A cholera outbreak once killed 7% of Lexington’s population

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.

Lexington has had three cholera epidemics, but its first one stands out, as it left more than 500 people dead.

It was damp and hot in June 1833 when the first Lexington resident fell sick.

About 7,000 people lived in Lexington that year. Agriculture was the city’s main economy, and Lexington produced tobacco and hemp that were distributed across the U.S. and the world.

In the middle of town was Postlethwait’s Tavern, the central point of entertainment and commerce in the city.

According to an 1838 book on cholera in Lexington by Dr. John E. Cooke, May of 1833 had been particularly wet and rainy. And down the street from Postlethwait’s was an empty building where people left waste.

The wet weather meant waste sat in standing water, breeding germs and disease. The high-water levels also seeped into basements and rear yards.

In late May, the first cases of cholera were reported in the city on the north side of Main Street, to the rear of the abandoned building. The disease spread rapidly.

Cooke speculated that water that flooded the area near Town Branch flowed back into the creek, contaminating it. Then the water was used by Postlethwait’s.

The tavern’s popularity as a gathering spot likely contributed to the number of deaths and infections.

Between June 1 and August 1, some 489 people died, with most of the deaths occurring in the first few weeks of June.

In one house near Short Street, 10 people died. Cooke said the building was a “house of entertainment” that had stayed open during the entire epidemic.

Local legend holds that one of the heroes to come out of the epidemic was “King” William Solomon, who saved countless lives during the epidemic. An avid whiskey drinker, Solomon’s aversion to drinking water is what likely saved his life, while his work digging graves for those who had succumbed likely saved hundreds of others.

The epidemic eventually claimed the lives of 7% of the town. Among the dead were three physicians, several merchants and mechanics… and Captain John Postlethwait, the tavern’s owner.

Just six days after the first reported case, “some physicians think 1,500 were ill of the disease,” Lunsford P. Yandell wrote in “An Account of Spasmodic Cholera as It Appeared in the City of Lexington in June 1833.”

To put that in context, if cholera hit Lexington’s 320,000 population and affected the same percentage of people, an estimated 70,400 people would be sick within six days, and 22,400 people would be dead.

Lexington was hit with two more cholera epidemics — one in 1849 that resulted in 337 deaths, and another in 1870. The epidemics led to the establishment of a new cemetery, as well as public health reforms, including the development of modern waterworks and sewage treatment facilities, regulations for how to build outhouses, and efforts to clean up low-lying areas of the city.

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 July 6, 2025 at 5:00 AM with the headline "A cholera outbreak once killed 7% of Lexington’s population."