The Church of the Good Shepherd began in October 1888 as a mission chapel sponsored by Christ Church. The mission continued for 17 years at its South Broadway location, but in 1906 the chapel was taken down and moved to a new location on Maxwell Street to accommodate increased membership and attendance. However, disaster struck on the night of January 1, 1918, when a fire destroyed the chapel and most of its records. The electricity had not been cut off and the lighted cross atop the church burned until the walls fell in. With the proceeds from the sale of the lot, the insurance and fire settlement, and donations from many local people, a new lot was purchased on the corner of Main Street and Bell Court, the church’s current location.

           

The story of the modern Church of the Good Shepherd is the story of a man and his dream. The man, the Rev. Thomas Lever Settle, was a native of England who had come to Lexington in the post World War I era when work was being resumed on the construction of the parish house.  Mr. Settle found John Rump, another Englishman, who agreed to go ahead with the building, donating his services and making his own plans for the building as he went along.

 

The Bishop Burton Parish House,as it was variously called, was dedicated on February 1, 1921, and at the request of the congregation Christ Church Cathedral recognized Good Shepherd as an independent congregation. Mr. Settle, however, had a bigger dream of a beautiful stone church, and eventually he found a way to realize this dream. In 1923, there was much agitation throughout the Bluegrass over a bill introduced in the Kentucky Legislature to abolish pari-mutuel betting. At one of the mass meetings Mr. Settle spoke staunchly against the proposal, arguing that pari-mutuel betting was a fairer way of gambling than the bookmaking that would surely follow. He reasoned that enactment of the proposal would drive the horse industry out of Kentucky. Mr. Settle was asked to repeat his eloquent and logical speech before the Kentucky Legislature. He did so and the measure was defeated by one vote.

 

Over the five year period that followed, commencing in July 1924, the horsemen raised nearly $200,000 to build a church in demonstration of their gratitude to Mr. Settle.  Contributions came from all over the country—from Roman Catholic, Jewish, Protestant, and Moslem horseman, from owners and breeders and exercise boys.

           

On a plaque in the narthex of the Church are these words:

 

To the glory of God this Church is given

To Him by the lovers of the horse from all

Over the country as a token of appreciation

Of their Father’s goodness to His children–man

 

            The Bishop of the time, Bishop Burton, laid the cornerstone on August 20, 1925, and a year later the church building, complete with pews, was turned over absolutely free of debt. However, Mr. Settle was still not satisfied. Unknown to the congregation, he went deeply in debt, a debt the church would also inherit, when he ordered the intricate rood screen and the wood carving by Anton Lang of Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” and other works. He also ordered the elaborate stained glass windows crafted of 200-year-old German glass, as well as a pipe organ costing $10,000. When Mr. Settle departed Lexington in 1930, he left Good Shepherd with a large debt that took over 20 years to liquidate.