Gatewood, Kentucky
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| Gatewood, Kentucky | |
|---|---|
| Type | Community |
| County | Daviess County |
| State | Kentucky |
| Named for | Griffin Gatewood |
| Oldest institution | Friendly Grove Baptist Church |
| Masonic Lodge | Organized 1868 |
| Location | KY 1389, a mile south of the Hancock County line |
Gatewood is a Daviess County community on Kentucky 1389, about a mile south of the Hancock County line. The area was settled very early, as it offered fertile, rolling, well-drained land, lots of timber for buildings, and Blackford Creek as an avenue of transportation.
Naming
The town was probably named for Griffin Gatewood, who at the age of eleven moved with his family to Hancock County in 1830. His father died in 1838 and Gatewood moved across the creek to Daviess the next year.
Early Village
Few records exist for the early history of the village, but Isaac W. Lambert is known to have operated a farm and small grocery store. The oldest entity in Gatewood was Friendly Grove Baptist Church. The Rev. William Head was the pastor of Friendly Grove and Rock Spring (Yelvington) churches in 1842.
Lodge, Schools and Store
A Masonic Lodge was organized in 1868. A plat of the town in 1876 shows a school about a quarter mile out Kentucky 951. There was also a previous school, the Scifres School or Gatewood School, located behind the Friendly Grove Church.
The Gatewood Grocery, probably the successor of Isaac Lambert's store, operated until the 1970s. The building was later destroyed by fire.
Politics
Gatewood was known for years as a stronghold of the Democratic Party. In 1864, for example, General McClellan received 147 votes to Abraham Lincoln's zero. In 1868 the Democrat, Seymour, got 288 votes, while General Ulysses S. Grant received only four.
Reference to an article by Bonita Brown