Cherry Grove House

Kilmore Court Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Built Bef. 1814

Source: Old Houses of Lexington, C. Frank Dunn, typescript, n.d., copy located in the Kentucky Room, Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library.

Today hemmed in by a small court and serving as an apartment house, this 125-year old mansion once faced High Street, knew no boundaries except the four city blocks surrounding it (excepting corner lots High Street at Spring Patterson) and had the enchanting name "Cherry Grove."

Judge Charles Humphreys, who died here, presumably built it -- his residence here was mentioned in a deed of Bela Stephens in 1814 to a small lot adjoining it. The 1818 Directory lists: "Chas. Humphreys, attorney-at-law, High St."

Humphreys, a self-taught scholar, long was a Law Professor in Transylvania University and the author of a compendium of the Common Law, He died in 1830, aged 55. Judge Daniel Mayes married his widow in 1833. Humphreys had married Elizabeth Rigg October 19, 1826, after the death of his first wife, March 23, 1824.

When Judge Humphreys mortgaged the property to the Bank of the United States on December 7, 1827, its boundaries were described as practically High, Spring, Lower (Patterson) and Maxwell Streets -- the latter designated merely as "a new street opened by Dr. Frederick Ridgely."

Dr. Lunsford P. Yandell, who had accepted the chair of Chemistry at old Transylvania University in March, 1831, bought the Humphreys' home from the Bank of the United States March 20, 1832. He soon installed Dr. Jos. G. Chinn here as Yandell was living on Spring Street nearby, and took a $5,500 mortgage from Dr. Chinn for this place on August 22, 1835. Dr. Yandell left Lexington in 1837 to help start the medical school in Louisville. He died there in 1878, at which time he was President of the Medical Society of Kentucky.

Dr. Chinn had been living in the old Patterson home in the next block. The deed for the latter to Dr. Henry J. Peck September 3, 1835 (from Richard Higgins, Sr.) described that historic tract as "being that part of a residence of Col. Robert Patterson, now occupied by Dr. Joseph G. Chinn."

The 1838 Directory lists "Cherry Grove, Dr. Joseph G. Chinn, West High St. between Spring and Lower Streets," and also "Fairmount, the residence of Dr. Henry Peck, W. High Corner Lower St." -- the old Patterson home.

Dr. Chinn and Barbara, his wife, "of Lafayette Co., Mo." sold the property--"three acres, two roods and 21 poles Hill, Maxwell and Spring Sts."--to Elizabeth Coleman May 4, 1846. (Dr. Chinn returned to Lexington and lived to a ripe old age).

Mrs. Coleman in November, 1851, conveyed it intact to Purnell Bishop, china and glassware merchant of Lexington. Bishop sold several lots off of the Spring Street side of the property.

A charming bit of romance now comes into the life of "Cherry Grove." During the war soldiers were constantly marching or riding past this place, as the Versailles Road was merely a continuation of High Street a half block away. Sometimes the troops were Federals and at other times Confederates, and there was frequent fighting in and around Lexington.

One day Mr. Bishop's beautiful daughter, Ella, was standing in front of her home watching a Confederate troop march by, when she noticed one of the officers was carrying a captured Federal flag. She called out to him asking for the flag and he promptly presented it to her. Miss Bishop wrapped it around her and yelled, "Hurrah for Abe Lincoln." The officer--Captain Ransom--so admired her "spunk"--and also her beauty--that he returned to Lexington after the war, married her and located in Cincinnati, where they reared a family.

Not so romantic is the story of a marriage proposal that was declined by her sister, Josephine Bishop. A few years before the above incident a young man named Bostwick came to Lexington selling lamps. He attended the Baptist Church of which Rev. Wm. M. Pratt was pastor. Dr. Pratt introduced him to the Bishop family. He proposed to Josephine Bishop but she refused to marry him. Bostwick later became associated with John Rockefeller, became immensely wealthy and, when Dr. Pratt visited him to seek funds for Georgetown College, he was cordially received and presented with $25,000 for the college.

Long before this, however, Purnell Bishop had encountered financial difficulties and had to call on his friend, Reverend Pratt, for help in holding on to "Cherry Grove." Finally, on November 3, 1863, Dr. Pratt, representing Bishop, sold the property to Dr. Stoddard Driggs, who conveyed it September 25, 1865 to Dr. Jas. S. Lane. The next year Dr. Lane sold it to J.S. Joplin who conveyed it to W.W. Boyd in April, 1869. Boyd held it until 1890, when he sold it to Jos. U. Milward and it is known to the present generation as the "old Milward home."

Transcribed by pb April 2003

Updated December 13, 2025.