Tradition of long standing asserts that the prestigious Lexington Club was organized in the year 1860, and the late Charles R. Staples, a prominent local historian, believed that it was formed as “a place of meeting for those who desired to entertain army officers visiting in or stationed about Lexington.” Since gentlemen of both Northern and Southern sympathies were said to have been members, Mr. Staples suggested that political and sectional discussions must have been carefully avoided.
Warner Sayers in 1937 wrote a brief history of the Club, of which he was vice president, published in the Lexington Herald and reprinted in a small pamphlet. He surmised that the first president was General James F. Robinson, who “stood very high both socially and financially in the community.”
Robinson’s title derived from his service as quarter master general for Kentucky during the Civil War; he was prominent as a horseman, and at the time of his death in 1892 was city treasurer.He “resided on South Limestone in a long, rambling one story brick house, exactly where the United States Agricultural Station now stands. He entertained lavishly and the grounds around his home were famous as an old-fashioned garden.”
E.L. (Teddy) Hutchinson, an attorney for many years,confirmed that the Club had its origin in 1860 but “became well known” and was formally confirmed and “organized in the latter part of 1873, with an initial membership of 19.” In 1937 the sole survivor of that select group was the venerable Judge George B. Kinkead of “Lyndhurst.”
Among the members recalled by Judge Kinkead were:Llewellyn P. Tarlton, a lawyer who at the time was sheriff of Fayette County; Jeremiah R. Morton, a veteran of Morgan’s Men, member of the city school board, master commissioner and judge of Fayette Circuit Court; Matt Simpson, a farmer of near Avon who was prominent in the city and county aff-1fairs; Thomas J. Bush, a Union Army veteran who served on the City Council and in the state Senate and House of Representatives; H. Marshall Buford, a member of the Fayette Bar; D. Vertner Johnson, who became secretary of the Lexington Gas Company; B. Winslow Dudley, popular and socially prominent, who lived in the historic Bodley House at Market and Second; Theodore Shaw, a deputy sheriff later affiliated with a furniture store; D.D. Bell, banker, horseman,philanthropist and owner of Bell Place, and Jack Warfield,who has not been definitely identified.
The Lexington Club’s first quarters were on the second floor of a brick house on the north side of Short Street, three or four doors east of Market. It remained there until 1876 when it moved to the second story of a house on the south side of Short Street between Mill and Broadway (316-318West Short).
In January of 1877 the Lexington Club moved to the Phoenix Hotel where, according to the Daily Press of Jan. 25,“apartments have been newly and elegantly fitted up for their use.” The Press also reported that General Robinson,to celebrate the removal, gave “an elegant lunch, at which about forty members of the Club were present. A magnificent saddle of South down mutton…and a basket of superior champagne…were among the most attractive features of the entertainment.”
Unfortunately, the hotel burned in May, 1879, destroying the Club’s records and portraits, but when the Phoenix was rebuilt by the fall of that year a large room was provided for the Club, part of the quarters which were still in use in 1937. They were on the corner of Main and Limestone,where a bay window provided a vantage point from which the members could survey activities up and down Main.
In the 1870s the forces of morality and temperance were2strong and aggressive in the community and the Lexington Club came under their scrutiny, somewhat to the amusement of the Daily Press. That paper carried the following article on Nov. 24, 1874:
“For some time past Lexington has gloried in one of those rare, fascinating possessions, a social club house, where you don’t have to slip behind a green door when you take a drink.There is no doubt on the mind of anybody who has ever partaken of the hospitalities of the club room, that it is a good institution. Strangers, especially, who come to the town, and are on terms of intimacy with the members of the Club, have reason to be grateful that such a sociable place exists.
“But some evil eye fell upon it about the time of the Temperance Crusade, and the Club was indicted through its representative,the steward, for keeping a tippling house with out a license.
