Whiskey Men and Horse Racing

Foreword:   The affinity of whiskey men for horses and racing should come as no surprise to anyone.   With Kentucky as the center of the Nation’s liquor industry, as well as the famous producer of thoroughbreds, the attraction was  natural.  As the distillery ad above proclaimed, while the German might tout “wine, women and song,” the Kentuckian prefers “women, horses and whiskey.”  Featured here are four men, two of them from Kentucky and two Easterners, who used their wealth to indulge in what has been called, “the Sport of Kings.”

Thomas Jefferson (“Tom”) Megibben in 1847 went to work at the age of 16, finding work in a distillery that set the course for the rest of his life.  By the time of his death he had controlled multiple Kentucky distilleries and still had a financial interest in at least six.  Paramount among them was the Edgewater Distillery, located four miles southwest of Cynthiana in Harrison County.   At 200 acres it not only held Megibben’s distillery but a working farm, growing grain for his highly regarded whiskey and harboring a wide range of livestock, including horses, as shown on an artist’s drawing.

In addition to being the largest landowner in Harrison County, Megibben was a man of abundant energy, much of which he invested in horse racing.  In 1872 he bought his first thoroughbred and eventually ran a stable of fifty race horses and a hundred trotters and pacers.   He was president of the Kentucky Trotting Horse Breeders Association from 1873 to 1882.

Megibben’s steeds competed twice in the Kentucky Derby.   In 1882 his horse “Newbury” finished out of the money and in 1884 “Audrain” managed a third place.  The distiller is also remembered for having founded the Latonia Race Track in Covington, Kentucky, six miles south of Cincinnati.  Opened in 1883, it once was regarded as among the top sites in the nation for thoroughbred horse racing and drew more than 100,000 visitors annually.  Shown here, for more than a half century the track was host to many of the most famous horses in America before closing in 1939.

To breed fast horses and sell good bourbon were twin passions in the life of “Kentucky Colonel” James J. (“Jim”) Douglas.  Born in Kentucky in 1846, Douglas early in life engaged in the Louisville whiskey trade. In 1886 after years of apprenticeship to other whiskey men, Douglas struck out on his own.  He created a wholesale liquor business in Louisville and called his firm, J.J. Douglas  Company.

As his liquor dealership grew and prospered, Douglas became a rich man.  When asked his occupation by a census taker in 1900,  he replied, probably with tongue-in-cheek, “capitalist.”   Moreover, his interests were growing away from the liquor business and toward horses.   Called “an ardent racing fan,” in 1895 he developed and owned a trotting track known as Douglas Park.  Later the racetrack expanded to thoroughbred racing and competed directly with Churchill Downs, eventually becoming the home of the Kentucky Handicap.

Turning over the management of his liquor house to others, in 1896 Douglas moved from Louisville to the nearby hamlet of Middletown and a 300-acre horse farm. His estate, which came to be called “Douglas Place,” proved to be an excellent location to raise thoroughbreds.  His horse barns are shown here.  Douglas imported fine Irish stallions provide stud services.  Among them was a renowned racer named “Eothan.”  When Eothan died after siring such champions as “Requital”  and “Other Crack,”  his demise made headlines in the New York Times.  Douglas re-named his stables as the Eothan Stock Farm.  The annals of Kentucky horses are replete with his sale of thoroughbreds.   It was during this period that Douglas was designated a “Kentucky Colonel” by the governor.

After Douglas died in 1917 at the age of 71, control of his racetrack was taken by rival Churchill Downs that operated the facility until 1958.  Over time his horse farm went through several owners. Douglas’ home eventually was demolished and the farm developed into a residential subdivision known today as “Douglass Hills.”  

Born in 1859, Frank E. Lalley,  a Connecticut  liquor dealer and entrepreneur of Irish descent, became obsessed with Kentucky whiskey and Kentucky-bred horses.  Needing a steady supply of liquor for his “rectifying” operation in Bridgeport, about 1890 he bought a major interest in the Van Hook Distillery near Cynthiana and became its president.  Residing in Bridgeport with his family but making frequent trips to Kentucky, Lalley caught “horse fever.”

Lalley began to invest heavily in equines for harness racing. Rather than own part or all of a horse farm, his strategy was to buy already tested racers, an expensive proposition.  His signal most important purchase was of a horse named “Peter Manning,” a World Champion trotter.  Shown here is a photo of Peter Manning trotting home first in a photo from the Sept. 8, 1920 edition of the Horse Review. 

