Night, Thursday, August 18, 1921, Vance Farm, Nelson County, Kentucky. Mr. Charles and Beulah Vance were sound asleep in bed when the blast from a shotgun pierced the silence. Beulah Vance startled awake to see her husband, Charles Vance, sit up, clutch his chest, and fall over the edge of the bed near…
Vic Ballowe: The Madam of Court Street
[Written by Megan Branon] Victoria J. Ballowe was born in Tennessee in 1859. For reasons unknown to us, her family decided to pack up and move to McCracken County, Kentucky and by 1870, her father was raising four children on his own. Two young boys, Lee & Robert, more than likely kept the household busy…
The Mayfield Monitor Gets Hot in the Collar 1898 Graves County, Kentucky 1898
“The Mayfield Monitor Gets Hot in the Collar It is said the bawdy house in the east end of town has opened. There is either no law to reach such institutions or it is ignored, as they are permitted to run without let or hindrance. Mayfield seems to be on the downgrade as to morality…
Madam Mollie Neif
[Written by Megan Branon] From the late 1800s up to the early 1900s, if you were looking for the “nightlife” in Paducah, Kentucky, you would have been steered in the direction of Court Street. More specifically, probably the 900 block because that’s where a cluster of women resided in “questionable resorts.” One house on the…
Kentucky’s Historical Lunacy Laws
Lunacy Laws The following is a compilation of lunacy laws that were established in the Commonwealth of Kentucky up to the year 1883. Please remember to keep these laws in a historical context when reading them. The book, in its entirety, is in the public domain and can be viewed freely online. To view the…
Kentucky Historic Institutions 