Citizens Telephone Co. Road  Crew, 1913-1914	Lumberjacks on Main Street, c. 1905 Thanks! to Jeanne Hartinger for this one	Brother Logan's Twins, May 28, 1921 In front of Owen Hulett's A few words on Owen Hulett, here.

 

Residence Section, Williamstown	Main Street Scene, c. 1930	Aerial of Lake Williamstown, 1957

 

Looking West on Paris St. (notice to arrow to the Methodist Church)	On Paris Street
From Facebook posts by the Grant County Ky Historical Society

 

Court Day used to be a big event in Kentucky counties. While actual Court business was transacted, it was also a time when most of the county's livestock was bought, sold, or traded. Other citizens shopped, bought and sold, gossiped, drank, fought, and held athletic events. These images are from Facebook posts by Grant County KY Historical Society

 

The Scaffolding used in the last legal hanging in Kentucky,
 at the Kentucky Colonel, Williamstown, Kentucky

A list, of who was hung from this scaffold, is here.

 

Lake Williamstown
From a Facebook post by Lucy Kinman Sterling

 

  

City Reservoir, Williamstown, Built  in 1929

	From a Facebook post by Grant County Historical Society
Lake Obispo, Williamstown, 1930	Lake Obispo, Williamstown, 1910	Lake Obispo, Williamstown
The Old Swimming Hole, 1946	Lake Obispo,  Williamstown	Lake Obispo, Williamstown
Lake Obispo, a.k.a. Railroad Lake, was on the south side of Williamstown, and was a major water stop for the Southern Railway between Ludlow and Lexington.  It was a popular recreation site for years, but met it's demise along with the steam engines on the railroad.  It's been drained for a number of years.

Somewhere in Williamstown, 1917

 

Main Street, Williamstown
From a Facebook post by Jon Erin

 

Ole Glory Tavern
(The Old Glory Curve was/is on US 25, between Waterworks Road and Charlotte Heights Road)
From a Facebook post by The Grant County KY Historical Society

The new Odd-Fellows Building. The I.O.O.F. completed the building in 1911.

They're first tenant? The Grant County News:

William Gaines Home / Dr. Lenore Chipman's office; current location of the Justice Center. From a Facebook post by Glenn Stewart			The Home & Boarding House of Allie & Asa Taylor stood where the Williamstown Post Office is located now. (High Street) From a Facebook post by James Jackson Hale

 

Wigginton Home
February, 1938

Rally for Barkley, July 9th, 1938
US Senator and Vice-President under Truman, Alben W. Barkley (Wikipedia).

	From a Facebook post by Glenn Stewart	July 15, 1938	July 15, 1938
	At one time, merchants would offer monthly cash or prize drawings. That may be what's happening in the images above.

Williamstown, 1949
From a Facebook post by Jack Phillips

Fixing the road south of Williamstown, 1929	Lovers Lane, Williamstown	Early motorist, 1910, near Williamstown

 

Williamstown Cemetery Background on the W. G. Cram Monument is here.	Squirrel McDonald, No. 2167  A Kentucky Premium Saddle Stallion  Owned by S. M. Billiter, Williamstown, Ky More on this horse, here.	Map of Littell Bros Distillery  on the Falmouth Pike Can you get to the  whole map?  Here.

The Williamstown Cemetery incorporated in 1860.

 

From a Facebook post by Glenn Stewart
Yet another shooting on Dead Man's Corner in Williamstown, 1869, here. Another in 1896, here. And another in 1909. Glenn Stewart also offers these additional episodes at Deadman's Corner.

 

This is a 1937 Flood scene. Williamstown's
Homer Marshall is repairing flood damaged power lines in Newport.

 

Early fire in Williamstown
From a Facebook post by the Grant County Historical Society

Fire in Williamstown, 1856.  Story here, and here.	Fire in Williamstown, 1893.  Story here.	$50,000 Fire, Williamstown, 1927.  Story here.
Williamstown fire of 1889 here.	$100,000 Fire, Williamstown, 1951. Story here.	Williamstown arsonist caught at last, here.

