WM. B. EMMAL HOUSE

140 E. Third St., Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky
Built 1844

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

Evan Lilly, who bought three of the lots in Combs Square from Joshua Frost for building purposes, sold one of them, with extra frontage, in January, 1845, to Wm. B. Emmal. The deal evidently included Lilly's erecting this attractive house.

Lilly had just come to Lexington (1844) from Baltimore, Md., where he married Miss Margaret Ann McCarter. He was a bricklayer and engaged in contracting upon arrival in Lexington, employing 50 to 60 men for some 16 years. He made the brick for the buildings he erected, which included the Main St. Christian Church, First Presbyterian Church, Baptist College and (with John C. Young) the Broadway Christian Church. He engaged in woolen manufacturing with George Wooley for two years and more, had a coal yard and later a grocery.

W. B. Emmal and wife, Catherine S., after residing here for nearly 20 years, sold the house at a handsome price to D.D. Laudeman in May, 1864.

Transcribed, Pam Brinegar, April 2000