“Nearly all the members of the Lexington Bar are members of the Club, and some half dozen were associated in the defense. Col. W.C.P. Breckenridge addressed the jury in an able and eloquent speech on behalf of the Club. He was followed by Col. [J. Lawrence] Jones for the Commonwealth,who spoke of the danger to the young men of the city, from such extravagant indulgences and dangerous temptations as those which the club room afforded. He pictured mothers,and sisters, and sweethearts, especially the latter, pining for the society of the gay and festive youths who were disporting themselves at the Club. If only the ladies knew what the gentlemen were doing, they would be satisfied. But they didn’t, and there was no doubt therefore that the said gentlemen were doing what they had no business to do, and for the benefit of their sweethearts they ought to be fined. Captain Jones’ address had a decided effect upon the jury, and they found the defendant guilty and assessed the fine at $200.”
Why the commonwealth’s attorney was demoted from colonel to captain in the course of the article was not explained.
Colonel Breckenridge, then 37 years old, had had a distinguished career. He had been a colonel in the Ninth Kentucky Cavalry and a leader in the bodyguard of the fleeing Jefferson Davis after the collapse of the Confederacy. He had been editor of the Lexington Observer and Reporter and in 1885he was to be elected to Congress, where he would serve five terms.
In 1893, however, the community was rocked by an allegation that Colonel Breckenridge had himself been doing what the had no business to do, to wit., seducing a presumably innocent Sayre College girl. She was Madeline Pollard and she charged that on or about Aug. 5, 1884, he had “completed his eduction of her.”
Nine years later she sued him in Circuit Court in Washington,D.C., for $50,000, charging breach of his promise to marry her, and in a sensational 28-day trial the jury allowed Madeline $15,000.
Within days, two books detailing the proceedings were in print, and in the next election Breckenridge was defeated.He returned to Lexington to resume the practice of law and later to write editorials for the Lexington Herald.
Three years after the 1874 liquor conviction the moral element in the city was still going strong. The Press on Oct. 9, 1877, once more reported an assault on the Lexington Club,this time by a local Methodist minister who obviously was an ardent opponent of ardent spirits. In his sermon the previous Sunday he first took on the medical profession for so frequently prescribing “cod liver oil and whiskey,” and then asserted that the Club should be closed and “its members must come forward and take the pledge.” He had talked with “mothers, wives, daughters, and children,” he said, “and had learned enough to know the great evil there was in such clubs.”
The “Club House” was the primary offender, he declaimed,“from the fact that it was both ‘respectable’ and secret. A young man could leave his home and there get out of sight.When the door was closed upon him the descent from the smaller to the greater crimes of the place was easy until it terminated in his both becoming a drunkard and a gambler.”The place had to be closed!
A custom of the Club in the late nineteenth century was “to give an annual dinner in the hotel dining room,” the historians reported. “These were elaborate affairs. Each member had the privilege of inviting one guest. All appeared in full evening dress, assembling in [the club room], they marched two by two to the dining room. The meals were sumptuous and champagne was served in generous quantity.”
The actual membership of the Club was augmented by“a large list of regular and constant visitors. When Congress was not in session Senators James B. Beck and Joseph Blackburn spent much of their time in the club rooms.Many members of the Queen City Club of Cincinnati and the Pendennis Club of Louisville made this club their headquarters while in Lexington on business or social missions.These welcome guests were especially in evidence during the Spring and Fall races.
Although card playing, often for high stakes, later be came an important activity at the club, it was not popular in these earlier days.
“General conversation and congenial association with each other were the charms that brought the members together.Of course, when one of the United States senators was present, he was given the floor. Every prominent gentleman5visiting this city was given a ten-days’ guest card. In the theatrical season prominent actors were invited to the club rooms after the play.”
