First an all-girls school, the Sayre School opened shortly before the Civil War

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.

In 1854, a New Jersey silversmith had a vision for a school: “an education of the widest range and highest order” for the women of Lexington.

David Sayre left his profession and home state to move to Lexington. After a successful career as a banker, he and his wife Abby founded the Sayre school on Nov. 1, 1854. In a meeting in the offices of former Kentucky Secretary of State George Kinkead, Sayre and other members of the First Presbyterian Church (then the McChord Presbyterian Church) drew up the school’s articles of incorporation.

By the next year, the school was established in its current location on Limestone Street and served as an all-female boarding school until 1876, when the school administration decided to allow boys to attend as day scholars. Under the leadership of Major Henry B. McClelland, the name of the school was changed to the Sayre College and Conservatory of Music.

During the Great Depression, the school struggled, but in 1942 it incorporated the Hamilton Grammar School and changed its name back to the Sayre School. Pillars outside the school’s main entrance still show the “Sayre College” moniker.

In 1947, the school discontinued its high school and began to lease its boarding rooms to the University of Kentucky. By 1961, under the leadership of new headmaster Donn Hollingsworth, the high school classes were reinstated, and the school entered a “new era.”

“Throughout the years the physical campus evolved as needs arose but has always centered around ‘Old Sayre,’ the original five-story Greek Revival centerpiece topped with its landmark cupola,” the school said of its history.

Today, the school has more than 600 students from pre-school through grade 12, representing 11 central Kentucky counties and more than 20 zip codes.

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