Harry Baylor Hanger of Virginia and Elizabeth Arnold of Richmond, Kentucky were married on January 18, 1893. They lived at Arlington, a gracious home owned by Mrs. Hangers parents, William and Pauline Arnold. Arlington was named in honor of Robert E. Lees wifes ancestral home in Virginia. Mr. Hanger was born in Staunton, Virginia on November 1, 1864 and died of a heart attack on October 17, 1925. He was an engineer and joined a construction firm which he later headed: Mason-Hanger Company. Some of his achievements were construction work on the Lincoln Tunnel in New York City, Camp Zachary Taylor, Lake Charles Aviation Field, Old Hickory Powder Plant, Catskill Aqueduct, and various subways, terminals, and canals. He was also associated with the State Bank and Trust Company in Richmond, Kentucky from 1897 to 1925. Elizabeth Arnold Hanger was born on January 18, 1870 and died on October 10, 1921 after having been mistress of Arlington for twenty-eight years. She was reared a devout Methodist and received the finest education and upbringing that a young woman of that time had available. She traveled extensively and spent a great deal of time in New York City and Florida. Harry Baylor Hanger, Jr., the first son, was born on February 25, 1896 and died on May 31, 1956. He married Martha Shelby who was a descendent of Governor Isaac Shelby. They had one daughter, Margaret. The second son, William Arnold Hanger, was born on February 25, 1896 and died on May 31, 1976. After his fathers death, Arnold assumed many of his fathers responsibilities. He and Hal Price Headly were the founders of Keeneland Race Track in Lexington, Kentucky. According to family friends, he was married briefly. It was he who gave the Arlington House to Eastern Kentucky University. The youngest son, Paul T. Hanger, was born on March 31, 1897 and died tragically in a motorcycle accident in 1916, at the age of nineteen. The only daughter of Harry and Elizabeth Hanger was named Elizabeth Arnold Hanger. She was born on April 16, 1905 and died on January 3, 1944. She, too, received the finest education possible. She traveled extensively abroad and had many friends. She was married first to John Marshall of Louisville, and their wedding was one of the most extravagant Richmond had ever witnessed. Her second husband was Shelby Elliott of New York City. They adopted a daughter, Shelby Elliott Roberts who now lives in New York City. Elizabeth Hanger Elliotts death was very sudden and tragic. At least two of the Hanger sons, Arnold and Paul, attended Lawrenceville School, Lawrenceville, New Jersey. Elizabeth was educated at the Cathedral School of St. Mary in New York and National Park Seminary, Forest Glen, Maryland. All the members of the family are buried in the Richmond Cemetery. The Hanger Family name ended with the death of William Arnold Hanger in 1976. ---------- Arlington was a generous gift to Eastern Kentucky University from W. Arnold Hanger in memory of his parents, Col. And Mrs. Harry Baylor Hanger. It serves as a social club for EKU alumni and associates. The grounds have been landscaped as a golf course. Much of the original decor of the house remains as it was when the Hanger family was in residence. The original house was constructed for Mr. Hanger’s grandfather Capt. William Arnold (1821-1905) sometime between 1866 and 1890. Capt. Arnold purchased for $34,000 in 1866 the 451 acres of land which comprised the original Arlington estate. Local history indicates that, prior to this date, a log house stood on the tract to the ast of the present structure. The house that Capt. Arnold built included Italianate embellishments on the trim. In 1893 his only heir and daughter Elizabeth (1870-1921) married Harry B. Hanger (1864-1925), a construction engineer whose company was responsible for building the Lincoln Tunnel under the Hudson River in New York. After inheriting the estate in 1909, the Hangers added the three-story Classical Revival style front to the house. The original setting of the Arlington estate has been preserved in the 15 acres of rolling bluegrass bestowed to Eastern along with the house and the remaining 166 acres purchased by the Eastern Kentucky University Foundation. In the yard, even cut-stone dismounting steps remain, necessary in the past to assist passengers alighting from a horse-drawn carriage or rides from horseback. The structural fabric of the Classical Revival style house is brick, laid in Flemish bond. The three-story house is symmetrically arranged, flanked by two wings dating to the 1909 renovation: one is a carriage entrance on the east and a sunroom, now modified as a dining room, on the west. Across the length of the front facade spans a one-story porch with a two-story central portico. The portico is supported by two pairs of massive Doric columns and capped by balustrades. Large, prominent dentils decorate the porch and cornice. A limestone foundation raises the first floor several feet from the ground. Across the three-bay front are two large limestone-silled windows on either side of a central entrance. A transom window and sidelights surround the entrance. On the attic story three gabled dormers with arched windows, flanked by pilasters, project from the slate roof. Lunette windows flak the end chimneys on the gable ends. The interior features a broad, double-door central entry leading into a central hall with high ceilings and patterned wood slat floors. The square-shaped rooms include tall windows, orate plasterwork, and some original Hanger furnishings. These furnishings, also gifts of the Hanger family, include a chest formerly owned by Cassius M. Clay, many valuable oriental rugs, white-and-gold-framed Audubon prints, and several family portraits.
Posted on: Mon, 14 Jul 2014 13:29:03 +0000
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