Among the distinguished guests mentioned were Theodore Roosevelt, who stopped in Lexington in 1900 when a candidate for the vice presidency; Gen. Joseph C. Breckenridge,a veteran of the Union Army and the Spanish-American War and a brother of W.C.P. Breckenridge; Col. Henry S. Breckenridge,son of the general, an attorney in Washington and New York, and assistant Secretary of War in the Wilson Administration;Sen. M.C. Butler of South Carolina, a general in the Confederate Army and Spanish-American War; Simon Bolivar Buckner, A Confederate general and governor of Kentucky 1887-1891; Robert Ingersoll, a noted lecturer and agnostic; John G. Carlisle, member of both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly and of the Congress, and Secretary of the Treasury 1893-1897; William H. Taft, who was in Lexington in 1907 when he was Secretary of War and who became President and Chief Justice of the United States; Henry Watterson, editor of the Louisville Courier-Journal; Joe Jefferson and Nat Goodwin, famous actors and comedians, and John L. Sullivan, the champion prize fighter.
“Such Occasions,” the account continues, “were only accessory and supplemental to the usual congenial intercourse among the members, who usually gathered from noon to 2o’clock, the then customary dinner hour, and then again from4 to 6 in the afternoon; the bachelor members again gathered in the evenings.
“Treating was the universal custom, and not limited to groups. Every member present was invited to participate.Good liquors were plentiful and cheap. ‘Old Pugh,’ the then favorite brand of whiskey was served two drinks for a quarter;mint juleps were popular, but ‘Just a little straight Bour-6bon, Sir,’ was more or less universal.
“Although the war had ended less than 15 years before, officers and participants of both sides were harmoniously associated in general intercourse, and the reminiscences of each were enjoyed by all. Gen. William Preston, late ambassador to Spain, a great statesman, lawyer and soldier, delighted all with his various experiences. Col. William Cassius Goodloe,secretary of embassy under his uncle, Cassius M. Clay,minister to Russia, and himself a brilliant conversationalist,charmed all with his experiences abroad. Col. Sam Stone,the champion swordsman during his college days at Heidelberg,when he could be induced to talk about his dueling experiences,was most interesting. Col. Zeke Clay, Maj. John Clark and Price McGrath, all famous breeders of thorough bred horses, could always enchant lovers of the turf with their knowledge and experience of the race course.
“Price McGrath, by the way, was a unique character. He was a witty and humorous gentleman and his brilliant and unusual sayings are quoted to this day. He had been a notorious gambler, was a partner of John Morrisey, who conducted the nationally known gambling establishment in New York and Saratoga. It was through that connection that McGrath made his fortune. When he quit the gambling business he setup the horse breeding establishment known as ‘McGrathiana’on the Newtown Pike… To his great credit and sense of propriety, he never played a card in this Club, and never made a wager with any member, but at Churchill Downs when his little red horse named ‘Aristides,’ won the Kentucky Derby and beat the great Ten Broeck, he took every bet that was offered.”
In 1880, according to Mr. Hutchinson and Mr. Sayers,“The group of gentlemen comprising this club was an unusual aggregation and not excelled by any club anywhere.”
It was, in fact, so successful that a rival organization, the Lafayette Club, was formed. It prospered, and members of the Lexington Club soon realized that it constituted a threat to the future of the older group. Negotiations between the two resulted in a consolidation about 1884 under the name of the Lexington Union Club, with “Teddy” Hutchinson as president.
To accommodate the combined membership, the Phoenix management enlarged the quarters, refurbished the rooms,and for several years the Club enjoyed a general prosperity.
This, however, did not last and in late 1902 the club became inactive. Nevertheless, five months later, on March 4, 1903,it was reactivated as the Lexington Club by approximately20 of the old members. The Club rooms were handsomely renovated, rules were changed to admit ladies to the quarters,and within a short time membership had so increased that additional rooms had to be obtained.
The Club in 1916 had approximately 200 members, including a number of non-residents, according to an article in the Lexington Herald of July 2. “The club rooms, located on the second floor of the Phoenix Hotel Building, at the corner of Main and Limestone, overlook both streets,” the reporter wrote. “They consist of a dining room, reading room and writing room, which are quite generally used by members.
