What about Smiley Pete?
Here’s what a typical question and answer with the Ask Us duo might look like. This item ran in the Herald-Leader on March 16, 2003. To submit your question, e-mail Lu-Ann Farrar or Linda Niemi, or use the commenting at the bottom of this post. For more information about this blog, go here.
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Question: I have a question about the Lexington mascot that was buried on the corner of East Main Street and North Limestone in front of the Brandy’s Kitchen restaurant. His name was Smiley Pete. A bronze plaque was installed in the sidewalk to mark the grave. This has been removed since the new courthouse construction began. We would like to know what has happened to the plaque and whether his remains are buried somewhere else. The old dog made a lot of friends in his day. – Gentry Smith, Lexington
Answer: Smiley Pete was the best-known “town dog” that Lexington ever had.
He was named Smiley because he had a way of baring his teeth that looked like a grin. He had a daily routine: hamburger and waffles at Brandy’s Kitchen, a bowl of draft beer at the Turf Bar, a Hershey bar at Short and Lime Liquor, a dog biscuit and water at Carter’s Supply and, in the evening, popcorn at the old Opera House, when it was a movie theater.
Pete, who was part spitz, part shepherd, part bird dog and a few other unidentifiable bloodlines, belonged to everybody and belonged to nobody. Somebody at Welch’s Cigar Store made sure he got regular baths. And once, during a rabies scare, downtown merchants took up a collection and housed Pete in a kennel until the danger was past.
After his death on June 18, 1957, a plaque with Smiley Pete’s likeness was placed in the sidewalk at Main and Limestone. That plaque was removed in 1990 and put in the hands of Robert A. Welch, who owned Welch’s Cigar Store. He restored the plaque and gave it to the city archives, where it remains awaiting replacement downtown.
Pete’s friends buried him under a big sycamore tree at 904 North Broadway. His gravestone says: “Smiley Pete — A Friend to All and a Friend of All.”
A Smiley Pete Award is given annually by the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government.
Its purpose is to recognize an individual “who makes others enjoy being downtown.”
Cross it before you toss it
Filed under: Lexington History
My mother was a public school librarian. I earned a bachelor’s degree in music and a master’s degree in library and information science from the University of Kentucky. The Herald-Leader hired me as a news assistant 25 years ago; soon after, I moved to the news research department, where I’ve been ever since. We used to clip newspapers. Now, almost all of our research is online. We've come a long way.
The plaque was removed during the construction of the new courthouses, but has since been put back. The plaque is located on E. Main Street just prior to Limestone in front of the waterfall fountain.