05/06/2026
Historical Extras! Morehead's Early Hotels! Caskey Hotel –Fire, Flood and Explosion!
Morehead had a gigantic 4th of July celebration planned in 1939. It started at 10 am July 3 with a parade and events and contests that went on all day. The Carnival and circus were also in town and fireworks were scheduled for 9:30 that night.
The carnival was set up at the south end of Hargis avenue adjacent from the railroad tracks. The J.F Sparks Shows opened on July 3 with thrilling rides including the Tilt-a-Whirl, Loop the Loop, Ferris Wheel, Merry-Go-Round and more, games such as ring toss, baseball toss, target shooting, and games of strength, stage shows, music, dancing and circus acts and concessions.
The carnival workers were staying at the Caskey Hotel on Main Street. On July 4, there was a fire at the hotel. Around 2 am, Jim Wilson, a half-blind itinerant guitarist who smelled smoke awakened owner Alf Caskey who got all the residents out safely. The heat of the fire was so hot that the walls were “sprung” from the heat in the rooms. There was fear of the whole block could burn down as some of the fire reached the Trail Theatre. The cause of the fire was believed to have started in the Caskey Garage.
The two-story brick hotel was destroyed with a loss of $50,000. Volunteer firefighters from Morehead and Olive Hill fought the blaze for two hours before they got it under control. Twenty-seven guests, including the carnival workers, lost all their possessions but the carnival went on the next day.
There were several business in the Caskey Hotel that were destroyed, including the second floor office of Dr. H.L Nickell, Caskey Tire Company, Caskey Cab Company, Trail Barber Shop, Morehead Real Estate Company, Parkers Pool Room, WPA Rowan County Packhorse Library, S&W Liquor Store (They had just received a large shipment of bourbon and scotch whiskey which added to the fire as the bottles burst.) Twenty-seven automobiles and eight Rowan County school busses burned in the Caskey Garage. Many of the busses were owned by Alf Caskey.
About 1 am July 5, the flood hit. The carnival manager J.S. Sparks and several employees heard the roar of the water, climbed nearby trees, and were forced to stay there for several hours while the carnival was destroyed with a loss of $30,000.
The rains began about midnight on July 5th near the Carter County line with a series of violent thunderstorms accompanied by continuous and brilliant lightning and extremely hard rains that continued that night and into the next day. Between two and a half to nine inches of rain fell in the area that night. By 2 am, it reached its peak, sweeping people, trees, livestock and human beings in its wake.
Wednesday morning the only road open was Flemingsburg Road; the rest of the roads were impassible. Farmers and Clearfield were completely cut off.
It was reported that in some places a wall of water up to 22 feet swept through the narrow valleys, with the majority of the rise coming in as little as 15 minutes
The flood destroyed 2 miles of the C&O Railroad, about a mile on each side of town and a small railroad bridge and a highway bridge. Farmers and Clearfield were also hit hard and cut off, water on Railroad Street (First Street) varied from 4-10 feet. 200 structures were damaged or destroyed and caused $2 million in property damage including three one-room schools were destroyed (Bradley, Bluestone and Pond Lick) 44 houses and 60 barns, and 25 people died in Rowan County.
The hotel was reconstructed after the fire and flood by Alf himself, who did not have insurance on the building. In1939, the two-story brick hotel had 26 nicely furnished rooms and 13 baths on the second floor and parking lot behind the building. The hotel opened in October 1940 with 42 fireproof rooms and the lobby would be next to the Trail Barber Shop, and Ollie Powers of Paintsville managed the hotel.
Parkers Pool Room reopened in August 1939 in the back of Blairs Bargain Store with all new equipment. They opened up again in the Caskey building after renovation in October 1940.
Kroger’s opened their first store in Morehead in January 1940 in the Caskey Hotel. January 10, 1942, there was a gas leak explosion in the hotel. Alf Caskey claimed that Krogers did not properly shut of their gas valves when they vacated the storeroom on January 2.
And that the leaking gas cause the explosion when a guest (Everett Fields, son of former Governor Fields) struck a match in his room.
Kroger council maintained that the leak came from a small stove in the hotel room. Proper procedure in disconnecting the gas was the responsibility of the Morehead Municipal Gas Company, and their former gas superintendent Marvin Cales testified that he turned off the gas when Kroger vacated the storeroom, removed the meter and applied a match to test it and said there was no leak. Two days after the explosion, gas was founding pouring out of the valve that Cales said he closed. Experts from the University of Cincinnati testified that it would take two years to build up enough gas for this magnitude of an explosion. Kroger’s was cleared and I haven’t found if they ever figured it out.
In August 1945, Alf sold most of his property including: The Confederated Store that had apartments upstairs, Caskey Restaurant on Fairbanks Avenue (now South Wilson), a six room house and two extra lots on Flemingsburg Road, a Seven room house on Clearfield Road close to the Lee Clay Plant.
The Caskey Hotel was sold to James and Dettie Brammer on August 1945. Alf sold all equipment except for the linens and pillows and they opened the Brammer Hotel.
The Brammers sold the building next door to Roy Cornett and Glennis Fraley on April 27, 1946 and they opened Monarch Supply Store. In 1951, Monarchs moved next door to into the Federated Store in the Caskey building,
Cornette and Fraley had both been schoolteachers in Rowan County. Cornette was Superintendent for 12 years and Fraley had owned and operated Fraley’s IGA for 12 years when they decided to open Monarch Supply. Fraley sold his store and Cornette sold his farm on Flemingsburg Road to Bob Bishop, who turned it into Pharmacy Farm and raised cattle. Cornette and Fraley were in business together from 1947-1976, when they sold it to Ray Bailey. The store finally closed in 1983.
In 1988 George Morrison purchased the building, and then he sold it to Darrell Caskey in 1993. As of 2026, the hotel on the second floor has become apartments and the first floor houses various businesses.
Sources
Rowan County Courthouse Deeds Room
Courier Journal June 28, 1940
Daily Independent August 13, 1945
Kentucky Post June 28, 1940
Lexington Herald Leader September 12, 1942
Morehead Independent September 17, 1942
Morehead News August 16, 1973
Mountain Scorcher March 26, 1927, May, 1927, June 4, 1927, June 20, 1927, June 25, 1927, August 13, 1927, October 1, 1927, November 26, 1927, June 28, 1940
Paintsville Herald October 24, 1940
Park City Daily News September 13, 1942
Rowan County News January 11, 1940, July 20, 1939, August 24, 1939, October 5, 1940
The State Journal June 28, 1940, September 11, 1942
Jack Ellis Files
Juanita Blair Notes
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