“A noon lunch is served, which is usually patronized by fifteen or twenty members, who find it pleasant to talk over business at their lunch. The general assembly time, however,especially during the winter months, is between the hours of 5 and 6 o’clock, when the members gather after business hours for a smoke and a chat with business and professional acquaintances…
“One of the fixtures of the Club,” the article continued, “is…Charley Anderson, who has been with the organization…in the same capacity for…decades and who would be missed8as much or more than most of the members should something happen to him or his connection with the Club. He knows every member by his name, as well as practically all who have ever visited the Club as a guest.
The next year the Herald again wrote of the Lexington Club as foremost among the social organizations of the city,and commented:
“The Club, despite its modern equipment, has managed to maintain something of the air it has inherited through its wealth of tradition, not the least of which is due to the presence of one Charley Anderson,…steward to the club for more than twenty years. That the trend of modern times has been felt even here, however, is evidenced by the veteran’s statement that ‘more sarsaparilla and mineral waters have been served in our club in the past year than in any two years since we organized, sir. I’m afraid, sir, the Club is going to Hell.”
World War I drew a number of members from the Club and a plaque on the wall in the Ellis room of the present quarters lists their names. Only one, Andrew L. Ellet, Jr., lost his life in the war.
“After the war and up to 1929 the Club went along in its usual way, at which time, like other clubs, it felt the effect of the depression,” Mr. Sayers stated, “and by February of 1936there remained about 39 members.
“At this time, Norman S. Stone, a member… of long standing…suggested that the Club members go out and ask their friends to join with them in rebuilding the Lexington Club and holding the traditions and atmosphere together in honor of those who had gone before.”
As a result, in 1937, the membership was 142, with 32 nonresidents.“Roxie” Stone, however, did not live to see his dream realized, for he died unexpectedly on June 7, 1936, at a fishing camp on Harrington Lake at the age of 49.
He was president of the Club when he died, was a sales man for Gray bar Electric Company of Cincinnati and had been vice president of the American Broadcasting Corporation of Kentucky, which operated Lexington’s first commercial radio station, WLAP.
Two large leather-bound books, one of them dating back to1885, list some of the gentlemen, and ladies, too, who were guests of club members over the years.
The first, a Lexington Union Club register for the period of 1885 to 1902, contains the names of many military officers,members of both houses of Congress, horsemen and residents of cities throughout the country, as well as Lexington.
The second, of the Lexington Club, records names from1903 to 1934 and was used only occasionally between 1951and 1973.
On May 7, 1890, seven U.S. senators and fourteen represent-10atives were the guests of James E. Pepper, the distiller. They were in Lexington to attend the funeral on May 8 of Senator James Burnie Beck, who had served four terms in the House and was elected to three terms in the Senate.
In that same year, on Oct. 18, the Club had four of the most unusual guests in its history, Count Primo Magri and his countess, Baron E. Magri and Countess N.L. Magri. The wife of Count Primo (a papal title) was better and professionally known as “Mrs. Gen. Tom Thumb,” and she and her troupe of little people, including her new husband, were here for appearances at the Opera House. Her first husband, Gen.Tom Thumb, had played in Lexington forty years before.
By contrast, in size, at least, was another group of visitors the famous Centre College Football team, the “Praying Colonels,” led by Coach Charley Moran and Captain Alvin“Bo” McMillan. Forty-five of them were at the club rooms on Oct. 22, 1921, the day of their 98-0 victory over Transylvania College, as guests of Willis Stewart, former coach and director of athletics at Transylvania. A week later the Colonels made football history by defeating Harvard 7-0.
Through the years club attendants have been important to the success of the Club and, just as they have been appreciated by the members, they have taken personal pride in their employment there. The tradition was carried on, for instance, by Walter Perkins who in 1931 came to the Club from the Phoenix dining room, where he had been a waiter,and remained until his retirement in 1979.
During the time when meals were not available from the hotel kitchen, Walter Perkins took the members’ orders and brought food from the nearby Canary Cottage. Many time she worked through the night and would go to a bakery on North Limestone for bread and then to Johnny Furlong’s cafe on South Lime for ham and cheese to make sandwiches for11the card players. Walter was honored at the Club’s annual New Year’s Day luncheon meeting in 1982.
