Macklin House
Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Macklin House. This townhouse, built ca. 1850, became home of George B. Macklin, prominent land owner and coal dealer. He came in 1867 from Forks of Elkhorn area. His coal yard near L&N R.R bridge. Two-story brick carriage house at rear, one of few in county, built about same time. Blacksmith shop here also. In Corner of Celebrities Hist. Dist. Presented by John C. Ryan and Donald Duff.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
This brick townhouse, built around 1850 in Frankfort's Corner of Celebrities district, became the home of George B. Macklin, a prominent landowner and coal dealer who arrived from the Forks of Elkhorn area in 1867. Macklin ran his coal yard near the Louisville & Nashville Railroad bridge, tapping the rail traffic that made coal a booming Gilded Age business. Behind the house stand a rare two-story brick carriage house and the site of a blacksmith shop, remnants of a self-contained 19th-century urban household.
Why it matters
The house and its outbuildings preserve the everyday texture of a Gilded Age river-and-rail town, when coal and the railroads reshaped commerce across Kentucky.
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Related people
- · George B. Macklin
Themes & tags
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