News & Events
Previous issues of
The Bluegrass Historian:
Spring 2024
Fall 2023
Spring 2023
Fall 2022
Spring 2022
March 24, 2025—Impact Report 2024
Our 2024 Impact Report, showcases the remarkable growth and development of the Lexington History Museum since our reopening in the fall of 2023. We extend our sincere gratitude to Mayor Linda Gorton and the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Council for their enthusiasm and support in revitalizing the Museum and partnering with us on numerous projects over the past year. READ MORE
January 17, 2025—250Lex History Hop
Three of city’s historic treasures join together in a celebration of Presidents’ Day. The Lexington History Museum, Ashland: The Henry Clay Estate, and the Mary Todd Lincoln House will offer FREE admission to all on Presidents’ Day, February 17, 2025. Take this opportunity to explore these three special places, and their connections to our past. READ MORE
January 10, 2025—Gallery Hop
We’re kicking off the 2025 Gallery Hop season with a special installation related to two of Lexington’s own Revolutionary War veterans. The Captain John Waller Chapter of the National Society Daughters of the American Revolution will be displaying a piece honoring Colonel Abraham Bowman and the Bowman family’s connections to the University of Kentucky and Keeneland. The Transylvania Chapter NSDAR will have a mannequin in uniform representing William Tomlinson as well as a Culpeper flag to accompany the Bowman piece.
This first Gallery Hop will take place Friday, January 17, from 5:00-8:00 pm and is free and open to the public. The Lexington History Museum will also participate in Gallery Hops on March 21, May 16, July 18, Sept. 19, and Nov. 21.
November 15, 2024—Expanded Opportunity Expanded Impact
In July, the Lexington History Museum expanded our lease to include the entirety of the Thomas Hunt Morgan House at 210 North Broadway. With the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation now headquartered at Hopemont (201 North Mill Street), LHM staff were able to relocate offices to the second floor of the Thomas Hunt Morgan House. We were able to consolidate our collection onsite—meaning the collection, for the first time in more than a decade, is under one roof and accessible by the Museum staff every day. Most excitingly, we will be able to open the front two rooms of the house for expanded interpretation. READ MORE
November 12, 2024—New Kids Exhibit
Museum visitors of all ages now have the opportunity to learn firsthand what it means to measure a horse “in hands,” with the racehorse Lexington’s help. And there is a dry-stacked stone fence display with interactive and an activity sheet to further engage learners in Lexington’s iconic landscape. These hands-on activities will help visitors “touch” history and cross disciplines in their learning—measuring objects in hands is as much about the history of the horse industry as it is math! Building dry-stacked stone fences requires not only an appreciation for art and beauty, but also a bit of engineering prowess and design.
October 10, 2024—LexTalks October: “Bluegrass Bold: Stories of Kentucky Women”
Join author Carly Muetterties as she highlights Central Kentucky women featured in the book she co-authored with Maddie Shepard. Bluegrass Bold showcases 36 diverse Kentucky women whose contributions to national and state history over the course of more than two centuries deserve recognition. Written to appeal to young readers and to help teachers weave Kentucky content in their curriculum, Muetterties and Shepard chose women whose stories have the potential to inspire young people to be civically engaged throughout their lifetime. A limited number of books will be available for purchase.
September 12, 2024—Special Exhibit Opens Saturday, September 14
Among Women: 130 Years of the Woman’s Club of Central Kentucky
Ribbon Cutting 1:00 pm
Special Performance “Madeline McDowell Breckinridge” 2:00 pm
Admission is free for this opening day.
Among Women weaves together the history of the Woman’s Club and Lexington’s social and cultural changes over more than a century. From early reform efforts to historic preservation, the exhibit traces the club and Lexington from the Progressive Era to the late 20th century. READ MORE
August 5, 2024—LexTalks August: “Campus Candor: Students’ Stories Unmasked”
Please join us on Sunday, August 25, 2024 at 2:00 p.m. Authors Rosie Moosnick and Tori Cruz-Falk will discuss their book, Campus Candor, the product of more than two years of oral history interviews and writing. Through interviews with students at the University of Kentucky, West Virginia University, the University of Florida, and the University of Mississippi, Moosnick, Cruz-Falk, and their colleagues found commonality between unsuspecting student populations and built empathy with young people seeking understanding across race, gender, and class differences. As students return to their campuses for the fall semester, Moosnick and Cruz-Falk present the challenges modern students face and ways to build empathy in and beyond the college classroom.
July 1, 2024—LexHistory Welcomes New Board Members
At the June annual meeting, the Lexington History Museum Board of Trustees welcomed three new trustees: Natalie Frost Davis, Kathy Plomin, and Molly Thomas and reappointed Jeff Beard and Terry Smith. LexHistory Trustees serve three-year staggered terms and are eligible to serve up to three consecutive terms. “We are so pleased to continue to grow our Board of Trustees, while maintaining important relationships throughout the community. Our new board members bring experience, expertise, and enthusiasm in education, government, and fundraising, and compliment the strengths of our existing members,” said executive director Dr. Mandy Higgins.