Peter Manning, had only two losses in thirty four races and his world record set in Lexington, Kentucky in 1922 remained unchallenged for fifteen years.   Recognizing that people would want to see this champion “up close and personal,”  Lalley put the horse on display at trotting exhibitions at dozens of county and state fairs.  With the onset of Prohibition, his Bridgeport liquor house was forced to close as did the Van Hook Distillery.  Lalley became a real estate dealer and sold Peter Manning to the Hanover Shoe Farms. The prize horse remained so great an attraction that the company was able to sell his name and image to a tobacco company for a line of cigars.

Brought to America as a toddler aboard an Irish famine ship, by dint of personal exertion, not family name or inherited wealth, James Hanley in 2007 was judged worthy of inclusion in the Rhode Island Heritage Hall of Fame.  Beginning in the liquor trade, expanding to brewing and other enterprises, Hanley carved out a brilliant career as an entrepreneur and horseman — including owning the fastest thoroughbred pacer in America, one he allegedly fed whiskey to induce speed.

Becoming wealthy initially through the sale of his flagship brand of whiskey, “Woodford Club Rye,” Hanley like many Irish was passionate about horse racing and became nationally known as the owner and trainer of successful race horses.  One of them, a pacer named “Prince Alert,” held the world record for running the half mile in 1.57 minutes at the Empire City Track in Yonkers, New York.  Hanley issued a paperweight with a photo of the horse to mark the occasion.  

Not everyone was as impressed with the horse as Hanley.  While calling Prince Alert “a handsome bay gelding of more than ordinary interest,”  Chicago Tribune racing scribe Henry Ten Eyck White in 1903 went on to describe the pacer as a “hop horse,” one that did his best when he was under the influence of stimulants.  “…Horsemen are well aware that some of his best miles…have been paced with a jorum of coffee and whiskey taken just before the start.”  In those days apparently it was legal to administer that kind of toddy, likely made with Hanley’s own Woodford Club.

These four whiskey men all invested heavily of their time, talent and treasure in odd-toed ungulate mammals belonging to the taxonomic family Equidae.  In requiting their passion for horses, all four were deeply involved in the racing scene, three had horse farms and produced thoroughbreds, two founded horse racing tracks, two owned champion trotter/pacers, and one raced his horses, although unsuccessfully, in the Kentucky Derby.  Their investment in “the sport of kings,” would not have been possible, however, except for the wealth each had reaped in the liquor trade.

Note:  The whiskey men treated here each also has a longer biography on this blog.  The references are:  Tom Megibben, September 26, 2015;  Jim Douglas, March 22, 2013;  Frank Lalley, February 2, 2013; and James Hanley,  August 22, 2017.

Tom Megibben Was a Man of Many Distilleries

An American distillery owner most usually was engaged in just one such whiskey-making operation, although occasionally a proprietor might have two plants under management at one time.  An exception was Thomas Jefferson (T.J. or “Tom”) Megibben who controlled multiple Kentucky distilleries and at his death was said to have “an interest” in at least six.  Shown right,  Megibben is a whiskey man whose story can be told through a list of distilleries.

Findley & Foley Distillery.   Megibben was born in 1831 in the Ohio river town of Neville, Clermont County, Ohio, the son of William and Emily (Galvin) Megibben.  Educated in the Neville schools until the age of 16, he left school to make his own living, finding employment as an employee in a local distillery.   He quickly learned the whiskey-making trade and after two year, relocated to Cynthiana, Kentucky, a town in the north central part of the state and the seat of Harrison County,  located about half way between Cincinnati and Lexington.  There in January 1849 Megibben took a job with Findley & Foley Distillery.

Those partners had established a distillery near Broadwell, Kentucky, several years earlier.  They hired Megibben initially as their assistant chief distiller.   After spending a year working in that capacity he so impressed the proprietors that they made him the chief distiller.   He stayed in that job until about 1854 when a severe drought hit that region of Kentucky and the corn failure halted any distilling.  One biography says Megibben then “engaged in [unnnamed] agricultural pursuits.”

Megibben had strong incentives to keep working.  In June 1853 he had married Elizabeth J. David, the daughter of Simon and Nancy (Brown) David of Harrison County.  Elizabeth has been  described as “a lady of most exemplary character, pleasing address, and good judgment, and well worthy to be the life companion…”  The Megibben’s first child, Mary Loraine, was born a year later.  In time there would be seven other children, a total of four sons and four daughters.

