
— 

Wihiiorical Gracts Surrounding Our Nursery Location 
The main tracts of the Hillenmeyer Nurseries are located three 
and one-half miles north of Lexington on land which has quite an 
interesting historical background. It was here at ‘Sanders’ Gardens” 
that Col. Lewis Sanders, son-in-law of the Famous Col. George 
Nicholas (he was the first dean of Transylvania Law College and 
wrote the Constitution of Kentucky), staged in July, 1816, the first 
agricultural fair west of the Alleghanies. 
Col. Sanders writes: ‘“At the close of the War in 1812, | was 
living in Lexington, then the center of commerce and the seat of 
refined literature of the West. My father was a farmer and | was 
reared on a farm but was subsequently thrown into other pursuits. 
(He became the biggest industrialist of the day in Lexington.) Always 
looking upon agriculture improvements with much interest, exhibitions 
of fine stock in England and in some parts of the United States in- 
duced me to publish in the Lexington newspapers that a Grand Cattle 
Show and Fair, free for everybody, would come off on my farm ad- 
joining Sandersville on the 10th day of July, 1816. Premiums in 
silver cups were offered and 5 judges named.” 
The judges were— 
Harris Innis, Federal Judge of Franklin County. 
Nathaniel Hart, Woodford County—owner of Hartland, one of the 
largest and finest farms in Kentucky. 
John Fowler, Lexington—a true gentleman of the Virginia school. 
Col. Hubbard Taylor, Clark County—a distinguished politician and 
excellent farmer. 
Capt. Jack Jouett—a good judge .of men and animals. 
“Capt. Jack Jouett had made his mark in the War of the Revo- 
lution. Virginia had voted him a sword for distinguished service. 
He was the father of Mathew Jouett, Kentucky’s most famous portrait 
painter whose fame is nation wide.”’ 
Colonel Sanders successfully repeated the fair at his ‘’Gardens’’ in 
1817. Those present were so impressed with its possibilities that they 
decided to form a State Agricultural Society. Isaac Shelby, the first 
Governor of Kentucky, was elected its first president and in 1818 
when Col. Sanders moved to Lexington they held the fairs at ‘’Fowler 
Gardens’’ and were continued for many years. These fairs were re- 
sponsible for the early interest in fine live stock, and laid the founda- 
tion of an industry which has thrived from that time until now. 


OUR OFFICE 
where Eincoln came 
Our present office has a very interesting history 
and background. At the turn of the 18th century, 
before the entry of a railroad, Lexington was quite a 
manufacturing center. Among its many thriving in- 
dustries was a cotton factory, built by Colonel Lewis 
Sanders. He, becoming financially involved, sold the 
plant to Warfield Brand and Co., and it was eventually 
resold to Oldham-Todd and Co. about 1828. The 
partnership consisted of Edward Oldham, Thos. Hem- 
ingway and Robert Todd. It was here that Robert 
Todd, father-in-law of Abraham Lincoln, had his 
office. Mary Todd went to Springfield, Illinois, in 
the fall of 1837 to visit her sister, Elizabeth, and there 
met one of the greatest men in history, who later be- 
came her husband. She came home after a six months 
visit but returned and on November 4th, 1842, mar- 
ried Abraham Lincoln. 

Five years later, in October of 1847, on his way 




to Congress, Mr. Lincoln spent a month in Lexington. 
It was then that he came to our present office to be 
with his father-in-law, Robert Todd and his brother-in-law, Levi 
Todd, who were manager and assistant manager, respectively, of 
the factory. Mr. Lincoln in a letter dated July 6, 1853, wrote: 
“In the autumn of 1849 | was at Lexington during which time | was 
almost constantly with L. O. Todd.” 
He returned several times, once at the death of Mr. Todd in 1849 
and again when the Todd estate was in litigation. Old residents of 
Sandersville often spoke of his visits to the cotton mill at the time 
of Mr. Todd’s death. Thus our office has, in a way, been made sacred, 
because within its walls and under its roof one of the greatest of the 
great, Abraham Lincoln, visited and no doubt discussed problems 
which may have changed the life of this great country. 
After Mr. Todd’s death, the mill did not prosper and it was then 
sold to Isaac Scott, Esq., who kept it running for a few years just to 
give employment to some of the faithful old help. At the time it 
went out of business the following appeared in the local press— 
“We confess that it is a matter of no little regret to see this village 
dismantled and its peaceful inhabitants scattered. It is identified 
with the earliest industries and enterprises of the country. Like the 
large tanneries, hat manufactories, and other perished industries 
which we just can remember, and which made Lexington at one time 
a point of great commercial importance in the West—when merchants 
from St. Louis and Kaskaskia, from Chillicothe, and from beyond 
Tazewell, in Tennessee, came here for their supplies—we fear the 
Sandersville factory is not to be succeeded by any similar establish- 
ment. But it is doomed, and all that we can do is to boast a little 
of what it has been, and hope that the railroads building and to be 
built will bring us again a portion of the manufacturing prosperity 
for which we were once famous.” 
Since the foregoing sketch appeared in the public press, the estab- 
blishment has been converted into a distillery, and again the old 
building is alive with business. It is now the distillery of Stoll, Clay 
and Co., and is perhaps paying much better than it ever did as a 
woolen mill. 
Stoll and Co. made Old Elk whiskey and continued the business 
until about 1900 when they sold their interests to the Kentucky Dis- 
tillers and Warehouse Co. The old factory, having been used for so 
many purposes, was in bad condition and was torn down. However, 
the old office and the whiskey warehouses remained. The company 
having built larger and more modern quarters soon had little use for 
the property and it was sold in 1915 to Louis E. and Walter W. Hillen- 
meyer. After much renovation it became the office and storage 
houses for Hillenmeyer Nurseries. 
LE] 
