Documentary on Lexington’s 250-year history to premiere at The Kentucky Theater

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.

Who doesn’t like a good home movie on a big birthday?

As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, Kentucky Educational Television’s present to the city is a movie about its past. “Lexington: 250 Years” will make its big screen debut next week at the Kentucky Theater.

The movie looks back at what makes the city special and is part of 250Lex, the city’s year-long anniversary celebration.

The three-hour documentary will chronicle the city’s establishment on the banks of Town Branch Creek, and take viewers on a sprawling journey through the Civil War, the Great Depression and both World Wars, KET said.

Narrated by actor and Lexington native Josh Hopkins, the movie also covers the establishment of the Transylvania University and the University of Kentucky, and notable figures in Lexington’s history including Henry Clay and Mary Todd Lincoln.

“KET is one of the Commonwealth’s greatest treasures, and most trusted storytellers,” Mayor Linda Gorton said. “This year, KET is using its storytelling excellence to capture the spirit of Lexington’s first 250 years — reflecting on just how far we’ve come, and celebrating the remarkable people and moments that have shaped who we are today.”

Matt Grimm, director of production at KET, said the station knew it wanted to do something to note the city’s anniversary.

“It’s a Kentucky story, and KET tells Kentucky stories,” Grimm said. “It was something that we just wanted to be a part of.”

Producer Tom Bickel was able to put together nearly three hours documenting Lexington’s storied past using sources across the city.

The challenge, Bickel said, was finding visual representation of the city’s history before photographs and videos.

“It was something that we had to look pretty far and wide for,” Bickel said. “In the first part of the program, we leaned pretty heavily into drawings and paintings and other illustrations that helped to tell that story visually.”

From the city’s founding on McConnell Springs to modern day, the stories they found are compelling, Grimm said.

“We tell a story about a gentleman, Ed West, who invented a steam engine and, went down to what was Town Branch Creek had a little model boat of the first real steamboat and showed it in front of his townspeople,” Bickel said. “Later on, with the advent of cars, a gentleman named Thomas Dewhurst invented what was called the Dewabout, a little two-seater car that he drove around town.”

Dewhurst invented his car in 1899, and it was the first car on Lexington’s streets. It wouldn’t be until 1904 that the first traffic ticket was issued.

KET, Kentucky Theater part of Lexington’s history

The movie makes its debut at a theater that is part of Lexington’s history in its own right.

The Kentucky Theater has been operating since 1921, and for more than 60 years, it served as a movie house. When it closed in 1986, it was scheduled for demolition until a local entrepreneur purchased it at auction and turned it over to a non-profit arts organization called the Kentucky Theater Project, Inc.

In 2000, the renovated Kentucky Theater opened its doors as a community art center and art film house. Showing first run and independent films, the theater also hosts concerts and film festivals like the Harry Dean Stanton Fest, a film festival that honors Kentucky-born actor Harry Dean Stanton, and the Twelve Lions Film Festival that showcases independent films from around the world.

The documentary comes from a television station that is also part of the city’s history — KET. Debuting on Sept. 23, 1968, the goal of the station was “to equalize education and opportunity for all of Kentucky’s citizens.”

Its founder and first executive director O. Leonard Press said his vision for the station was to provide all Kentuckians with access to educational programming.

“Across Kentucky, I saw the heroic struggle to provide equal education thwarted by the barrier of unequal resources,” he said. “It was essential that we harness the power of television to assure the education and enrichment of our people so they would have every possible opportunity. We could not afford to accept less.”

After years of struggle to get the station and its transmitters built and operational, KET went on the air at 7:30 a.m. in 1968. The first broadcast featured Gov. Louie B. Nunn speaking at the network’s dedication ceremony.

Nunn turned the dial and transmitters opened in Ashland, Bowling Green, Elizabethtown, Lexington, Madisonville, Morehead, Owenton, Somerset, Hopkinsville and Owensboro. The initial broadcast was viewed by nearly 1,400 schools.

Since then, the station has grown into a network. KET transmits to the vast majority of the state and into parts of Illinois, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia. It is the largest PBS state network in the United States.

“Lexington: 250 Years” debuts at 7 p.m. on Oct. 13 at the Kentucky Theater. The event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 6 p.m., and seating is on a first-come, first-served basis with no registration required. The film will also premiere on KET in three episodes on Oct. 20.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated to correct the date of the premiere at The Kentucky Theater.

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 October 10, 2025 at 9:15 AM.