In April, 1937, the Club took a major step forward with the employment of Van Cleve Stears as its first full-time manager,a position he held until his death October 17, 1958. A native of Nicholasville, he had held similar positions with two clubs in Kansas City. He was popular in Lexington’s social life and a capable administrator of the Club through some of its most trying periods.
During World War II the Club once again was forced out of its traditional meeting rooms, for the government took over the Phoenix Hotel to house troops in training at the University of Kentucky. The Club moved in October, 1942, into the hotel basement, where the Rook wood Room coffee shop and the poolroom were located and to which there was access by an outdoor stairway which the members shared with customers of the Phoenix barber shop. In September, 1943,the Army left the hotel, and about Nov. 1 the Lexington Club returned to its former rooms.
Later, however, there was a period of unsatisfactory and bother some moves in the building. New owners of the hotel in 1950 razed the old section adjacent to Limestone Street,where the prized corner room was located, and remodeled the lobby and mezzanine, forcing a temporary removal to the third floor.
Upon completion of the work, the Club had especially designed quarters on the mezzanine, including a lounge, library,dining room and three card rooms, with food service from the hotel’s kitchen.
The peace and quiet of the Club were rudely shattered on Oct. 9, 1948, when Detective Captain Frank Gravitt of the Lexington Police Department led a raid on its rooms. The event was described in verse by attorney Frank S. Ginnocchio:
For sports the Ninth of October was a glorious day;
The Wildcats had gone down to Georgia to play;
The trotting track here was the Grand Circuit’s hub;
But the Dead-Game Sports met at the Lexington Club.Awake, all ye coppers from rookie to chief;
Quit dreaming you’ve captured a bicycle-thief.
Awake, Hawkshaw Gravitt, your slumber is through;
Fred Wachs the Reformer has a mission for you!The game at the club had become a real honey;
Poker chips were not used, you must bet with cash money.
“I’ll see you and raise you,” was the chant of the day.
And many large bankrolls were melting away.
“Cash this check for a hundred” – even Whitey was rash.
The waiter went away, soon returned with the cash.The betting grew stiffer; the game sure was hot!
All at once some strange fingers were raking the pot,
And then the strange hand picked up each players stack;
Whitey yelled, “What the hell? Put it back! Put it back!”Yes, Frank “Gum Shoe” Gravitt had sneaked in the door;
When the sports saw ‘twas he, they were all mighty sore.
But their cries moved the Captain not one little bit;
“Pipe down!” he said sternly, adding – “Boys, this is it.”“You can’t do this to us!” the whole chorus did shout;
“Hey! I’m on the grand jury,” said Mike, “I want out.”
“Makes no difference,” Frank told ‘em. “Now give me each Name.”
“Gambling here or on Water Street’s all just the same.”“Oh, you know my name,” said The Banker, “I’m rich,
I won’t be raided by you, nor any other sonofabitch;
I know Johnny Stoll, and Freddy Wachs, too;
If you put my name down, that’s the last of you!”Other players, less gabby, still felt just the same;
Each made up for the record a fictitious name.
Frank could have required each driver’s license be shown,
But he knew there’d be hell if their right names were known.That ended the raiding, but this fact remained:
Their names if made public would somehow be stained.
So to John Stoll, the publisher, all quickly fled.
But “I just own the paper, Wachs runs it,” he said.Okay, thought the players, old Fred’s a good scout,
We’ll just call him up, and then he’ll keep it out.
Say, Fred, we’ve been raided. Keep it out, do you hear?”
“Hell, no! I’ll front-page it – best yarn of the year!”Came the Dawn. And came with it, that Damn Herald Leader;
The raid, it was played up to shock every reader.
Why, that ungrateful pup! Why, that snake in the grass!If he ever needs help, this whole club will pass.
This story’s real hero is gracious Judge Ready!
His logic was faultless, his action was speedy.
“A club is a home,” he ruled, pounding his fist.
