flood
Water covers Main Street and swirls around a fire plug when Town Branch flooded downtown on July 13, 1928. Six years later, the creek would be covered as a storm sewer. The stone building at the upper left is the old Federal Building and U.S. Post Office on the northwest corner of today’s North Martin Luther King Boulevard.
Lexington, KY - If the Arena, Arts, and Entertainment District project comes to fruition, and when the Distillery District project is completed, a significant feature in Lexington’s history will be revealed: The Town Fork of the Elkhorn, or simply Town Branch. “Contained” in 1934, the very reason for Lexington being where it is has been out of downtown’s sight for most of our lives.
That both projects would dovetail, connected by a revitalized Town Branch, says something about the modern attitudes toward our little creek. Not so long ago, Dudley Webb was ridiculed for wanting to create a lake in the area west of Rupp Arena. “Lake Dudley,” as it was derisively dubbed, would have recreated a major water feature that most cities of merit come by naturally.
Now, the idea is to uncover a good portion of Town Branch and create a natural water feature in downtown Lexington.
Just what was Town Branch? And how did we come to lose it?
Named in June 1775 when word arrived from Fort Boonesborough that the first battle of the American Revolution had been fought at Lexington, Massachusetts (our Lexington is named for the battle, not the town), the town was not settled until four years later because of the threat of American Indian raids spurred by the British. In 1779, the first blockhouse was constructed along Town Branch to take advantage of the ready source of water. The blockhouse was located near the nominally southwest corner of today’s Main and Mill streets. Given the orientation of the creek, however, the blockhouse in fact faced northeast, giving our compass-challenged community its orientation. (At one time Broadway was designated “East” and “West.”)
On Jan. 25, 1780, the settlers signed a compact, essentially establishing the town of Lexington (which would not be incorporated until January 1831). By 1804, a stockade was completed around the block house, giving additional safety for the village.
Although horses most likely accompanied the earliest settlers, Kentucky’s other signature product, whisky, did not arrive until 1780, when Elijah Culpepper built his log cabin distillery alongside Town Branch. Culpepper can be credited for establishing an industry that reigned in Fayette County until 1920, when Prohibition obliterated it. Whisky would not again be legally distilled in Fayette County until 2011, when Alltech introduced (what else but?) Town Branch Kentucky Bourbon.
Between 1780 and 1804, the original town bounds were established, creating the downtown grid pattern we find today. The bounds created a “Commons” along the creek, assuring everyone access.
In 1785 the first bridge to span Town Branch was built at Main Cross (now South Broadway about where Triangle Park is), followed by bridges at Mill and Spring streets. The following year, a fourth bridge was built to cross at Mulberry Street (now South Limestone). Soon after, the town trustees passed an ordinance prohibiting youngsters from fishing off the bridges. This, after all, being Kentucky.
In 1788 John Cocke built a grist mill powered by a millrace and dam to harness the flow of Town Branch. The mill, quickly followed by others up and down the creek, is claimed to have been the first mill in Kentucky.
In 1790, Lexington’s first fire company was established. Fire had become such a hazard to the little village of log houses that an ordinance was passed prohibiting stick and clay chimneys. Each household was required to keep a fire bucket at hand, and to form a brigade when needed. The fire buckets were funnel-shaped to discourage use for any other purpose.
In March of the same year, the trustees approved “digging a canal to carry the branch straight through town; also to have a row of lively locusts planted on each side of said canal.” Early on, the town was altering its most significant natural feature.
In 1793 Edward West demonstrated what is believed to have been the first practical steamboat in the United States. He had to dam Town Branch to get enough water to float his boat, which is why we think more readily of Robert Fulton and the Hudson River.
In 1797 the trustees decided to “straighten the canal on Water Street…” (now just a one block stub between South Limestone and Quality Street) “…and to build a bridge across same at Lower Street. (Lower was one block west of Spring Street, now the site of Cox Street Lot.)
In 1805 the community of Manchester was established as a mill town for cotton and paper. It later became the center of Lexington’s distilleries, where James Pepper and William Tarr reigned supreme and Fayette County was the world’s center for Bourbon whisky production.
In 1833 and again in 1849 floods and poor sanitation led to deadly cholera epidemics. The first killed 500 Lexingtonians in about six weeks; the second killed 300, including Mary Todd Lincoln’s father.
On May 8, 1879, the Tarr distillery burned to the ground, the fire cisterns having run dry during a drought. In 1885 completion of the city’s three reservoirs ensured a plentiful and healthy water supply, eliminating the need for cisterns and wells. By 1890 a public debate began over covering Town Branch for flood control and aesthetics. That discussion resurged in 1928 with the July 13 flood. On May 14, 1934, construction began on the brick barrel vault that would cover the creek, turning it into a storm sewer.
Just two weeks prior a fire destroyed the shuttered Pepper distillery, sending 15,000 gallons of flaming whisky down Town Branch –– a fitting sendoff for the little creek that runs under it.