See Lexington’s history through art at exhibits around the city

Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.

Experience Lexington’s history through art this summer, including paintings, photographs and one of Cassius Marcellus Clay’s original newspapers.

A number of exhibits around the city will take a look at the past in July and August as part of 250Lex, the city’s celebration of its 250th anniversary.

An exhibit at Lexington Public Library’s Central Library Gallery commemorates the city’s history using items from the library’s Kentucky Room, as well as items on loan from the Lexington History Museum, Keeneland, the University of Kentucky and local residents.

Officials with the library said items include memorabilia from Lexington firefighters, some of Belle Brezing’s clothes and the original opinion piece that led to Cassius Marcellus Clay relocating to Cincinnati.

Clay started the anti-slavery newspaper, The True American, in Lexington in June 1845. Clay knew his opinions weren’t popular, and Lexington had one of the largest slave-trade markets in the South at the time.

In response, he had fortified his office on North Mill Street with brass cannons, iron-barred windows and “an arsenal of Mexican lances and pikes,” according to Herndon J. Evans’ book, “The Newspaper Press in Kentucky.”

“A trapdoor in the roof provided an escape route in case the editor and his helper found they could not hold the fort in an attack. In the basement, Clay had rigged up an ‘infernal machine’ with a powder keg that he could set off from the outside to blow up the building and whoever was in it should the attackers succeed in taking over the plant,” Herndon wrote.

In August 1845, Clay wrote an editorial that was so incendiary, city leaders took him to court to get an injunction against his further printing.

When city leaders won the case, they were cautious about acting on the court’s findings. The committee charged with removing his press did so while Clay was in bed with a fever to avoid a confrontation.

While he was sick, the committee entered his office, removed his press and shipped it to Cincinnati. Clay then moved to Cincinnati, where he continued printing his paper through 1847.

The exhibit featuring Clay’s opinion piece runs through July 13 at the library’s downtown branch, and is open during regular library hours.

At the Christ Church Cathedral, an exhibit through July 7 will feature paintings, photos and fabrics that explore some of Lexington’s favorite “places, characters, heroes, villains, beasts and events,” according to the church.

Part of the church’s “Art at the Cathedral” programming, the exhibit is put on by the nearly 230-year-old church as part of its visual arts ministry. The goals of the program are to beautify the church, attract people into the church and provide a sacred space for artists to show off their work.

Five groups of photographers will show their work at the University of Kentucky Art Museum.

The “Focus on Lexington” exhibit at the museum features the work of:

• Maurice Strider and his students at Dunbar High School between 1934 and 1966
• The work of Ida Nelson and Robert Long’s Lafayette Studios between 1923 and 1959
• Selected works from the Lexington Camera Club
• Marcie Crim, Jonathan Rodgers, David Schankula and Richie Wireman’s Lexicon Project documenting the city’s diverse communities
• Kurt Gohde and Kremena Todorova posed on Facebook between 2020 and 2021, looking at connections in a time of social distancing.

The exhibit runs through August 2 and is open during regular museum hours.

Works from the Lexington Camera Club showcasing unique images of the city will also be on display through June 29 at the Lexington Public Library’s Eastside Branch and is accessible during regular library hours.

Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.

This story was originally published June 23, 2025 at 11:05 AM.