“There was no search warrant. This case is dismissed.”“Whitey” was Van Cleve Stears, “Mike” was Burgess Carey, “The Banker,” William H. Courtney, president of the First National Bank; Fred B. Wachs, general manager of the Leader14and Herald, which were owned and published by John G.Stoll, and Ready was Police Judge Thomas J. Ready, who summarily dismissed the case on October 11. None of the defendants even appeared in court.
The Club’s quarters on the mezzanine were most satisfactory,and social activities, card games and fellowship were resumed, but the financially troubled Phoenix was sold again.The Club now found itself with a month-to-month lease and notice to vacate as soon as possible.
Garvice D. Kincaid, a Lexington financier, acquired the hotel in the winter of 1959-60 and offered the Club space on the parlor floor which had been redecorated and occupied fora time by the Thoroughbred Club of America. This included a dining room, with service from the hotel kitchen, and the Club accepted the offer.
Nevertheless, other changes in ownership took place, plans were made and abandoned for remodeling the entire building,and the Club entered into a lease with the new owner for the space it was occupying and continuance of the food service.This proved most unsatisfactory and shortly the landlord closed the hotel and kitchen but allowed the Club to retain its rooms temporarily.
For a short time in late 1974 space was rented in the Security Trust building at Short and Mill streets, which not only curtailed activities seriously but resulted in the resignation of many members, and the group returned to the Phoenix.
During the last several years at the hotel the Club went steadily downhill in services available and in membership.However, as Walter Perkins commented: “It was just like ole man river, it just kept rolling along,” and a few men remained while Caruthers A. Coleman, a veteran member of the club,ably assisted by William B. Gess, attorney, negotiated with the various owners. Mr. Coleman was president in 1975 and Mr. Gess in the following year.
In 1977 Thomas M. Johns was chosen president of the now-small group and a search was intensified for new quarters.Two years later, with Lloyd E. Roberts as president, the search ended when a home was located.
New members were invited to join, financial arrangements were worked out by Winfred M. Ellis, the treasurer, and others,and in September, 1979, the Club for the first time in its long history, purchased its own quarters.
It bought from Mr. and Mrs. Gordon Wilder the handsome Loom and Needle building at the southeast corner of the Esplanade and Short Street, a building which had been remodeled inside and out for the exclusive ladies dress shop.
The quarters bought by the Club were originally two separate buildings, erected a short time after the Esplanade was opened in 1926. One building fronted the new street and the other was a filling station at the corner of Short Street. In1944, when Mr. and Mrs. Wilder bought the first structure,the Blue Grass Automobile Club and the interior decorating firm of D.C. Atkins occupied the southern part next to Morton’s Alley, and they moved the Loom and Needle into the then-vacant “Great Room,” now the Club’s lounge, from its original location nearer Main Street. The next year they acquired the filling station and planned to combine the two buildings into a single luxurious shop.
On one of Mrs. Wilder’s three trips to Europe she met Mrs.Evangeline Bruce, wife of David K.E. Bruce, United States Ambassador to France, and was invited to lunch with her at their private residence, the Pavillon de la Lanterne, at Versailles.It had been designed by Le Vau, the noted architect of Versailles and the Louvre, and once had been a part of the Menagerie of Louis XIV.
Mrs. Wilder was so impressed with the residence that she16told Mrs. Bruce of her intention to remodel the Loom and Needle, and asked permission to copy the facade of La Lanterne. Mrs. Bruce not only gave her consent but located a set of the original drawings, which she gave to Mrs. Wilder.
The Wilders turned the drawings over to Warfield Gratz, one of Lexington’s most prominent architects who, with his associate,J.V. Moore, scaled the plans down to the dimensions of the Esplanade building, and a facade was constructed in exact proportions.
Inside the building, steps leading from the front vestibule to the second floor were removed and that space was used to complete the balcony around three sides of the Great room.
The Italian stone fi replace in this room had come from the17famous Green Hills mansion, for which it had been imported by James Ben Ali Haggin, The large gold-leaf mirror over the mantle is one of a pair imported by the Wilders from France.
