Bullitt County History Museum Website - A Look Back

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Did you know that the Bullitt County History Museum also has a website? [Well, of course you do since you're here now!] Its address is bullittcountyhistory.org (no spaces; all lowercase letters). Today, I want to give you an idea of how much there is to see here. Just so you know, I've maintained the website since its beginning. In this website version, I've added links to the various webpages mentioned. Just look for the underlined items.

The History Museum website opened online in September 2007. In our first year we added transcriptions of Robert McDowell's articles about Bullitt's Lick and the Wilderness Road, and Audrea McDowell's Filson Club article titled "The Pursuit of Health and Happiness at the Paroquet Spring in Kentucky. Also included were our first efforts at describing the creation of Bullitt County; and my article about iron manufacturing along Salt River, both of which would see significant additions as the years went by.

Also included was a transcription of my first efforts in describing the 1917 Shepherdsville train wreck that would grow into two editions of my book on the same subject.

One of the early additions to the site was David Strange's article titled "Civil War Military Activity in Bullitt County" that he had written in one of his earlier museum newsletters which we also included on the website.

David had begun preparing lists of Bullitt County sheriffs, county clerks and jailers, and we included these lists on the site as well.

Using internet search engines like Google Books enabled us to locate additional materials related to our county's history. An early example was the excerpt we found that described the founding of Eckstein Norton University near the Cane Springs Depot, a school dedicated to advancing the education of African-Americans.

Similar searches located the obituary of Dr. David Milton Bates of Shepherdsville, as well as a brief biography of Dr. S. H. Ridgway whose name would later be attached to a local library.

The museum cemetery committee had been active visiting and documenting the many small and large cemeteries scattered about the county, and we began listing them, and providing each with a webpage giving brief descriptions.

As we moved into our second year online, additions included our first efforts in sharing the T. C. Carroll plats index. For those unfamiliar with these plats, they included a variety of drawings and descriptions of plats, many drawn in the years following the Civil War, which were being tossed to make room in the crowded storage space of the Circuit and County clerks' offices. Local lawyer, T. C. Carroll discovered them and rescued them before they could be destroyed. Later they were moved to cabinets in the County Clerk's office where they remain today. This would not be our last efforts in preserving these plats.

Bullitt County had 15 historical markers at that time, scattered about the county, and we collected pictures of them, and provided webpages for each of them showing their locations.

Over the years many photos had been collected and stored at the museum, and we began displaying them on the website along with brief descriptions when available. That effort continues and has been expanded to include additional albums as well.

Another addition to the site was a memoriam list of Bullitt Countians who died while in military service.

Also, Betty R. Darnell, a noted local historian and genealogist provided a series of researching tips taken from her presentations on topics like accessing marriage, divorce, military pensions and probate records, as well as information on how to use county records to trace your ancestors.

The website's contents continued to expand with contributions from folks like David Strange who wrote of an adventure he shared with Jose' Rosario, Michael Eddington, Larry Lee Kitterman, Jr. and Jacob Marshall as they explored a cave fairly near Lebanon Junction in 2009.

In 2011, the Genealogical Society elected to begin placing some of the oldest issues of the Wilderness Road Quarterly online starting with the first three volumes as pdf files. This would expand until today, all volumes through 2024 are available there.

About this time we began adding information about the earliest land surveys in the county, and expanded our use of Google maps to show locations.

Other additions included transcriptions of various General Assembly Acts establishing road companies who planned to create various toll roads in the county. Some were successful, others floundered.

Daniel Buxton provided us with an interesting article about the Bullitt County Poor Farm in 2011. And an inquiry that year about the Shortsville Post Office led us to locate the names of folks who likely used this community's mail delivery in 1860.

It was also about this time that we became interested in Ed Croan and the dog tax law he sponsored in the General Assembly in 1905.

Marian A. Owens shared with us her memories of Bowman Valley School. And Meledie Duncan Gregory joined me in describing the life of Jarret Williams and his Bullitt County descendants. Jarret would be the ancestor of numerous folks in our county's history.

David Strange began writing Bullitt Memories articles for a newspaper in December 2011, and I joined him in the effort the following February. After they were published in the paper, we added them to the museum website.

We also added images of the 1912 Eighth Grade Examination for Bullitt County Schools which became very popular for quite some time.

The following summer (2012) Daniel Buxton shared his research on Reason Northern, a former slave who served in the Union Army during the Civil War. And I announced a new book about a feud in the Huber Station area that turned deadly in 1904.

In early 2013, the estate of Burlyn Pike shared a photo album with us, and we were delighted to add it to the museum website.

One of my favorite Bullitt Memories articles was the one about Isaac Wolfe Bernheim, first published in September 2013. And I suspect one of David's favorites was his description of his balloon flight, published the previous August. Or maybe it was his December article describing the reunion of an old photo album with its owner after 56 years.

