Mystery house: the life and legacy of Hampton Bush

Lewis Hampton Bush (1871−1915) was born in Winchester, a son of Valentine White Bush and Kate Hampton Bush. He grad­u­at­ed Winchester High then obtained a law degree from the University of Virginia. Returning home, he was admit­ted to the bar and began prac­tic­ing law in part­ner­ship with J. M. Benton. He mar­ried Susan Anderson Miller, a daugh­ter of Dr. Washington Miller in 1901, a union that joined two promi­nent Clark County families.

Bush won elec­tion as city attor­ney for sev­er­al terms. After Benton was elect­ed cir­cuit judge, Bush joined the firm of Dwight Pendleton and was lat­er joined by his broth­er, V. W. Bush Jr., to estab­lish the firm of Pendleton, Bush and Bush. Hampton Bush served as the local attor­ney for the L & N and C & O Railroads.

One of Bush’s legal entan­gle­ments helped estab­lish Kentucky case law. 

As execu­tor of his father’s estate, he was ordered by the city coun­cil to install cer­tain pave­ments. After he neglect­ed to do so, the city laid the side­walks and tried to col­lect the cost from him. Bush sued and the pro­tract­ed lit­i­ga­tion ran on for years before a low­er court decid­ed in Bush’s favor. However, the ver­dict was over­turned at the court of appeals, which held that execu­tors of estates must obey orders from the city involv­ing prop­er­ties in probate.

Bush helped orga­nize the local Elks Lodge where he was elect­ed to the seat of Exalted Ruler. As a mem­ber of the Hospital Auxiliary Association, he was a tire­less pro­mot­er of the need for a health care facil­i­ty to serve the coun­ty, but did not live to see the open­ing of the Clark County Hospital. 

While still a young man, he was struck with a seri­ous case of rheuma­toid arthri­tis that plagued him for the last ten years of his life. He sought treat­ment at Johns Hopkins in Baltimore, Battle Creek Sanitarium in Michigan and New York City.

When he final­ly suc­cumbed to his ill­ness at the age of 43, trib­utes poured in from the cir­cuit court and from numer­ous local orga­ni­za­tions. By all accounts he had been a beloved fig­ure in the com­mu­ni­ty. His obit­u­ary stat­ed, “Under all con­di­tions, Mr. Bush endeav­ored to engen­der hap­pi­ness” and “he was always the cen­ter of a coterie of friends, old and young, men and women and lit­tle chil­dren, who were helped by his cheer and brightness.”

The Hampton Bush House has a Queen Anne-style exte­ri­or with a Colonial Revival fea­tures, par­tic­u­lar­ly on the main façade. 

The house is not shown on the 1901 Sanborn insur­ance map. A 1902 deed to Hampton and Susan Bush includes “a lot of ground with a new dwelling house.”

After Hampton’s death, Susan lived in the house anoth­er 41 years. She was active in local affairs and char­i­ties. She put much of her effort behind fundrais­ing for the new coun­ty hos­pi­tal. After the hos­pi­tal opened, Susan was appoint­ed chair of the Women’s Auxiliary. 

She died in 1956 and left a large endow­ment for the Clark County Hospital. The house where she had lived with Hampton was sold the fol­low­ing year. 

Husband and wife are buried in the Winchester Cemetery.

The Dr. John Tyler House is locat­ed at 6 North Burnes Avenue (for­mer­ly Keyes Street). The loca­tion of today’s mys­tery house will be revealed in next week’s article.