker and was in operation until 1956. It was a great improvement for the county, you could bring in your chickens to be dressed, a beef or hog killed, then rent a locker where they were kept frozen.

When John Lewis Taylor bought the business, he moved it to where the slaughter house is today.

Eventually everyone had their own freezers so that business faded out.

Moving towards the Strawberry Methodist Church, many may remember the building known as the Timmons plumbing shop.

One of the earliest business that I know of in that building was a wagon and carriage shop.

The 1898 drawings the insurance company did indicates the building to the right of Timmons was a painting shop. In those days they put interesting designs on the sides of carriages and painted the wheels yellow.

The repair shop was to the left and in the back was a ramp where they rolled their carriages out and up to the second floor.

Later the building was the site of Flemingsburg’s first picture show where silent movies were shown.

The most recent use was a pool room. Beyond that were other small buildings and one I remember was a cream station and there was also a black smith shop.

Next, we come to the Strawberry Methodist Church which it has always been said was named so because there was a strawberry patch on the lot where the church was built.

I tend to disagree with that. On the original plats there were main streets that ran on each side of the courthouse, water street, main street and main cross.

In addition to those streets there were four alleys that ran in a straight line from the town branch all the way to Elm Street.

The alley next to the church was named Strawberry alley, so it makes me think because the church was built adjacent to Strawberry Alley it was given the name Strawberry Methodist Church.

In the parking lot next to the current Clarks Fuel Station, there were two houses, one was the Dudley house.

A school friend Lake Dudley, a cousin to Lake Kelly lived there in the 1940s.

When I was in grade school I was invited to Lake’s birthday party, we went to see a movie at the Princess Theater and when we came back his mother fried hamburgers for us.

There were no stores that sold any such thing in those days, so a hamburger was a delicacy.

It was during the war and you couldn’t buy brand name soft drinks, and I remember we had a Wescola, so we enjoyed hamburgers and Wescolas that night.

Later, that same house was occupied by a lady named Amy McCann, she was a lawyer, but I don’t think she practiced law.

Her brother was a lawyer in Winchester. Amy operated a business school in the house, and taught short hand, typing, bookkeeping and all the skills young ladies needed to work in a business office.

The house next to the service station was the Dudley house.

Also, in this area over the years were different businesses, one of the oldest was a livery stable, a large square building.

There was the Stewart and Yantis Funeral home, a car lot and the last business I remember was the Floyd-Hunt Laundry.

On the corner of Fox Springs Ave. and Water Street, for many years, there has always been a service station in this location and the first may have been built by Ed Hinton in the 1920s.

After Ed gave up the station, his nephews the Campbell brothers operated it, then it was operated by the Millers, the Harmons, and now Clarks.

Prior to being a station, there was a residence, a house with a long porch where a man named Josiah Dent made and sold hats. Frank McCarty has a brother named Dent who was named after Josiah.

The site of the first Episcopal Church was where the Refuge Center now stands.

Samuel Stockton’s wife was an Episcopalian and wanted a church started here in Flemingsburg, so a two-story brick church was built near the end of the Civil War.

After the deacon moved back to Ohio, the church ceased operation.

The church didn’t have a roof so in 1870 Bishop Cummins appropriated one thousand dollars of his own money to put the roof on, but the congregation didn’t come back.

The men who worked on the church hadn’t been paid. A lawsuit was brought against the church an it was sold at public auction and the bills were paid.

A couple lawyers purchased the building and they sold it. One of the first uses after the building was a church was the William H. Harris wagon shop.

Over the years the building has been used as a bowling alley, which I can remember that, chicken hatchery, pool room and an apartment house.

It was torn down in 1985 and we started the St. Francis’ Episcopal church on Fountain Ave. and we used some of the arch windows and front door.

Next was an establishment that was an icon here for a long time, W.P. Doyle’s Cash and Carry Grocery.

W.P. also had a grocery on Fox Springs Ave, it was a much smaller store.

Back in the 1940s, when we lived on Garr Ave. there was a flash flood and the 100-pound burlap sacks of beans stacked out front floated into the street.

