The Newdigate-Reed House is a two-story

log house A log house, or log building, is a structure built with horizontal logs interlocked at the corners by notching. Logs may be round, squared or hewn to other shapes, either handcrafted or milled. The term "log cabin" generally refers to a smal ...

built by the Newdigate family at the top of the hill near the Lexington-Maysville Turnpike. John Newdigate, a farmer, is listed as the landowner in 1854.Clift, G. Glenn. History of Maysville and Mason County, Vol. I. Lexington: Transylvania Printing Co., 1936, pp. 207, 225, 214, 255. Situated at the top of a steep hill leading out of Maysville, the house served as a convenient rest stop for merchants and wagon masters hauling goods from the docks at Maysville to points south. Siding was applied to the log structure in the 1930s. The structure is asymmetrical with four windows on the upper story left side, one on the right side, and one to the right of the first floor entrance. The doorway with a one-story

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cu ...

is slightly off-center. Stone chimneys on either end of the house are original. The building was purchased by the Bierbower family in the late 19th century and sold to

Stanley Forman Reed Stanley Forman Reed (December 31, 1884 – April 2, 1980) was an American lawyer and jurist who served as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court from 1938 to 1957. He also served as U.S. Solicitor General from 1935 to 1938. Born in Ma ...

in 1910, Reed having just completed his law studies at a number of universities, including

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, the

University of Virginia The University of Virginia (UVA) is a Public university#United States, public research university in Charlottesville, Virginia, United States. It was founded in 1819 by Thomas Jefferson and contains his The Lawn, Academical Village, a World H ...

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

and the

University of Paris The University of Paris (), known Metonymy, metonymically as the Sorbonne (), was the leading university in Paris, France, from 1150 to 1970, except for 1793–1806 during the French Revolution. Emerging around 1150 as a corporation associated wit ...

. The future supreme court justice began the practice of law in Maysville in 1910 with the law firm of Worthington, Browning and Reed. Reed served as a Kentucky state representative between 1912 and 1916, sponsoring

child labor Child labour is the exploitation of children through any form of work that interferes with their ability to attend regular school, or is mentally, physically, socially and morally harmful. Such exploitation is prohibited by legislation w ...

and

workman's compensation Workers' compensation or workers' comp is a form of insurance providing wage replacement and medical benefits to employees injured in the course of employment in exchange for mandatory relinquishment of the employee's right to sue his or her emp ...

bills that were enacted in the face of significant opposition. Although a Democrat, Reed was appointed by President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was the 31st president of the United States, serving from 1929 to 1933. A wealthy mining engineer before his presidency, Hoover led the wartime Commission for Relief in Belgium and ...

to serve as general counsel of the

Federal Farm Board The Federal Farm Board was established by the Agricultural Marketing Act of 1929 from the Federal Farm Loan Board established by the Federal Farm Loan Act of 1916, with a revolving fund of half a billion dollars Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

appointed Reed

Solicitor General of the United States The solicitor general of the United States (USSG or SG), is the fourth-highest-ranking official within the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), and represents the federal government in cases before the Supreme Court of the United States. ...

to defend the

New Deal The New Deal was a series of wide-reaching economic, social, and political reforms enacted by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in the United States between 1933 and 1938, in response to the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depressi ...

laws whose constitutionality had been challenged. Reed was successful in doing so. In 1938, Reed was nominated to fill the U.S. Supreme Court vacancy caused by the retirement of Justice

George Sutherland George Alexander Sutherland (March 25, 1862July 18, 1942) was a British-born American jurist and politician. He served as an associate justice of the U.S. Supreme Court between 1922 and 1938. As a member of the Republican Party, he also repre ...

. Reed was widely considered the best lawyer in government service and his nomination was unanimously confirmed by the Senate.

References

{{Registered Historic Places National Register of Historic Places in Mason County, Kentucky Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Houses in Maysville, Kentucky Log buildings and structures on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky Log houses in the United States