Also in June, the Board of Trustees voted to award former board chair Bill Ambrose and outgoing board members Bill Swinford and Brad Canon, the title of trustee emeritus. Established in early 2024, a trustee emeritus is selected from those board members who have served on the board of directors with distinction and excellence. The Lexington History Museum is grateful for the many years of dedicated service our emeriti trustees provided and look forward to continuing to benefit from their advice and wisdom in this new capacity.
February 27, 2024—LexHistory Hosts Keeneland Library’s traveling exhibit
The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers.
The Lexington History Museum (LexHistory) is proud to host the Keeneland Library’s traveling exhibit The Heart of the Turf: Racing’s Black Pioneers. This groundbreaking exhibit follows the lives and contributions of Black horsemen and women from the era of slavery to the present. From racetrack superstars to behind-the-scenes caretakers, The Heart of the Turf showcases select stories of countless African Americans who forged their way in Kentucky and beyond, making the racing industry what it is today. READ MORE
February 2024—LexTalks:
“Lexington, Kentucky: Segregated by Design”
The Black Yarn team of Kristen LaRue Bond, Rona Roberts and Barbara Sutherland will present their research documenting the ways that government policies and private interests perpetuated residential segregation in Lexington, especially from the 1940s through the 1960s, and the ongoing impact that those past policies and practices have on our community today. Dealing with such topics as restrictive covenants, redlining, planning and zoning, urban renewal and the roles real estate agents played, this one-hour presentation will include images and dialogue with the researchers.
December 2023—Become a LexHistory Member!
In 2024, we are thrilled to reintroduce Lexington History Museum Memberships. Yearly memberships support our mission to inspire our future by collecting and preserving Lexington’s history and telling our stories. As an LHM member, you will receive free admission to the museum and our LexTalks series, discounts on ticketed events hosted by the Museum, discounted admission for guests accompanying you, and recognition on site, online, and in our newsletters.
Learn more about our membership levels and benefits here. Memberships are a great holiday gift idea!
August 26, 2023—GRAND OPENING!
The Lexington History Museum has reopened to the public at 210 North Broadway in the auditorium of the historic Thomas Hunt Morgan House. This reopening positions the museum to welcome visitors back to the beginning of a reimagined museum.
“We are thrilled to welcome visitors and share Lexington’s incredible history. Lexington deserves a museum where all our history—the known and unknown, the celebratory and the cautionary—can be told. I’m proud to be a part of bringing this valuable asset back to the community,” said Amanda Higgins, Ph.D., Executive Director of LexHistory.
LexHistory’s new space allows it to open to the public—individuals, group tours and school field trips. This comes after more than a decade in storage and temporary spaces since being displaced from the Old Fayette County Courthouse due lead paint dust and mold issues.
Hours: Thur. & Fri. Noon-4:00 pm | Sat. 10:00 am-4:00 pm.
School & Group Tours available by appointment.
General admission: $10 | Under 5 years: Free
Special rates available for seniors, military and groups.auditorium of the historic
June 4, 2023—LEXTalks:
Celebrating 60 Years of Lexington’s Human Rights Commission
Our June event featured a roundtable discussion with Human Rights Commission executive director Raymond A. Sexton as well as current and former commission members. The panelists discussed the history and creation of the commission, its service to the community, and its plans for the next 60 years.
February 9, 2023—We’re Expanding Our Professional Team!
The Lexington History Museum—LexHistory—continues to make strides toward a re-energized, public-facing museum. We welcome a new Curator and Exhibit Manager as well as two Interns.
Our new Curator and Exhibit Manager, Katrina Dixon, is a native of Oneida, New York, and her professional experience has included a variety of work that will prove invaluable to LexHistory. Most recently (and locally), she was producer and archival researcher for ACME Films, LLC. Prior to that, she worked as a records and database manager at the Montpelier Foundation, which included responsibility for supervising curatorial research assistants and interns. Montpelier in Orange, Virginia, is the restored house and grounds of fourth U.S. President James Madison and First Lady Dolley Madison. READ MORE.
October 24, 2022—LexHistory Leases Space from Blue Grass Trust
We are excited to announce another important LexHistory milestone. LexHistory and the Blue Grass Trust have agreed that leasing the main floor of the Thomas Hunt Morgan House on North Broadway will accommodate LexHistory’s exhibit space needs while being an excellent example of adaptive reuse in line with the Trust’s preservation mission. The Trust will retain its administrative offices on the second floor. READ MORE
October 5, 2022—LexHistory Names Amanda L. Higgins, Ph.D., Executive Director
After a nationwide search, the Lexington History Museum—LexHistory—is pleased to announce the hiring of Amanda L. Higgins, Ph.D. as its new Executive Director. Dr. Higgins has worked for the Kentucky Historical Society since 2015, most recently as its Community Engagement Administrator beginning in 2016 and managing the Kentucky Local History Trust Fund and the Kentucky Oral History Commission among other responsibilities. READ MORE
May 10, 2022—Welcome to our relaunched newsletter, The Bluegrass Historian (view as pdf), which originated as a small format newspaper in July 2000. The newspaper versions were edited and published by Lexington History Musuem’s first Executive Director, Ed Houlihan. Ed was instrumental in the Museum’s original vision, establishing it in the old courthouse building and guiding it during the early years until his death in 2008.
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