Megilbben & Bramble “Excelsior” Distillery.  In the early 1850s with a partner, C. Bramble, Megibben struck out on is own, building a distillery near his home in Cynthiana at a place called Lair’s Station.  The flagship brand was “Excelsior Whiskey” and the distillery became known by that name.  Tom took his brother, James, into the business with him at this facility.  By the early 1800s, Megibben’s plant had a mashing capacity of 700 bushels and three warehouses with a capacity of 17,500 barrels.  A on-premises cooperage shop could turn out fifty barrels a day and at peak the distillery employed forty hands.  Annual production of Excelsior and other company brands was 8,000 barrels while an additional 11,000 barrels were aging in bond.  In 1868 management of this extensive operation was turned over to a Megibben nephew.

The Edgewater Distillery.  Not content with running only a single distillery Megibben during the 1850s purchased an existing plant that had been established in 1836, owned and operated by Benjamin Brandon as part of a a grist mill and whiskey-making complex.  After passing through several proprietorships, about 1855 it was leased for three years to Megibben and two partners.  The lease included twenty-five acres of farm land on which cattle could be kept to feed spent mash.  The venture proved very profitable and before the end of the three years, Megibben, after buying out his partners, purchased the entire property.  It included the distillery, “all the appurtenances thereto belonging,” and a 200 acre farm.

As sole owner, Megibben lost no time in improving and expanding the distillery.   As shown above, it was expanded over time into a large complex, featuring five warehouses with the capacity to hold 25,000 barrels of aging whiskey.  According to insurance records, the distillery itself was of frame construction with a metal or slate roof.  The warehouses included three adjoining bonded buildings constructed of brick with metal roofs, a separated iron-clad bonded stone warehouse located 250 feet southwest of the still, and a “free” (non-bonded) stone warehouse with a shingle roof, located 120 feet east of the still.

According to an 1893 report on Megibben’s Edgewater distillery:   “The warehouses…are constructed after the most approved plans for the maturing of the product and are lighted by immense skylights which give a perfect flood of light and safe so arranged that the reflected rays of the sun are thrown upon the entire space.  The whiskey is still further matured by the use of steam-heat which is forced by steel blowers to all parts of the houses.”

His flagship brands became “Edgewater Sour Mash Whiskey” and “Edgewater Rye.”  Megibben put his own portrait on the labels, perhaps as an indication in his pride in the product. He merchandised these whiskeys vigorously throughout the country, finding a ready customer base because of their quality.  It was one of the Kentucky brands specially featured at the 1893 Columbian World’s Fair in Chicago.  A Kentucky publication boasted that Edgewater Whiskey “is to be found in nearly every first-class hotel and bar in this country.”

Over time Megibben continued to add parcels to his holdings until he had accrued some 3,000 acres.  Shown below is a line drawing of the estate he created for himself and his large family not far from the distillery complex.  These holdings allowed him during the 1860s to become known as a breeder of fine cattle. Willing to pay big money for prize bulls, Megibben assembled a herd that was said to be one of the finest in the United States.  He also was breeding high-grade sheep.

The Ashland Distillery.  His passon to own distilleries not yet satisfied, Megibben early in the 1870s became a partner in the Ashland Distillery, located on Manchester Street (Frankfort Pike) in Lexington, Kentucky.  Shown below, this plant on eleven acres had been established in 1865, produced the “Ashland Whiskey,” brand, and had gone through several ownerships before closing.  Dates differ, but about 1871 Megibben, with well-known whiskey entrepreneur, William Tarr, acquired the distillery and restarted production.  [See my post on William Tarr, February 2015.]  The partners continued to produce the Ashland brand and introduced “Wm. Tarr Whiskey.”   Both brands came in bourbon and rye versions.

In May 1879, a fire destroyed the distillery, one that largely had been constructed of wood.  This disaster forced the city fathers of Lexington to establish a waterworks to provide a year around supply of water to fight fires and thereby lower insurance rates.  With this safeguard the distillery was reorganized during which Megibben became a director, owning 40%, and his son-in-law, Joseph M. Kimbrough the plant manager.  Shown here, the distillery was rebuilt at a cost of $75,000 (almost $2 million today).  By 1882 the output was approximately 45 barrels a day with 18,000 barrels in bonded storage in two warehouses, both adjacent to a railroad spur.

