112 N. Upper St., Lexington, Fayette
County, Kentucky
Built 1805
Source: Old Houses of Lexington, C. Frank Dunn, typescript, n.d., copy located in the Kentucky Room, Lexington (Kentucky) Public Library.
Henry Clay, identified with the huge interests of Col. James Morrison, Thomas Hart, Sr., and Jr., and other influential and wealthy men of an early day in Lexington, erected this building in August, 1805, in what was just the beginning to be known as Jordan's Row--the center of business and professional activity for a century thereafter.
Mr. Clay said in his deed August 5, 1805, from John Jordan, Jr., to "30 feet fronting the Public Square" that it was "the same whereon Henry Clay is now building a brick house containing in front about 30 feet and running back 112 1/4 feet to the alley separating the Bank lot from those fronting the Public Square." (The property has come down to this day as 30 feet, and the same building). Mr. Clay was to have "the use and enjoyment of the aforesaid alley in its whole extent from Main Street to Short Street." Note the dormer window peeping over the sign on the roof.
On October 26, 1816, William W. Worsley, the famous publisher, paid Henry Clay and Lucretia, his wife, $6,000 for the building, "between John Brand's house and the lot of Lewis Sanders." (1818 Directory: "Worsley & Smith, Printers and Booksellers, Jordan's Row, Public Square." Mr. Clay's deed in 1805, incidentally, located his lot as between that of David Dodge, "now owner by Wm. Macbean," and "the lot of said Jordan."
William W. Worsley, whose publications are today prized by collectors, issued the 1818 Directory in this building. It was part of his "Worsley & Smith's Almanac." Worsley had apprenticed William Smith, William Beaty, James Guedron (in 1809), Marquis Barnett (in 1813), Thos. I. Stevenson and Albert Hodges (in 1815).
Worsley's first deed was October 3, 1807--a lease on the "Public Spring lot," which he took over from Joseph Charless. Worsley presumably launched the Observer here.
He and Thomas Smith on January 30, 1810, mortgaged to Nathaniel G.S. Hart "the printing offices of the Reporter and Kentucky Gazette, with all the proper types," etc. Charless, after a career as an early printer in Kentucky, moved to Missouri and became the first printer in that state. Charless had leased from the Town Trustees February 21, 1806--or rather had transferred to him the lease of Caleb Williams--for 18 years "all that part or parcel of a lot of ground in the Town of Lexington on which the Public Spring is situated." The boundaries were, "Beginning on Main St. at the East corner of the Engine house, thence South-west to the corner thereof, thence North-west to the house occupied by John Bradford, thence South-west to the first window in said house, thence South-east 11 feet, thence South west until opposite the lower corner of John Bradford's spring house, thence North-west to said corner, thence South-west to Water St., thence South-east binding thereon 22 feet, thence North-east 13 poles 214 1/2 feet to Main St., thence North-west 11 feet to the Beginning." Charless was to pay $80 annual rent for the property.
Charless issued the 1806 directory and other publications from his printery, which was located on the south side of Main Street, between Mill and Broadway.
When Charless transferred his lease October 4, 1807, to Wm. W. Worsley, "in consideration of seven shares being stock in and of the Kentucky Insurance Co.," it developed that Charless' lease from the Town Trustees was "in no wise to affect the privileges granted Englehart Yeiser by the Trustees of Lexington to convey water from the Public Spring and that said Charless shall have privilege at the expiration of this lease to remove any buildings which he may erect thereon."
In 1851, Wm. W. Worsley and Rebecca, his wife, now residents of Jefferson County, Ky., sold the house to Thomas Collins. It was bound on the south "by the houses and lots of Joel Higgins, usually called Higgins' Block" and on the north by the house of John Brand's devisees. In 1853, John B. Stout purchased it from the heirs of Thomas Collins. One-seventh came from Daniel B. Neale and wife, of Washington Co., Ark. and the other four-sevenths from Thos. Selby and wife, Elizabeth B. (Collins); Joseph Waters and wife, Nancy (Collins), of Boon Co., Mo; Lewis H. Collins (famous Kentucky historian) and wife, Rebecca; William Nelson and wife, Susan (Collins), of Linn Co., Mo. The house was now bounded on the south by D.C. Wickliffe, and John Brand's devisees on the north. General John Hunt Morgan made the D.C. Wickliffe home his headquarters when in Lexington during the war.
Stout sold the property in 1854 to John M. Clawson, whose executor, at public sale, conveyed it to Dr. Stoddard Driggs, per court order of 1859. By this time the Lexington Library owned the building on the north. Dr. Driggs died in 1887. His devisee sold the house to Henry M. Skillman in 1908 and he to the present owner in 1912.
Transcribed by pb May 2004