Jessamine County KyArchives History - Books .....Wilmore 1898
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Joy Fisher sdgenweb@yahoo.com August 6, 2007, 1:35 am

Book Title: A History Of Jessamine County, Kentucky

Wilmore.

   The following history of the ambitious awl thriving city of Wilmore was
prepared by Wm. G. Wilhite, and it is inserted as written by him:

   The village of Wilmore, the second in population in Jessamine county, is
situated on the Cincinnati Southern railway, five miles southwest of
Nicholasville and about the same distance north of the celebrated High Bridge,
where the railway crosses the Kentucky river, 276 feet above the water. Although
but eight years old, it contains a population of about 600, and is probably
growing more rapidly than any little town in Central Kentucky. A steady and
constasnt increase, without any inflation or boom methods, has made a stable
population of healthy growth. There is not a vacant house in the town today, and
as fast as built a house is occupied. Its existence practically began with the
foundation of Asbury College, which started September 2, 1890, in four rooms,
with two teachers and eleven pupils. Its growth has been, to a large extent,
coexistent with the growth of this college, both in building and increase of
faculty and students.

   In the first year there were enrolled 70 pupils. In the second year, 120. The
highest number enrolled in any year was 160. In the eight years of its existence
there have been over 1,000 students enrolled and 25 graduates. Sixty ministers
of the gospel have also been sent out from this school to various parts of the
country in this time. Students from 20 states and from Canada, England, Japan
and Persia have attended here, and its influence has been widespread and is
growing.

   Organized just 100 years after the founding of Bethel Academy, the second
chartered institution of American Methodism, and within four miles of the
original site; it has renewed the work of its venerable predecessor with vigor
and grown into a power.

   There are now six buildings, with the president's house, and a large chapel,
on six acres of campus. The college has a capacity for teaching 300 students and
boarding 100, with a faculty of eight teachers.

   This remarkable growth is due in a large measure to the energy, ability, and
foresight of Rev. J. W. Hughes, the founder and president since its
organization, whose constant labors have made Asbury College a strong and worthy
monument to himself, and a power for good in the community and abroad.    *  *

BUSINESS.

   Its nine business houses, carrying almost everything in stock that is needed or 
used, draw a trade far beyond its limits, and from three counties. Two drug stores 
and three doctors, insure the continuance of a healthy community: three blacksmith 
and carriage repair shops, find profitable employment; one leather and harness shop 
is kept busy supplying everything in its line, from a buckle to a buggy top; two 
butcher shops, and three large stores of clothing, dry goods, general merchandise 
and hardware supply the general needs of the outer and inner man.

   The Glass Milling Company was established here on July 1, 1891. Its mill, which 
ground 60,000 bushels of wheat last year, with a capacity of sixty barrels of flour 
per day, is one mile from the railway station. Its offices and warehouses, in Wilmore, 
were built February, 1897, and since then all its business has been transacted from 
this point. This company also deals in coal and lumber, and since its establishment, 
in the town, has handled over 2,000 tons of coal.

   The Saegerser Mill Company has a grist mill in the town, run by a gasoline engine, 
and does general grinding, and deals in meal, feed-stuffs, etc.

   A good livery stable, well-patronized, is one of the conveniences.

   Wilmore is an important shipping point on the railway, as evidenced by the amount 
of freight received and forwarded. The receipts to the railway companies amount to 
about $25,000 per annum for freight and about $3,000 for passengers. Large amounts 
of grain, cattle, hogs, produce, etc., are both shipped from and received here, in 
addition to merchandise, coal, lumber and articles of domestic consumption.

   It is essentially a moral and religious community, and the influence of its churches 
and missionary work is felt widely beyond the limits of Jessamine county.

   The Presbyterian church, with a handsome place of worship, and a membership of 150, 
presided over by Rev. Dr. E. O. Guerrant, himself a noted preacher and evangelist, in 
addition to handsomely supporting itself and him, keeps at its own expense, five 
missionary ministers in the mountains of Kentucky, a record not equalled by any 
church in Central Kentucky. In addition it has educated two young men for the 
ministry, keeps up a permanent contribution to an orphan asylum in South Carolina, 
and gives largely to charity and foreign and home missions. Its record for liberality 
and quick response to worthy appeals is noted in its presbytery. Its pastor is a man 
celebrated throughout the South and East as a powerful and successful evangelist, both 
in the large cities and in the most remote mountains.

   The Methodist church adjoins Asbury College. It is also a commodious and handsome 
building. Its history and work is almost coexistent with that of Asbury, and much 
that has been said of the college in a former paragraph, applies also to the church. 
It was founded fifteen years ago, and is the oldest and also the largest congregation 
in Wilmore, with a membership of 225. This church is also in connection with Asbury 
College, noted for its evangelistic work and spreads its influence through and beyond 
the state. The Rev. E. S. Savage, who has lately succeeded Rev. J. A. Sawyer, is the 
regular pastor, whose hands are worthily upheld by his congregation.

   The Christian church, though the youngest (founded in 1888), is second in membership, 
having 150 communicants. The church has probably the handsomest interior of all. Rev. 
Mr. Robinson, lately appointed minister, is popular with his congregation.

   A colored church, with forty members, completes the list of houses of worship in 
the town, though two miles cast is the thriving and steady Mt. Freedom Baptist church. 
It is the oldest of the churches in the immediate neighborhood and numbers its members 
a generation back.

   With a well-conducted public school of seventy-five pupils, in a new and commodious 
schoolhouse; with handsome, modern dwellings,, and with social and educational advantages 
unexcelled anywhere in the state, it is not necessary to "boom" Wilmore, as a desirable 
place to reside or do business in, and we can, therefore, rest on the statement on 
which the Declaration of Independence was founded: "Let facts be submitted to a candid 
world."

Additional Comments:

Extracted from:

A HISTORY OF JESSAMINE COUNTY, KENTUCKY,
FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TO 1898.
By BENNETT H. YOUNG,
PRESIDENT POLYTECHNIC SOCIETY; MEMBER FILSON CLUB; MEMBER CONSTITUTIONAL
CONVENTION, 1890; AUTHOR HISTORY OF THE CONSTITUTIONS OF KENTUCKY, OF "BATTLE OF
BLUE LICKS, ETC, ETC.

S. M. DUNCAN, ASSOCIATE AUTHOR.

Every brave and good life out of the past is a treasure which cannot  be
measured in money, and should be preserved with faithfullest care.

LOUISVILLE, KY.: COURIER-JOURNAL JOB PRINTING CO., 1898.


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