Middletown Historic Museum
12556 Old Shelbyville Rd.
(South Wing)
Hours: Sunday 1-3 & Wednesday 10 - 2
Group Tour by appointment (502) 245-5812

The center of Historic Middletown Museum's display is the work of illustrator W. Thomas Talbot. Having produced pen and ink sketches of many historic structures in Louisville and Middletown, Thomas, a retired whiskey company production engineer, built Middletown's Main Street in Miniature.

Middletown Buildings Listed on the National Register of Historic Places

Other Historic Sites

Arts & Humanities

The buildings described below are listed on the National Register. Each building's name is a link to a photograph.

Captain Benjamin Head House: 11601 Main Street
Built C.1815, 3 1/2 story stone construction. Longtime residence/office of Dr. Silas O. Witherbee (1846-1939). Now an antique shop.

Bank of Middletown: 11615 Main Street
Built in 1910. Molded Concrete Block construction imitates rusticated stone. Now a plumbing business.

Middletown Inn: 11705 Main Street
Built C.1798, East section is of log, West of brick, stairway has 15 steps, believed to Commemorate Kentucky's status as the 15th. State. Outhouse and smokehouse still on premises. Middletown Civic Club now in building.

Beynroth House: 11503 Main Street
Built in 1784. Log house covered by clapboard. Oldest continuously occupied building in Middletown. Now corporate headquarters for construction firm.

Davis Tavern: 11180 Old Shelbyville Road
Built C. 1796, brick structure with stone was stuccoed in 1922. Today a professional office building.

Frank House: 218 South Madison Avenue
Built in 1920 by Henry Frank. After Henry Frank's first house burned, he commissioned Louisville architect Arthur Loomis to design a fireproof structure. This Colonial Revival style house has concrete reinforced floors covered by hardwood. Private residence.

Bull House: 11918 Old Shelbyville Road
Built in 1859 by Joseph Abell for his daughter, Angeline (Mrs. William Bull). Greek Revival Style. Slave quarters have been incorporated into main structure. Private residence.

Joseph Abell House: 12210 Old Shelbyville Road
Built C.1804. Federal Style brick structure was built as main house on what was originally a 500 acre plantation. Now a private residence.

Middletown Methodist Church: 11700 Main Street
Built between 1889-1900 by William Benjamin Wood in Gothic Revival Style. Spire once made Church the tallest structure in Middletown. Superb stained glass windows created by J. B. Alberts of Louisville. Owned by City of Middletown. Open to public by appointment.

Historic Gas Station: Located at the corner of Harrison Avenue and Main Street. This Gas Station was given to the City and has been restored back to its original Aetna Gas Station.

The Middletown WWII Memorial Monument: Located at the Wetherby Property, 11803 Main Street.. This monument was erected in 1946 in honor of the men and women of the community who served and to those who gave their lives in the Second World War. The Memorial was refurbished in 1996 in recognition of it's 50th. anniversary by members of the Middletown Veterans Of Foreign Wars Post 1170, in cooperation with the Middletown Civic Club and the City Government.

Green River Writers, Inc. was created in 1985 by the late James O'Dell and Mary "Ernie" O'Dell to encourage regional writers and poets. Green River Writers groups, which meet twice monthly, provide encouragement, support and fellowship for writers.

The weeklong Novels-In-Progress Workshop, which brings published novelists, editors and agents together with participants, is held the third week in March.

A weekend workshop, held the third week in July, is led by published writers and teachers and focuses on fiction, poetry, nonfiction and essay. Participants can opt to stay on for a week of writing and informal critiquing sessions.

The Poetry-In-Progress Retreat starts early Thursday evening and runs through Sunday of the first weekend in November.

All workshops are held at the University of Louisville's Shelby Campus and are open to members and non-members.

The non-profit organization's Grex Press has published nine poetry chapbooks, archived at the Historic Middletown Museum.

Members receive a quarterly newsletter.

The annual competition awards prize money in twelve categories.

For competition and membership information, contact: Mary O'Dell, Green River Writers, Inc., 11906 Locust Road, Middletown, Kentucky 40243 (502)245-4902 or e-mail: mary_odell@ntr.net.

Artist Ruth Whittier Shute Tarbell (1803-1882) was born in Dover, New Hampshire. Her early watercolor folk art portraits are found in major American museum collections today. After the death of her first husband, Shute married Alpha Tarbell, a schoolteacher, and came with him to Middletown. She painted portraits of friends and relatives, as well as a picture of the Battle of Bull Run, but her later work lacks the unique creative energy of her early style. She is buried in the Middletown Cemetery.

The Corn Island Storytelling Festival, a program of International Order of E.A.R.S., Inc.was founded by Lee and Joy Pennington in 1975 when they were teachers at Jefferson Community College. There were 12 storytellers and 9 listeners at that first show. Today E.A.R.S. is international in scope and appeal. For information about E.A.R.S. membership, The Story Store(a library of reasonably priced books, video and audio tapes), and the quarterly newspaper Tale Trader, contact: International Order of E.A.R.S., Inc., 12019 Donohue Ave., Louisville, Ky.40243, Phone (502)245-0643, Fax (502)245-7542, E-mail:lpennl@jcc-uky.campuscwix.net

Sculptor and printmaker Donald W. Lanham: (b.1925) is a native Louisvillian who studied at the Art Center Association. Lanham calls himself a carver, creating animal figures, heads, and abstract art from ivory, bone, marble and wood. His work, well known to collectors, has been exhibited at the Historic Middletown Museum.

The Work of Illustrator W. Talbot Thomas (b.1916) is literally the center of Historic Middletown Museum's display. Having produced pen and ink sketches of many historic structures in Louisville and Middletown, Thomas, a retired whiskey company production engineer, built Middletown's Main Street in Miniature. For more information, contact Mr. Thomas at (502) 245-4294.

Lee Pennington (b.1939), twice Pulitzer Prize-nominated teacher, writer, playwright, poet, folksinger, and film maker, is the author of 19 books and plays. He and his wife Joy, own Jole Productions and have produced four documentaries on rural Kentucky. The Penningtons founded the Corn Island Storytelling Festival, today a part of E.A.R.S.

©1999 - 2008 City of Middletown