Ward Hall is located at 1782 Frankfort Road (US 460 W) in Georgetown, KY. Click the "Directions"  button above for more specific directions.

can be directed to

the Ward Hall Preservation Foundation, Inc. at

502-370-6621 or wardhall@wardhall.net

Our Mailing Address

Ward Hall Preservation Foundation, Inc.

P.O. Box 1957

Georgetown, KY 40324

502-370-6621 wardhall@wardhall.net

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Junius Ward and the Thoroughbred Horse

Not only did Junius and Matilda Viley Ward construct the finest house of its type in Kentucky, but Junius and brother-in-law Capt. Willa Viley, first President of the Lexington Racing Association, also played a key role in the development of the Kentucky Thoroughbred, most notably through his ownership of the incomparable racehorse Lexington, who won the famous race

at the Metairie Race Course at New Orleans in 1854 against Lecompte.

Ward was a Kentuckian of pioneer stock, born in Georgetown in 1802 to Col. William Ward and Sallie Johnson Ward.  His mother's parents, Col. Robert Johnson and Jemima Suggett Johnson, had departed their home in Orange County, Virginia in 1779 and established Johnson Station near Great Crossings, by 1783, just a mile from Ward Hall.

Ward and Viley owned and raced jointly Maria by Davis' Hamlintonian, out of Lady Grey (the grandma of Alice Carneal, the dam of Lexington).  From her, they bred Catherine Ogle, by Trumpator; William T. Barry by Dick Singleton; Catherine and Tom Benton by Bertrand; and Oglenah by Medoc.

   They owned Black Eyed Susan by Tiger as early as 1821, and they raced her produce, such as Richard Singleton, Plato, Newcourt, Mistletoe, Dick Johnson, Emily Johnson, Catherine etc.

From Catherine out of Maria by Davis' Hamlintonian, they bred and raced Alexander Churchill by imp. Zip-Gance, who ran four miles at Louisville in 7:41.  They bred and raced Mary Brennan, by Dick Singleton, Lady Scott, Evergreen, Goodwood, Verbena, Maggiore, Glendower, Heliotrope, Keene Richards and others.

After Captain Viley quit the turf, Mr. Ward and his nephew

Mr. J.R. Viley, raced together for some years.  They owned Evergreen, by imp. Glencoe, dam Mistletoe by Cherokee, from whom

they bred Goodwood, and Myrtle by Lexington, Maggiore by Lecompte; Verbena, Glendower and Heliotrope by Knight of Saint

George, and Kene Richards by War Dance.

Ward was also a founding investor in the National Race Course in Louisville in 1858.

His obituary said he raced not for money, but from a love of turf sports.

The Thoroughbred Lexington painted by famed equine painter Edward Troye (1808-1874).