Chalybeate Springs Hotel Springhouse Added to National Register of Historic Places

Chalybeate Springs Hotel Springhouse in Edmonson County.

Edmonson Voice Staff Report, photo: Darren Doyle
The Chalybeate Springs Hotel Springhouse has been added to The National Register of Historic Places among nine other Kentucky sites and historic districts in 2018, according to the National Park Service (NPS).

The small, modest building dates between 1875-1899, and is the last remaining structure on grounds where a rural mineral springs hotel and resort once stood, according to the National Register.

The list of new additions also include the most recent, Battery Bates and Battery Coombs Historic District in Covington, named for two Civil War cannon battery defensive fortifications built by the Union Army and located in what is known today as Devou Park.
  
Also listed was the Dr. Francis Joseph Halcomb, Jr. House in Scottsville, including a house with an original circa 1900 log structure and six outbuildings painted to simulate log construction. Dr. Halcomb was a native of Simpson County who practiced in Europe during World War II, then operated a medical office in Scottsville for more than 40 years.
 
Other listings this year included Pope Villa in Lexington, designed by early American architect Benjamin Henry Latrobe; the Bonnie Leslie Historic District in Bellevue, a 20th-century suburban neighborhood of single-family homes developed between 1920-1940;  the Louisville Veteran’s Administration Hospital, a complex of 13 contributing buildings dating to 1952, part of the VA’s effort to provide a nationwide program of care for WWII veterans; and LeCompte Saloon in Louisville, a two-story brick commercial building dating to the mid-1880s, one of the earliest corner stores remaining in the historic Portland neighborhood.
 

EV file photo of South side historical marker commemorating Chalybeate Springs.

​Three Mason County sites were also listed. May’s Lick Negro School is a consolidated school built in 1920 for African Americans, a portion of which was funded by the Rosenwald Foundation; the Richard Durrett House is a brick, Federal-style house dating to about 1801, with an unusual floor plan featuring two front doors; and the G.A.R. (Grand Army of the Republic) Monument in the Maysville-Mason County Cemetery is a 42-foot monument to Union efforts erected by the Joseph Heiser G.A.R. Post and dedicated in 1887.
 
The National Register is the nation’s official list of historic and archaeological resources deemed worthy of preservation. Kentucky has the fourth-highest number of listings among states, with more than 3,400. Listing can be applied to buildings, objects, structures, districts and archaeological sites, and proposed sites must be significant in architecture, engineering, American history or culture.
 
Owners of National Register properties may qualify for state and federal tax credits for rehabilitation of these properties as certified by the Kentucky Heritage Council, or by making a charitable contribution of a preservation easement. National Register status does not affect property ownership rights but does provide a measure of protection against adverse impacts from federally funded projects.

​The Chalybeate Springhouse is located on private property. Both the Kentucky Historical Society and the Edmonson County Historical Society unveiled an historical marker at Chalybeate Springs in June of 2016.
 
For more, or to review complete National Register nominations, visit www.heritage.ky.gov.