Where the current Refuge Center is today, there was also a Standard Service Station owned by Harry Purnell from Maysville, he was also the county judge, it was last operated by a man named Kit Applegate, he lived on Mills Ave., his father was a harness and saddle maker.

On the other side of where Doyle’s store was located, sometime around the turn of the century there was an African American Lodge and restaurant and in that same area there was the Franklin Dudley Hardware Store.

Next door to post office, I remember Mr. Harry Ryan had an antique shop, and where the McKee Plumbing Supply is now, I remember when it was Kroger’s, in later years it was the Sundry store.

The street that runs next to the McKee Plumbing is Walnut Alley and on the corner is the Covered Bridge Museum and it was where the old Times Democrat office was.

After some research I found that my ancestor, Richard Tilton, bought this lot at one time.

The Insurance plans shows there was an undertaking business that was operated in this building, it was also the location of the Browning and McKee Furniture Store.

Harry Conway had his barber shop in the section of the museum where the porch is now.

A Sousley man lived in the section next to the museum porch.

Next was what was called the Pearl Harbor store. The Kozy Nook was located in this section.

I can remember on Saturdays you could get your shoes shined on this corner for a nickel.

The building next to the alleyway is the section of the Dan T. Fisher building.

Before Dan T. built the current structure up the street from the Museum, there was the Marble Works owned by Mr. George Faulkner, and a barber shop and a sewing machine store.

Dan Fisher invented the sewing machine and had his is store there, so he bought the other buildings and tore them down.

Arthur Thomas McDonald had a confectionary shop in the Fisher building too.

After Fisher died the building was sold to Dr. John Franklin Hall, a dentist who I believe moved here from Prestonsburg, had his offices on the second floor.

The Halls operated a drug store and a restaurant, the post office was in this building too.

J.C. Estes operated the Village Grill, where the young people gathered after school to play the juke box in the back room.

Later that restaurant was operated by the Colgan sisters, then the Lerman Brothers came along and had a department store.

I worked for the Colgan sisters when I was about 12 years old. I popped corn in a machine outside every Saturday

I was paid 25 cents an hour, for 10 hours I was paid 2.50 and I was very proud to get it.

Then I worked for the Lerman Brother’s after school for 45 cents an hour.

Today you would recognize this section as the Fisher Building Apartments.

The downtown history walk continues with Marvin Suit at the building known as the Masonic Lodge.

“Built around 1845, this structure is mostly remembered as the Fried’s Department store, but others had occupied it as a dry good store in previous years.

The doorway next to the street, was the entrance to the Masonic Hall on the third floor.

I became a Mason in 1954 and this building was still utilized as meeting place and I remember there were beautiful paintings on the walls.

Some of the business that occupied the old Masonic building in later years include, Kelly’s Deli, Doodles Art Gallery, Downtown Girls and a barber shop.

Across the street we see the Justice Center, one of the earliest business on this corner was a hotel, called The Dudley House, a very prosperous establishment that later became the Merchants Hotel.

The Bus stop and the White Way restaurant were along this area too.

On the corner next to the Justice Center court yard, is a two-story red-brick known as the Dudley home. I believe this house was built in 1814 for Thomas Fleming.

Mrs. Armstrong had a boarding house in the location of the parking lot and Dr. R.M. Skinner, who was a chiropractor had his office in this location.

The building planners in those days were very forward thinking, because residents needed to be able to get to their gardens and stables, they built alleys between their dwellings.

The Boone-Nickle Funeral Home was originally built by Samuel in 1804 as his own home. This home was built of brick, the board siding was added in later years.

At the time it was the last house on this side of the street. The Presbyterian Church had not been built yet, it came later in 1819 on property owned by Stockwell that he deeded to the church.

Down the street across the road from the Peoples Drive-thru bank you will see a house that sets back from the street, that was the old White Hall Tavern and was a stage coach stop.

The location of the Fleming County Chamber office is part of a row of houses built by the Andrews family prior to 1815, another example of brick homes that have stood the test of time very well.

The yellow house next to the row houses, is known as the Hendrick house.

