History of Liberty Hall Historic Site

The history of what is now referred to as Liberty Hall Historic Site can be traced back to the great revolutionary war hero Patrick Henry and a grant he made in 1786. In that year, a young general of the Continental Army named James Wilkinson applied for and received a grant of land from then Virginia governor Patrick Henry for the land that is now downtown Frankfort. Wilkinson proceeded to lay out a town and name the streets for friends, famous persons, places and even himself. Wilkinson's original streets form the boundaries of three of the four sides of Liberty Hall Historic Site. Wilkinson Street is the front boundary and Main (originally Montgomery) and Wapping Streets are the side borders. Wilkinson ultimately sold the tract that is now Liberty Hall Historic Site to Frankfort resident Andrew Holmes. Holmes never lived on the property, choosing the neighboring tract across Wapping Street for his home. In 1796, Andrew Holmes sold the four acres that are now primarily Liberty Hall Historic Site to Kentucky's first United States Senator, John Brown.

When John Brown bought the property from Andrew Holmes, he began a residency that would last 41 years. The first several years of that residency were concerned with building Liberty Hall, the house John Brown would occupy until his death. The architect of Liberty Hall is unknown (John himself may have done some of the design) but it is clear that someone with great skill and understanding designed the Federal style home. It is, even now, one of the finest of its kind in the state and region. Construction began in 1796 with the clearing of timber for wood and the firing of bricks from clay excavated from the basement area and other sites. The construction continued until 1800 when the house was substantially complete, lacking only the glass windows for which a wax paper-like material was substituted. In 1800, John moved into the home, his wife and baby son joined him in the spring of 1801. At the same time, the contract for the windows was given to the Geneva Glassworks of Geneva, New York. The windows were completed and installed in 1803, finishing the house.

During the next several years, the family grew as did the number of structures on the property. From inferior brick judged unusable in the house, a smokehouse was built. Further down the Main Street edge of the property were a privy, slave quarters, chicken house, stables, and carriage house. Eventually a set of stairs was installed from the garden level to the river level and a boat landing was created. Ultimately, a fence was built around the property to keep in the Browns' livestock and keep out everyone else's. All of the structures were designed to meet the needs of the Brown family and to provide them with the necessities of life. After this spate of construction, Liberty Hall Historic Site remained substantially unchanged until the early 1830's, when it would undergo one of its most important changes.

By 1830 or so, John Brown was in his mid seventies and contemplating what would happen to his property and his family at his passing. John Brown made the decision that he wanted both sons to inherit equally of his wealth and property. As a result the site was divided down the middle with half going to each of John's sons, Mason and Orlando. John Brown also wanted each son to have a home . Mason, as oldest son, would inherit Liberty Hall but Orlando had no such luck. John Brown, in his generosity, decided to build Orlando a home on his half of the property. John Brown hired Gideon Shryock, Kentucky's foremost architect, to design Orlando's house. John Brown had met Shryock while serving on a committee to build a new capitol building for the state of Kentucky and was so pleased with the capitol Shryock designed that he hired him to design Orlando's house. The house was designed in the Greek Revival style and built by local contractor, Harrison Blanton. It was completed in 1835 and Orlando noted in a letter to his wife that the total cost of the project had stayed just barely under his budget of $5,000. Liberty Hall Historic Site remained substantially unchanged for nearly 50 years from the time Orlando and his wife occupied his house in 1835 until the early 1880's when one of Orlando's sons made the next major change.

By the early 1880's, Liberty Hall Historic Site had been the home of the Brown Family for over 80 years. In that time, no other family had ever occupied any part of the block bounded by Wilkinson Street, Main Street, Wapping Street, and the river. Apparently, for reasons that are not entirely clear, Orlando Brown, Jr. or his brother Mason or both decided to sell a strip of their property between Liberty Hall and the Orlando Brown House to a man Will Chinn who built a very large Victorian house upon it. The Chinns lived in the house for about twenty years or so and then it became the residence of the Sutterlin family. The Sutterlins lived in the house until the late 1960's when it was sold and razed to return that section of the property to the Site in its original condition.

While the Chinns were the first family other than the Browns to live on the block of Wilkinson Street between Wapping and Main Streets, they were by no means the last. In about 1900, some of Orlando Brown's grandchildren sold off three lots on Wapping Street behind the Orlando Brown House. This was done essentially to generate needed revenue but the exact purpose of the sale is unknown. Three houses have been built on these lots over the last hundred years and remain there to this day. The most signficant result of the sale of these lots is that their sale created the modern boundaries of Liberty Hall Historic Site. Aside from the reacquisition of the Chinn property, no other major physical changes have occurred at Liberty Hall Historic Site. The last major changes to the site were of ownership and use instead.

By the time of the sale of the Wapping Street lots, the Brown family had occupied Liberty Hall Historic Site for a little over 100 years. Over the next fifty years or so, that would come to an end as would the use of the houses as residences. In 1934, Mary Mason Scott, John Brown's great granddaughter, passed away leaving Liberty Hall to her brother, John Matthew Scott. Mr. Scott was a successful attorney in Louisville and well established in that community. He was also single and active socially and did not desire to be saddled with the burden of maintaining such a large and complex home as Liberty Hall. Mr. Scott decided to sell the house rather than occupy it. A group of concerned citizens formed Liberty Hall, Inc., a nonprofit organization, and bought the house to preserve it. They opened the house as a museum two years later in 1937. The Orlando Brown House was occupied until 1955. At that time, Orlando's last remaining great grandchild Anne Hord Brown, passed away. She had no close living relatives and opted to leave the house to the National Society of the Colonial Dames of America in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The Dames opened the house as a museum in 1955 and continue to own it to the present. Liberty Hall, Inc. now manages the whole site as Liberty Hall Historic Site.

To learn more about the history of John Brown click here.