NewsW. Rogers Co. joins in celebrating Isaac Murphy
May 13, 2011
By: Judy Clabes, KY Forward
Lexington, Ky.-The life of black Hall of Fame jockey Isaac Murphy will be celebrated with a 150th birthday party at the site of a park that will eventually be a memorial in his honor.
The free event will be from 1:30 p.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday at the future site of the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden at Third Street and Midland Avenue. The celebration will include birthday cupcakes, music and special activities for children, including stick horse races and an archeological dig.
Murphy, who lived in Lexington, won the Kentucky Derby three times. He also is the only jockey to have won the Derby, The Kentucky Oaks and the Clark Handicap in the same year.
The park named in his honor has been in development for several years. The site of the park is believed to be his homesite.
Warren Rogers, president of the W. Rogers Co., has been deeply involved in assuring a fitting memorial to Murphy.
In the 1970s, the W. Rogers Co. exhumed and re-interred Murphy's remains and those of Man O'War during the construction of the Kentucky Horse Park.
A few years ago while sponsoring a Leadership Lexington class, Rogers witnessed the birth of the project as the class began planning for the park.
Additionally, W. Rogers Co. was the title sponsor of the Lexington Children's Theatre play "I Dedicate This Ride," a story about Murphy's life written by Frank X Walker, a University of Kentucky English professor and a renowned poet. Rogers also has purchased and renovated a home in the East End.
Along with the W. Rogers Co., sponsors of the event include the Blue Grass Community Foundation, which is spearheading development of the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden and the Legacy Trail which begins there.
Other major sponsors are the Knight Foundation, Toyota, Keeneland, Fifth Third Bank, E.ON-US, KU Co. and Kentucky Thoroughbred Owners and Breeders.
The fundraising goal for the park is $150,000.
"Building this park is a major part of the East End revitalization," said Steve Austin, the Blue Grass Community Foundation's vice president of community leadership and engagement. "It's a tribute to Isaac Murphy and provides a great venue for community activities."
"Murphy's life can and should be an inspiration to Lexingtonians and to the residents of the East End," Rogers said. "We think that the construction of the Isaac Murphy Memorial Art Garden is an appropriate tribute to his life and will serve as a catalyst for development to continue in the East End and along the Third Street corridor."
Construction of the park will begin sometime this year.