To The Editor...

Editor,

This week I read with interest the article about Small Town Showcasing. (My paper comes two weeks after publishing.)

One fact reported to have been said by Pastor Wilfong about the Methodist Church jumped out at me. “The church is housed in the oldest building in town, which was used as a hospital by Union troops during the Civil War.” Perhaps he was misquoted, but this is NOT true.

An earlier church building that was one and a half blocks north of the courthouse was the building that was used as a Civil War hospital. The building on Plum Street wasn’t built until 1889.

I learned this when I did research about my family property that is in the block east of the church. The land on which the church sits was purchased after my grandfather built his house on the 400 block of Plum.

I hope that someone sees that the fact about the Civil War hospital does not go into the Doniphan Showcase history.

Susie Lackey Givens

Lexington, Ky.

Editor’s note: Our apologies for the error. The statement to which you refer was not heard correctly. Rev. Kent Wilfong (and a history prepared by Thelma McManus) both confirm that the United Methodists purchased two lots on Plum Street in 1887, and the existing church was built later, in 1888.