In March 2013 I began writing my "It Happened in" monthly articles for The Pioneer News, and we shared them on the website as well.

In the summer of 2014 we added images of the pages of the 1937 Lebanon Junction High School Annual - The Eagle. We also added the 1929 Shepherdsville High School Yearbook - The Shepherd that same summer.

We were also fortunate to receive from Mark Shepherd images from his grandmother's photo album. You will find them as Mildred Bergen's Photo Album. Mildred took lots of pictures, especially of her classmates at Shepherdsville High School at the time Professor Jack Sanders was the principal.

Another of my favorite Bullitt Memories stories by David Strange was the one he wrote about Frank Hatfield's 1953 telephone call from Cuba to Glendale, Kentucky. You really have to read this one.

In 2015, we added a group photo taken in 1974 in Shepherdsville and requested folks help us identify the people in it. This is still an ongoing project so you're welcome to join in.

In May 2016 we added an article first published in The Pioneer News in 1916 about a grand reunion of former Pitts Point Academy students with their Professor W. B. Gwynn. By this time the town was beginning to close down, and this was likely its last hurrah.

At the death of Nick Simon in 2016, David Strange wrote a touching remembrance of this good man who touched so many in our county. We were pleased to share it on the website.

On the courthouse lawn you will find an historical marker dedicated to Adam Shepherd, for whom Shepherdsville is named. It was erected in 2016, and we shared it on our website.

Like some of you, I remember the day when the Shepherdsville High School gym burned to the ground in 1966. Built in 1924, it was dedicated as the Bullitt County Memorial Hall and Shepherdsville High School Auditorium, and contained a memorial plaque honoring those from Bullitt County who had lost their lives during World War I. Little was saved, but that memorial plaque (now on display at the museum) and one more thing - an old football rescued by Curt Hart. We wrote about it in August 2016.

In 2018, Penny Pack shared an album of photos collected by her late husband, Tom Pack, and we were happy to add this album to the website. Included were numerous photos taken of the old Henry Crist home. Others were of the 1991 train wreck at Shepherdsville.

In 2019 we added photos of the faculty and seniors of Shepherdsville High School for 1948-1949, and 1949-1950. We also included an article by Claire Smith of The Pioneer News about the dedication of Medal of Honor winner Henry B. Mattingly's portrait.

Two years later, in 2021, we added the 1954 S.H.S. faculty and senior photos.

After the release of the 1950 census in 2022, Betty Darnell and I transcribed the Bullitt County records and prepared an index all of which was placed on the museum website.

The genealogical sections of Samuel David Brooks' family Bible, and Rebecca Brooks' Bible were both scanned and added to the website in 2022.

Nancy Pauline Daugherty was a teacher at the Victory School for a time, and she wrote about her experience there that was shared with us by a relative. It is titled, A Victory School Remembrance, also added in 2022.

We were pleased in 2023 to announce the publication of Glimpses of Bullitt County History - The First Century, one of several recent volumes dedicated to the county's history. Profits from it, like all the others, go to support the museum's work.

That same year, we published in the newspaper and on the website our article about the land that became Camp Shantituck.

That year, through the efforts of several folks, the T. C. Carroll plats were all scanned, and we added them to the museum website, making them available for the first time on your computer screen.

In 2024 we wrote about how the Nichols community got its name; about what became of Judge Morrow's treasure box; and the location of the Pine Tavern.

Then, as the year ended and 2025 arrived, the Genealogical Society released all 36 volumes of it Quarterly which have been scanned and placed on the museum website, complete with an index.

And there has been so much more added over the years. We've transcribed many deeds, including dozens related to the original boundary of Shepherdsville. We've included many more Memories articles than I've listed here. Also included on the website are many short biographies and transcribed wills and other documents. And the list could go on, as you can see in our table of contents.

But you would be mistaken to think that all the museum offers is this website, for there in the museum you will find not only many wonderful displays, but our Museum Director Sheri Hatter reminds me that our in-house computer in the resource room contains over 850 family files, about 100 family binders, over 10,000 death certificates beginning in 1911. Also thousands of birth certificates, as well as census books, community files, school files, church files, cemetery files, disaster files, local history files, and many yearbooks have been scanned as well.

She also mentioned that the museum has original Pioneer News issues in nice bound books from 1983 to 2018.

The museum also has access to Ancestry.com, Newspapers.com and Fold3.com, three very helpful online research sources. And the museum has great volunteers who can help you with your research if you have hit a wall or if you just want to know how to get started.

The museum is open 10 A.M. to 4 P.M. Monday through Friday, and is located at the courthouse in Shepherdsville. Come visit us online or in person!

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Copyright 2025 by Charles Hartley, Shepherdsville KY. All rights are reserved. No part of the content of this page may be included in any format in any place without the written permission of the copyright holder.

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