Renaker House (c. 1830)
Boone County, Boone County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Renaker House c. 1830. Built for Elijah Kirtley c.1830, probably by Benjamin Platt Fowler, this substantial brick I-House served as the Boone House Tavern until 1870. It later became the residence of Fountain Riddell, attorney, state legislator and founder of the Boone County Deposit Bank, and of Albert Boyers Renaker, Riddell's son-in-law and bank cashier. Boone County bought the building in 1967 and restored it in 1992. Marker placed in 2008
Erected by Burlington Historic District
The Story
Raised around 1830 for Elijah Kirtley, this sturdy brick I-House stood at the heart of early Boone County life, doing duty as the Boone House Tavern for four decades before becoming a private home. Its later residents included Fountain Riddell — attorney, state legislator, and founder of the Boone County Deposit Bank — and his son-in-law Albert Boyers Renaker, the bank's cashier. Purchased by the county in 1967 and restored in 1992, it survives as a rare window into antebellum Kentucky building and hospitality.
Why it matters
Roadside taverns and the substantial brick houses that grew alongside them were the social and commercial anchors of frontier-era Kentucky, and the survival of one this intact ties a modern county directly to its founding generation.
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Related people
- · Elijah Kirtley
- · Benjamin Platt Fowler
- · Fountain Riddell
- · Albert Boyers Renaker
Themes & tags
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