Historic neighborhood chronicled
Lexington’s Gratz Park has been called one of the most historic and serene settings in America, and in 1966, it was designated as the city’s first official historic district. To further preserve its stories and beauty, photographer Bob Willcutt partnered with writer Jeremy Popkin to produce a beautiful coffee table book, Gratz Park: The Heart of Historic Lexington, featuring the still-thriving neighborhood’s structures and their beginnings.
After changing hands several times from William Steele, the area’s original 1780 owner, the nondescript plot of land on the outskirts of Lexington 13 years later became the home of the first college founded west of the Appalachian Mountains, Transylvania University.
Wealthy and notable Lexington families began to build homes around the university, many including quarters for servants and separate structures for enslaved people. In 1824, one of these original homes, Mount Hope, at 231 Mill St., was purchased by Benjamin Gratz, and his descendants occupied it until 1984. On the corner of 2nd and Market streets was another structure of note: Ward Academy, now famous for educating Mary Todd Lincoln.
The Gratz Park neighborhood would go on to serve as the site of numerous historical events and gatherings: Stephen Douglas gave a speech on the college lawn, Union headquarters were established in one of the homes, Civil War soldiers serving on both sides camped in the open areas, General Lafayette was welcomed for a visit, and Lexington’s genteel societies held festivals and meetings there, sometimes with crowds numbering more than the city’s entire population.
In 1955, the movement to preserve Gratz Park led to the creation of The Blue Grass Trust, a membership-based nonprofit that protects, revitalizes and promotes historic places in central Kentucky.
The book includes a 21-stop walking tour with Popkin’s details of each structure’s architectural history as well as original and notable occupants, such as Hopemont’s Dr. Thomas Hunt Morgan, the first Kentuckian to win the Nobel Prize; and the Goodloe Houses, home to sisters Julia and Mary Eleanor Britton, the first African-American female graduate of Berea College and the first licensed female doctor in Lexington, respectively. Willcutt’s photos show both exteriors and interiors of the homes, some noting small-scale details not to be missed, as well as different views throughout the changing seasons.
Bob Willcutt is an award-winning photographer who has published six books and whose work has been featured in numerous magazines and newspapers, including Kentucky Living.
Jeremy Popkin is professor emeritus of history at the University of Kentucky, where he taught from 1978 to 2024. He has written or edited over 20 books and has led tours of Gratz Park. Gratz Park: The Heart of Historic Lexington, (Acclaim Press, $59.95), can be purchased at acclaimpress.com or from major booksellers.
