Leadership Lexington History Day Recap

By: Kristen Goble Brown, Member of 2025-2026 Leadership Lexington Class

Leadership Lexington’s recent History Day, held on September 11th, began with a moment of reflection led by Tyra Harbut, Commerce Lexington’s Director of Development. The session shifted focus from national history to that of Lexington, starting at McConnell’s Springs. There, the class learned about William McConnell's 1775 land claim, which eventually became Lexington. Highlights of the visit included walking the 26-acre park, understanding the interconnectedness of Lexington’s natural spring system and meeting the park’s ambassador turtles, Pop Tart and Strudel.

Photos by Mahan Multimedia

Dr. Vanessa Holden and Shea Brown

The group returned to the main branch of the Lexington Public Library where the class heard from Dr. Vanessa Holden and Shea Brown with the Digital Access Project (DAP), a community-engaged project that expands access to Kentucky’s historic county documents. The group was fascinated to learn about this archival digitization project, which dates back to the late 1700s and involves an immense volume of work. Holden and Shea demonstrated how they used archival legal documents and related metadata to trace the story of an emancipated slave. This example highlighted to the class that, through this project, Lexington’s history and the stories of its everyday citizens are more accessible than ever.

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The Kentucky Room

Next separating into stations, the class explored the various resources offered by the Lexington Public Library. One station, the Kentucky Room, contained a vast collection of archival materials pertaining to Kentucky and its counties. Classmates used the time to locate their home counties and, in some instances, found records of their ancestors in city council minutes from the mid-1800s. Other breakout rooms demonstrated how to conduct genealogy searches directly from the library's website and highlighted resources available for grant writing.

​During lunch at the historic Courthouse, the group heard about the positive economic impact of the Downtown Lexington Partnership from its President/CEO, Allen McDaniel, and a brief history of the Courthouse itself. Next stop was the Lexington History Museum, where several stations showcased the diversity that makes up the fabric of Lexington’s history. Themes included the impact of: women, immigrants, the LGBTQ community, business and sports on Lexington’s rich history; presented by Dr. Mandy Higgins, Dr. Rania Belmadani, Josh Porter, Bob Quick and Mark Turner, and Alan Stein respectively.

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The class then visited Douglass Park, where local historian Yvonne Giles shared the personal story of her ancestor, Lydia. Utilizing historical documents, including those digitized by the DAP project, Ms. Giles recounted how Lydia's story illuminated the history of West Lexington. She highlighted the transformation of emancipated slaves into landowners and community leaders, and the significant boost to local commerce provided by the African American Fair, which drew thousands.
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​The day concluded at the newly refurbished gym of the Evelyn Black & Alex Williams Neighborhood Center, where Ashlee Collins facilitated a debrief of the day. Kit Anderson perhaps best summarized the class's key takeaway, reiterating that "throughout the day, what we’ve learned is that it's those human stories within the broad strokes of history that stand out."

Evelyn Black & Alex Williams Neighborhood Center Gymnasium