INDEPENDENCE HALL

Church St., between Limestone and Upper Sts.
Lexington, Fayette County, Kentucky

Built 1822

Erected by the "Trustees of the Methodist Meeting House" in 1822, after selling their church on the corner of Short and Dewees Streets, this building has enjoyed a varied and distinguished career.

It was used as a church until 1844, when it was sold to James March. March, a cabinet maker, made an assignment in 1853 and listed several good properties he owned. He said that this "lot" was "the same on which a cabinet shop and Independence Hall are erected," so we have that record that it became known by that name. At this time, it was being used by the City of Lexington as "City Hall."

Friendship Lodge No. 5, I.O.O.F., purchased it in 1855 from James March's assignee, Thomas Dolan, of the dry goods firm of Leavy Dolan.

The Odd Fellows sold it ten years later (1865) to the Trustees of the Female Educational Society.

It is still a good substantial old building, despite its more than a century of notable service.

John Newland Moffitt, one of the most eloquent preachers of the west, preached in the old Methodist Church here.

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

Transcribed by pb, October 2006