SULPHUR WELL COMMUNITY >From "Jessamine County, Ky 1798-1993" Sulphur Well, a small 19th century village, is located on Ky Highway 39, approximately 4 miles SE of Nicholasville. In early days, many people came far and near to get water from the well that was dug in the center of the village. Many people believed that drinking the sulphur water would improve their health and often cure their ailments. People discontinued using the water after 1965 when the water was found to be contaminated. William W. Newland established the Sulphur Well Post Office April 7, 1852. This post office was discontinued in 1869 and re-established on June 15, 1881, as the Ambrose Post Office, for postmaster, Ambrose Cobb. The Sulphur Well name had recently been applied to a new post office in Metcalfe Co. Ambrose Post Office closed in 1904. In 1802, Major Benjamin Netherland operated a race track on the Willoughby place near Sulphur Well. The track was believed to have been located on land now known as the Woods farm. Also located at Sulphur Well was a distillery warehouse owned by George S. Grey in 1887. The warehouse today is owned by Louise Corman Fain and is located on West Lane. The building has been converted to a tobacco barn and is being used for that purpose today. The barn is uniquie in that it has a floor and the elevator shaft still stands in the center of the barn. The stone platform top of the sulphur well was completed in 1898, and the people around felt they would have a more sightly watering place. In the Ambrose news in the Journal dated December 16, 1887, it states, "Our town is on the boom. We now have three general stores, four blacksmith shops, two churches, four doctors and a couple of preachers." As of this date we have only one general store, one church that has two full-time ministers and one "retired" blacksmith shop. However, today there is a private air strip in Sulphur Well which is used quite frequently by local people. The air strip is located on the Moynahan Farm. It has been recorded that in 1887 Ambrose had a stockyard that was almost equal to Union Station Stockyard in Cincinnati as a buying and shipping point. Sheep were selling for $2.65 per cwt. At this time Mr. Walker sold a bunch of yearling cattle for 3.5 cents. lb. and one calf alone brought him $26.00. He asked, "If this isn't prosperity, what is it?" Dr. George M. Hendren began the study of medicine under Mr. Nelson Mays in 1870 in Sulphur Well. He practiced medicine successfully in Sulphur Well until 1884, with the exception of one year, when he attended Ohio Medical College. He resided in the house which is now the home of Jane Foster Kurtz. Dr. John C. Miller, who began his medical studies in 1862 under Dr. S. D. Welch had strong ties to Sulphur Well. He was well known for his studies of diseases of the heart and lungs. Dr. Melvin Dean, another prominent physician moved back to Jessamine County near Sulphur Well in 1978. Although his office was in Lexington, Ky., he had many patients from Sulphur Well and other parts of Jessamine County. Dr. Dean spent his childhood years on a farm near Sulphur Well. With the coming REA in 1938, Spears Water lines in early spring of 1965, and Delta Natural Gas in October 1956, life has been made much easier for residents of Sulphur Well. In May, 1899, the hands at work on the telephone line in Ambrose struck for shorter hours of labor and all work was at a standstill for a time. It is surprising that even in 1899, dissatisfied workers would strike. Some of the families that have made their home in Sulphur Well for various lengths of time are: Berryman, Woods, Dean, Hare, Masters, Turner, Moynahan, Askins, Foster, Ware, Miller, Stacy, Breiner, Woodward, Wade, Grimes, Walker, Fain, Snowden, Peel, Johns, Bowman, Fathergill, Cobb, Warfield, Bibb, Reed, Davis, Corman, Janisse, Wilson, Sageser, Stinnett, Preston, Murphy, West, Harvey, Burgin, Carpenter, Byrd, Reynolds, Cheek, Graham, Blakeman, Waller, Bartley, Smith, Estes, Witt, Marler, Houp, Owens, Walters,Hendren, Gill, Crawford, Travis, Blevins, Durham, Hoover, Wagoner, East, Williams, Mahan and Myers. The old pump in the center of Sulphur Well still remains as a nostalgic reminder of yesteryear. Sulphur Well may not be on the boom as listed in 1887, but those of us that have lived here for many years still consider it one of the best places in the world to live and call home. (submitter unknown)