Back In The Day
This is one of the train stations in Versailles, Kentucky. It was built
around 1886 and was part of the Lexington Extension for Louisville
Southern.
This text are several bits from the National Historic Register and
tells the story of the Lexington Extension. For a full read how this
station was built use this link:
npgallery.nps.gov/GetAsset/1552fbef-cedd-4d62-bdb4-69b74eac6c6f
The story of the building of the Lexington Extension of the
Louisville Southern Railroad is more than the story of building 25 miles
of track to connect Lawrenceburg and Lexington. It is the story of the
nation's first modern big business, railroads, and the competition to
reach the rich eastern coalfields of Kentucky, of deals and money to be
made. It reached far beyond Kentucky and Bennett H. Young to the
financial empire of John Jacob Astor. The nominated segment of the
Lexington Extension has statewide significance and is eligible under
Criterion A under the context of railroads in Kentucky and under
Criterion B for its association with Bennett Henderson Young.
The Lexington Extension
Well before the line connecting Louisville and Harrodsburg was
complete, agents of the Louisville Southern began soliciting support for
the Lexington Extension, which would connect Lawrenceburg to Lexington
via Versailles. This line would, in conjunction with the track from
Louisville already completed, offer direct competition to the Louisville
& Nashville Railroad's Louisville-Lexington line. A referendum on
the $ 100,000 bond issue held in Lexington on May 29,1888 was
accompanied by accusations of vote buying on both sides. The Lexington
Transcript seems to have been particularly outspoken. An editorial urged
people to vote no on the bond issue because the contractors, Mason and
Ford of Frankfort, were the lessees of the State prison and were
building the M