The filling station to the north of the shop was incorporated into the building by the Wilders. What had been the gasoline pump area was converted into a formal garden closed in with a low brick wall with lattice work on top of a cut-stone coping.The garden front of the shop was constructed of glass,with glass doors. When style shows were held, the models walked out into the courtyard and around the fountain, and the construction of the wall permitted people on the street to watch the spectacle.
For the Lexington Club, the selection of this building proved to be ideal, under the leadership of Mr. Ellis, who had become president in January, 1980, the large two-story main room with its fi replace became the lounge, a second sizable room was converted into a dining room and bar, opening onto the patio, and other rooms were used as smaller dining rooms, card rooms, and offices. A complete kitchen was installed.
The remodeling was done for the Lexington Club by Cravens and Cravens, contractors, on a cost-plus contract, and interior decorating was carried out by McCloskey and Associates of Lexington.
In remodeling the garden wall was heightened a few feet for privacy.
The purchase and remodeling were financed by the issuance of non-interest-bearing, first-mortgage bonds, which the members were invited to buy. Those who did not care to buy the bonds (approximately 35 members) were to pay slightly higher dues.
Three items obtained with the purchase of the Loom and Needle were the large french mirror over the fireplace, a crystal chandelier and a statue. Chandeliers from the old club rooms were brought to the new dining room.
By early September of 1980 the transformation was completed and the clubhouse was opened, with Mrs. Jean Batesas manager.
Mrs. Bates, the Club’s first full-time manager since Mr.Stear’s death, moved to the Lexington Country Club in 1982, and was succeeded by Mrs. Faye Antle, who had been wedding consultant and caterer for the Winchester Country Club, public relations director for the Barn Dinner Theater and show director for the Winchester Lions Club.
The Club’s membership and activities increased and the need for larger quarters became apparent. An expansion program was approved and on February 18, 1985, the clubhouse was closed to permit Cravens and Cravens, contractors, to make extensive changes. These included moving the bar to the dining room on the south side of the lounge and adding the former bar space to the main dining area; relocating the ladies room, and enlarging the kitchen. A major change was converting the patio into a dining and meeting room.
In 1991, the Club once again came under new management,as Spence Johnson from Georgetown, KY stepped into replace Mrs. Bates. Club membership continued to grow and in the early 1990’s the Board once again realized the need for expansion. In 1993, with Jouett McDowell as president,the Club announced the purchase of property on East Short Street, directly adjacent to the Club, which had been unoccupied for some time. A major renovation on the property began in 1994, and was completed in August of 1995. The Club presented this challenge to Johnson Romanowitz Architects, which was firm to three members at the time including; Byron Romanowitz, Boyer Moore, and Joe Jones.
The changes included moving the bar from what is now the Coleman room upstairs to its present location in the Ellis room, the Coleman room then became a smaller dining area19and card room to be used for meetings and small parties.The most considerable change during the renovation was the addition of the Phoenix room, a much larger formal dining room. A new, much larger kitchen as well as a new basement storage room accessed by a new fire and service stairway were also part of the addition.
In 1994 the Board of Governors made the decision to extend club privileges to recent widows under a new category of Lady Associates. Club membership steadily increased during this time and in 1995 the maximum of 500 members was reached. The Club has had a waiting list for new member sever since.
In 1998, Mr. Johnson left the Club, and was succeeded by Gene Rogers who had been an employee since March of 1990. Under his direction the Club has continued to excel,and 2010 marks his 20th year.
In early 2010, the decision was made by the Board to convert the Governor’s room into a men’s lounge. This project included the addition of a fireplace and television, and removing the existing dining tables to make room for lounge style seating with a couch, chairs, and card table.
Currently the Club consists of the Ellis Room, the Phoenix Room, the Keeneland Room, and The Governors Room. Over the years the Board of Governors has commissioned paintings by several artists for the Club.
On November 12, 2010, The Lexington Club celebrated it’s 150 years of history with a grand black tie celebration. It will be exciting for all members to watch the Club continue to grow and prosper over the next 150 years.