The Van Hook Distillery.  Not long after acquiring the Ashland Distillery, Megibben struck again, purchasing the Van Hook Distillery in Harrison County, shown below.  Although scholars disagree on the origins of this facility, they agree that it was destroyed by fire in 1869 and rebuilt the same year.  At the time of McGibben’s purchase, during the early 1880s, the distillery had a mashing capacity of 300 bushels per day and produced 3,000 barrels of whiskey annually, with 6,000 barrels held in bond. The size of the distillery was 35 x 55 feet and rose three floors. Three brick warehouses with a capacity of 7,500 barrels could be found on the grounds, containing L. Van Hook Pure Bourbon.  A cooper’s shop attached to the still annually turned out 4,000 barrels.  Waste from the mash fed 150 cattle and 400 hogs. Shipments from the warehouses were made via the Kentucky Central Railroad from Cynthiana.

After operating the Van Hook Distillery for a few years with continuing success, Megibben sold the property to another son-in-law, Felix S. Ashbrook.  By this time he had become the largest landowner in Harrison County.  His abundant energies included horse racing.  In 1872 he bought his first thoroughbred horse and eventually ran a stable of fifty thoroughbreds and a hundred trotters and pacers.  His horses competed in the Kentucky Derby in 1882 and again in 1884.  Neither won.

The Paris Distillery.  Shown above, this whiskey manufactory had been built in 1860, located about half mile from Paris, Kentucky, on the Kentucky Central Railroad. It had been operated under at least two ownerships by the 1880s when Megibben got involved.  This facility produced a whiskey called “Paris Distillery Hand Made Sour Mash.”   The daily mashing capacity was 412 barrels per day and boasted a warehouse storage capacity of 15,000 barrels.  The warehouses were five, four bonded of brick construction and one free, iron clad.  The distillery was frame and the property included a frame cattle shed 225 feet west of the still.  By 1884 Megibben was in charge of managing this distillery.

While just keeping track of these many business activities might have been too much for an ordinary man,  Megibben also found time for politics.  He first was elected to the Kentucky State House of Representatives from Harrison County in 1871.  According to a biographer:  “By being always vigilant and watchful, regarding the best interests his constituency and singularly prompt in devising measures best adapted to their wants…,” he was elected to a second term.  In 1879 he was elected to the State Senate, serving one term.  A delegate to a Democratic convention that nominated Grover Cleveland, Megibben was a familiar figure in Kentucky Democratic circles and his mansion home, shown here, a frequent political gathering place. 

Megibben also fulfilled the old adage, “If you want something done, give it to a busy person.”  In addition to his many business and political interests, he often was tapped for other leadership roles.   He founded the Latonia Track and Jockey Club, was president of the Shorthorn Cattle Breeders Association of Chicago, and president of the Kentucky Trotting Horse Breeders Association from 1873 until 1882. McGibben was elected the first president of the Kentucky Distillers Association at its 1880 initial meeting in Louisville.  He continued to be active in the organization until his death.  

At the End.  When T. J. McGibben died in January 1890 at the age of 59, his obituaries noted, seemingly in awe, that he continued to have an interest in six Kentucky distilleries.  Extra trains were run to Cynthiana from both Cincinnati and Lexington to bring some 300 mourners to his funeral services.  A lengthy procession led from the church to the Battle Grove Cemetery where he was laid to rest in Section G, Lot 4.  A tall stone pillar marks the place.

McGibben was the object of many tributes after his death.  Among them, is one from the Frankfort Capitol that captured the man rather than the titan of Kentucky whiskey.  In part it read:  “Modest as a woman, gentle as a child, ‘Tom’ McGibben, as those who loved him loved best to call him, never betrayed a trust, never faltered in his devotion to a friend or forgot to keep his plighted faith to any man.”

Note:  T.J. McGibben was given considerable biographical attention after his death, the information on which much of this post is drawn.  Most important was the 1882 volume, History of Bourbon, Scott, Harrison and Nicholas Counties, by William H. Perrin. 
 

Frank Lalley: A Connecticut Yankee “Goes Kentucky”

It often has been said that Kentucky’s major attractions are whiskey, horses and attractive women.   I have no information on the last named, but Frank E. Lalley,  a Connecticut  liquor dealer and entrepreneur, made Kentucky whiskey and Kentucky-bred horses, a major passion in his life.