The 1825 law enacted to make Williamstown an official place.
The editor of the Boone County Recorder loved taking road trips. The trips gave him the adventure of travel, it gave him copy for his paper, it gave him a chance to meet people of the area, and it gave him an opportunity, we'd guess, to sell ads and subscriptions. Nonetheless, his accounts make for interesting reads, as evidence by his trips to Williamstown, like this one 1876, and this one in 1881.
Bootlegger caught in Williamstown.	“Williamstown, Grant county, established telegraphic communication with the outside world Thursday.“ Courier-Journal, September 16, 1876
Chicagoan arrested in Grant County during prohibition, here.	A Klan meeting in Williamstown is disrupted by gun fire in 1924.  Story here and here.	A newspaper correspondent reports on Williamstown, alphabetically, from 1872, here.
The naming of Williamstown, here.	Williamstown votes to go dry. Festivities ensue. Read it here.	1921 Prohibition Raid on Williamstown Moonshine, here.
Wanna see who got kicked out of the Williamstown Temperance Society in 1846?  Here.	Williamstown Sentinel is seriously called out by the Maysville Republican about a story on a Ku Klux Klan raid on a camp of African-Americans working the railroad in 1875. Here.
Williamstown scam artists caught in Warsaw, 1894.	A 1937 flood story from Williamstown.
“The Williamstown Mill and Light Company, Williamstown, Ky., has let a contract with Ellis King, Falmouth, Ky., for the installation of an electric light plant, including a street lighting system.  J. M. Riley, J. W. Shields, and others are members of the company, which has $15,000 capital stock.” from The Iron Age issue of April 3, 1913.
Grant County establishes the Dew Drop Chapter of the Sons of Temperance.		Maysville Evening Bulletin, January 23, 1902
Williamstown was once the location of a madstone. What's a madstone? If you don't know, by all means brush up on this fascinating but arcane piece of folklore at this site. We know there was one because of this item.
“Williamstown, Ky., Sept. 23 - Seven thousand people were here Thursday attending the reunion of the 4th Kentucky confederate cavalry.  Union soldiers are participating.  There was a street parade, a public dinner, and speeches by Breckinridge, Duke, McCreary (all Wikipedia) and others.” from the Hickman Courier, Hickman, Ky., October 5, 1900		Covington paper has the news from Williamstown in 1880, here.
		In 1941, the Kentucky Post ran this feature story about Williamstown.
Nancy Miller arrested in Newport, tried in Williamstown, for aiding a slave to escape, here.	“W. N. Simpson, who absconded from Williamstown, Grant county, about six months ago, leaving his wife behind and taking another woman with him, was arrested in Covington last Wednesday evening upon the charge of forgery. Simpson was Provost Marshal of Grant county during the war, and subsequently a hotel keeper in Williamstown. When arrested he had in his possession the sum of $500, which was immediate attached by Richard Brumback. Simpson was been sent to Grant county.” Courier-Journal, May 5, 1873
Eloping couple barely make it, here.	“A drover named Almon, who resides in the vicinity of Williamstown, Ky., was waylaid by a band of robbers on his way home from Cincinnati, where he had sold 350 hogs, and robbed of $1,200.” Sacramento Transcript, February 25, 1851
The Grant County Historical Society's Newsletter relates details from a talk by Mr. Carl Leming, who recalled Williamstown's first electricity, in 1924, only being on from 11 am to 7 pm, except for Mondays. On Mondays, power was available at 7 am so homemakers could start their laundry.
“The wife and creditors of Richard Simpson, a well-known citizen of Williamstown, Grant County, mourn that gentleman's sudden departure for parts unknown. He took with him a blooming widow and $6,000. His wife sued for divorce.” Courier-Journal, February 18, 1873	“Our town is continuously getting rid of bad rubbage.  The old public privy has become a thing of the past; the old blacksmith shop on main street has been torn away and a nice building erected in its stead, the old James corner building will be removed this week, and work will begin on a handsome business block.” Williamstown Courier, September 1, 1892
	Williamstown Courier, June 11, 1891

Maysville's Daily Public Ledger, June 2, 1900

South Williamstown
From a Facebook post by Glenn Stewart

	These detailed maps of Williamstown from 1895 are Sanborn Fire Maps, originally created to assist insurance companies assess risk for underwriting fire insurance, hence “fire maps.” These we've downloaded from the Library of Congress' site for Sanborns. They also had maps at that site for Williamstown in 1886 and 1890