Every year, the Mason County Younger Woman’s Club sells beautiful ornaments as a fundraiser. This year’s ornament was “Phillips’ Folly,” which sold out in record time and is no longer available.

This was the 25th year for the Younger Woman’s Club fundraiser and the first private residence they have featured. Kathy Bess says proceeds from the ornament sales go to a variety of charitable activities, including support of local libraries, Camp Discovery, and the Mason County Food Bank. She also said that through such fundraising, they were able to pay for the replacement of the Pioneer Graveyard sign that is adjacent to The Kentucky Gateway Museum Center.

For those who savor the nostalgia of anti-bellum Mason County, there’s no Maysville home more typical. It is steeped in irresistible appeal and history. The huge 3-story brick has been the subject of many fascinating stories and TV shows. Phillips’ Folly was constructed in 1825 by William B. Phillips who married Mary Chambers, and was for many years, “one of the most successful of Maysville merchants. He was the first President of the City Council and the second Mayor of the city.” (Phillips took office in 1833 after the death of Charles Erb Wolfe, who took office not long after Maysville was incorporated as a city. Mayor Wolf succumbed to Cholera.) William J. Phillips apparently ran out of money before the house was finished. “Rumors persists that after winning at gambling in New Orleans, he completed the house in 1831”; (other references list 1828). Perhaps because of the number of years it took to finish, it “embodies no single architectural style, but rather combines elements of Federal, Greek Revival, and Georgian architecture.” It rises erect and firm from a hand-quarried “dry” stone foundation- meaning it was carefully placed together without mortar, and has been wonderfully preserved throughout the years. “Framed with its original leaded glass window panes, the arched doorway leads from the white-columned portico into a commodious central hall with twin high-celling drawing rooms on one side, flanked by the library and dining hall.” “The stairway is carved identically to those in the west addition of the Lee House, the Ford House and the Old Mason County Courthouse. It is felt the same builder assisted in the construction of all four structures.” “The wrought iron gate, flanked by brick walls, is just one example of early ironwork craftsmanship found in Maysville. The front steps are flanked by the original iron handrails.” During Phillips’ tenure as mayor, the basement was used as an early jail. Behind the house, laid out before it was built, and while Maysville was still Limestone, was the oldest cemetery in Maysville. (Half of it is still behind KYGMC.)

Phillips lived in it less than a year and sold it to Sarah Armstrong of West Union, Ohio, and her husband John. Mr. Armstrong was born in 1779 near “Enniskillin, Ireland and after coming to the United States settled in Pennsylvania and became a school teacher.” In 1800, he migrated to Maysville. It is said, he “came to Mason County with a pack on his back peddling notions from door to door.” He became a wealthy dry goods merchant and community leader. Cliff’s History says, “one of the first, if not the first brick house built in Maysville was the store house and residence, years after its erection owned and occupied by John Armstrong, on Front Street.” (The building was occupied by Lee and Rees 1835-45, and later by The Eagle, Maysville’s first newspaper.) He was a vigorous supporter of Third Street Methodist Church, and it was under his leadership that the old church was completed in 1847 on a plot of ground he deeded to the congregation after a split over a slavery issue in 1845. John Armstrong built many early houses here, including “Armstrong Row” which is the stretch of West Second Street houses adjacent to where the January and Wood Company was located, and most of the Third Street Row Houses, which show a strong New Orleans influence with iron grill work. At the time of his death in 1851, he had had 5 wives and built more than 50 dwellings that still stand today. When John died, his son Francis Woodland Armstrong inherited the home. Francis was reportedly a founder of the local African Colonization Society. It is said that during the ownership of the Armstrong family the home could have been a stop on the Underground Railroad. In the early 1860’s, it was the Maysville Female College run by Fannie Riddick. In 1868, it was occupied by Mrs. A. Thurman who conducted a fashionable boarding house on the premises where “affluent young bridal couples would temporarily reside until they started housekeeping,” and later a lodging house run by Nancy Wilson. “While a lodging house, gentlemen callers were only allowed in the library (the room facing Sutton Street.) The brass sockets around the baseboard were actually for lights and were used when the pocket doors were pushed back for dancing. The crystal chandelier in the Middle room with the bay window, (was dining room) is original as are the brass sconces. The speaking tube was an early form of intercom system. These were later replaced by brass push buttons that rang bells on a “call board” that was located in the servants’ quarters in the basement rooms. One second-floor rear window facing the back porch on the right-hand side of the hall, was altered early on to make a door for an elderly woman in a wheel-chair. A family servant would wheel the woman out onto the back porch every morning.”