Mrs. Sue Hendrick, she was a very regal, elderly lady who enjoyed life.

The thing about Mrs. Sue was she was a cousin to William Jennings Bryan, the great orator.

Bryan ran for president in 1896 and cousin Sue threw a big party for him.

At this party Mr. Ed White and his band provided the musical entertainment.

Now we come to the Baptist Church, which was built in 1845. It was at this church during the Civil War that Union Soldiers occupied during the winter.

To keep warm the soldiers tore down the wood fence that surrounded the church to burn for heat, and they also burned some of the pews to keep warm.

Next to the church was the W.A. Hinton Home Store but that building was torn down.

Just down the street was the home of the Wallingford sisters and the building that was once a nursing home.

The current site of the Razor Law Office was property once owned by one of Samuel Stockton’s sons and where we remember as the Stockton Station Inn, a bed and breakfast business several years ago.

The yellow brick next door was known as the Nelson Fant house and built by Thomas Carter.

Will Nelson was known for his love for playing cards and one fateful evening he was in the upstairs room of a bar in Lexington playing cards when two robbers shot and killed him, and that ended the Fant family as he had no decedents.

You will note too there is an alley between buildings in this section as the residents had gardens and stable in the back of their homes.

Where the current Edward Jones building is located, as far back as I can remember was where Mr. Ed Kenny had a hardware store, then Bob Stewart had an automobile dealership there. It has also been a beauty shop.

Mr. Dye, a man who lived to be about a hundred years old told me that when he was a young man he remembered that a Mrs. Carpenter ran a public restroom there so the ladies came to town they would be able to use the facilities.

Going toward the stoplight at one time are where the K.U. office, the telephone company, and a post office were once located, and the Willson’s Bank building.

At one time, C.L. Dudley owned the building where the People’s Bank is and Lloyd McDonald had his law office upstairs. In my high school days, Dr. C.D. Blair had his dentist office upstairs.

On the corner of Main Cross and Water Streets, is the Oddfellows Lodge

This building was originally just a tall one-story structure and was a wholesale grocery owned by George Morris.

When I first started practicing law, my office was on the second floor.

It used to be said that lawyers had their offices on the second floor because it was more prestigious, but I don’t believe that, it was because the rent was cheaper.

John J. Reynolds had his drug store in this building, and a book store.

In the 1900’s Charlie Rice Emmons and Maurice Akin operated a drug store on the first floor.

T.H. and H.B. Dudley operated a store that specialized in mens clothing.

The building next to the Oddfellows, I remember as Carpenter’s Pool Hall, and next to it in the 1800s was a bakery owned by the Gerhart family, which was later purchased by two brothers, Will and Sid Mason.

In the 1898 Insurance plans it states the ovens for the bakery were in separate building out back, near the town branch.

The tan building was the site of the Colgan sister’s restaurant, and later became Janette Crow’s Beauty shop.

The yellow building next to the Cox building was the home of the VanSant family for many years.

It is the building where I moved my law office in 1964 and Frank McCartney joined me.

After Mrs. VanSant passed away, Mr. Dunbar purchased the building.

In addition to my law office, the Farm Bureau, Dr. Carl Hager, and the Social Service offices were in this building.

That ends our history walk of downtown Flemingsburg.

In those early days, they built brick structures that stood the test of time, they worked downtown, they lived downtown and loved Flemingsburg just like most of us do today.”

At the end of the tour, all those history buffs returned to the museum and enjoyed a late lunch provided and served by volunteers of the Fleming County Covered Bridge Museum and each expressed that they would love to join Marvin Suit again to learn even more history of their hometown.

The Dudley House was a prosperous hotel that was located on the present site of the Justice Center. In later years it became the Merchants Hotel.

In this busy street scene from 1943 you can see the establishments of T.H. and H.B. Dudley and the Emmons Drug store.

This old photograph shows the buildings that were on the lot that Dan T. Fisher purchased to erect the Fisher building. Today the Fisher Apartments are in this location.

Harry Conway and Clarence Maxey in front of the barber shop that was located where the porch section of the Fleming County Covered Bridge Museum is today.