It may be a stretch to call Lalley, a “Yankee,” because he was born to Irish immigrant parents  in 1859.  But his birthplace was Massachusetts and he grew up in New England,  eventually relocating to Connecticut. That should be sufficient pedigree to qualify as a Yankee.  Lalley settled in Bridgeport where in the early 1880s he opened a wholesale and retail liquor store.  He may also have operated as a “rectifier,” blending raw whiskeys to taste and bottling them under his own labels.

In Bridgeport in 1880, he also found a wife named Mary, who like himself was a child of Irish immigrants.  He was 21 years old, Mary was 22.  Together they would have four children,  Frank born in 1883, Mary in 1886, Walter in 1894 and Fred in 1895.

Like other rectifiers,  Lalley seems to have been troubled by the need to keep a steady supply of  raw whiskey.  During the late 1800s there was a trend toward Eastern liquor interests either to buy distilleries in Kentucky or to contract for their entire annual output.  Whiskey dealers not in on the game could find themselves without needed supplies.  As Lalley looked for a supplier, his attention fell on the town of Cynthiana in Harrison Country, Kentucky.

That was the site of a distillery on the Licking River, shown here, that had been built right after the Civil War and sold to a banker named L. H. Van Hook.   The plant burned in 1869 but was immediately rebuilt. Insurance underwriter records show that the distillery was of frame construction with a metal or slate roof. The property was noted to include cattle in frame pens and three warehouses:  Warehouse No. 1 --  built of brick with a metal or slate roof, located 40 ft north of the still.  Warehouse No. 2 -- adjoining No. 1 and of similar construction. Warehouse No. 3C -- iron-clad with a metal or slate roof, located 120 ft north of the still.

By 1882 the mashing capacity of the distillery was 300 barrels daily with an output of 3,000 barrels annually.  The three warehouses had only capacity for 7,500 barrels which necessitated rapid sell off of “young” whiskey, exactly the ingredient Lalley was looking for.   After a succession of owners in 1888 the Van Hook Distillery was sold to Felix S. Ashbrook, young member of a well-known Kentucky whiskey family.  He renamed the distillery for himself but kept the Van Hook whiskey brand.  In time,  possibly acceding to the blandishment of Eastern money,  he sold a major interest to Lalley and others in a combine.  Frank Lalley became president of the distillery, which continued to be managed by Ashbrook.  Under their direction the plant grew considerably.

With his whiskey supply more assured,  Lalley’s business seems to have prospered. His featured brands were “Brooklawn,” “Three Star”  and “Monogram.”  He put his liquor in elaborately embossed square bottles, as shown here, and issued shot glasses bear his labels to favor customers.  The 1910 U.S. Census found Lalley at the age of 51 living with Mary and all four of his children in an upscale Bridgeport neighborhood.  His occupation is given as “wholesale merchant and liquors.”   Son Frank was selling life insurance. The other children were either at home or in school.  The Lalleys could afford live-in three servants in their extensive household.

On his frequent trips to Kentucky,  Lalley caught “horse fever.”  He began to invest in equines for harness racing. Rather than own part or all of a horse farm, his strategy was to buy already tested racers, itself an expensive proposition.  His signal most important purchase was of a horse named Peter Manning,  shown here after a cigar was named for him.  Peter Manning was the World Champion trotter, having done the mile in 1.56 minutes.  Recognizing that people would want to see this horse personally,  Lalley put the horse to trotting exhibitions at dozens of county and state fairs.  The prize horse later was sold to the Hanover Shoe Farms where he remained an attraction.

The onset of Prohibition caused a major change in Lalley’s life. Not only did his liquor dealership shut down, the Harrison County Distillery was closed.  Over the next few years the whiskey stored there was shipped by rail to a central location where it was bottled and distributed to medical supply houses for “medicinal purposes.”  The distillery buildings were put to other uses.  Lalley was in his early 60s when these events occurred but vigorous enough to launch on another career.  He became a major force in the real estate market in Bridgeport, advertising widely in local newspapers.

As he aged, Lalley’s health declined.  He was stricken with cancer and began to spend his winters in Florida at the home of his daughter Mary.  In March of 1939 while living in Palm Beach, age 80, he fell and fractured his hip.  Not long after he died of complications. He was eulogized, one obituary said:  “...As a genial, modest man who enjoyed an extensive acquaintance among both business and horseman friends throughout the United States.”  In short, this Connecticut Yankee  “went Kentucky,”  fell in love with its whiskey and horses -- and was fondly remembered for both.