In 1891, Francis Armstrong’s widow sold the house to the Anderson Finch Family. (Anderson Finch was James Mitchell Finch’s grandfather and Bobbie Brothers and Jim Finch’s great-grandfather.) Anderson worked at the Mitchell, Finch & Company Bank. The Finches added the stained-glass windows at the first landing on the stairway. It was during this time, John Pearce, a guest of the Finch’s, committed suicide by way of dueling pistol in front of the mantel, but family legend says Pearce didn’t commit suicide. His death was the result of a duel which would have been illegal at the date and time.

The Finches sold the house to Dr. John Reed of Minerva in 1894. John ran his medical offices in the basement. The door opening onto the street in front of the building, which runs to the basement, is where his clients would have entered. Dr. Reed’s son, Stanley, would grow up to be Associate Justice of the Supreme Court in Washington, D.C.

The Reeds sold to Mrs. James H Rogers, (Lida C. Rogers) in 1904. James H. Rogers owned the Limestone Distillery. In 1910, Lida’s daughter and husband, Mr. and Mrs. Darlington E. Fee, acquired the house living there with two babies and a Filipino nurse after returning to the United States. Mr. Fee had been a collector of customs for a number of years in Iliolo in the Philippine Islands. (A deed in archives at KYGMC says the deed to the house was given to the Fees by Mrs. Rogers in 1919). “Many were the beautiful parties that Mr. & Mrs. Fee gave for their two daughters”, Florence and Lida D. “The daughters told stories of how they used to slip from their beds and go out onto the upstairs porch. There in the moonlight, they would lean over the railing for whispered conversations with young men who waited on the sidewalk below. “We never saw Johnny Armstrong, (referring to the ghost of John Armstrong and his Newfoundland dog who was reported as being seen on occasion), but we would rather have faced him than our father who sometimes caught us out there,” stated Florence Fee. The upstairs porch in the rear on the right-hand side was enclosed with screening at one time. This area was used as a “sleeping porch” and members of the family, particularly the children, slept there on hot summer nights.” Wainscoting was added to the house by the Darlington Fees as well as a beautiful rose garden. Jerry Andrews would tell you it wasn’t Phillip’s Folly- it was the “Fee House”! Mrs. Fee lived there until her death in late June of 1961 and it was “bequeathed to her younger daughter Catherine” (Mrs. Blaine E. Matthews). Mr. and Mrs. Francis J. Breslin leased the property in the years after Mrs. Fee’s death and then Mrs. Matthews and her children sold it to Mr. and Mrs. Andrew Duke in 1977. Andrew and Mary Louise Duke put in new heating and cooling systems.

The Dukes sold it to Bart and Michelle Rigg in 1993. Mrs. Rigg had her law office in the home. Bruce Carlson owned it briefly in 2008 then Jim Turner and Tom Bailey acquired it. “Bailey lived in Maysville prior to the purchase and directed choir at the First Christian Church and did student teaching under Coralie Runyon Jones.” Turner said he felt at home when he lived in it. “It has soul to it….as if it’s the heart and soul of the town.” In 2021 Robert and Gwen Boone returned to their hometown and it has now become their home. KYGMC is happy to call them neighbors and look forward to watching their family grow and love the house. You can almost see it smiling!

Questions may be sent to Hixson@kygmc.org @ Kentucky Gateway Museum Center, Maysville, KY