LEXINGTON, Ky. — After years of requesting a name change, a group is finally seeing a change to one of the historical sites in downtown Lexington. 

The Mayor’s office announced on July 24 that Cheapside Park could soon be known as Henry A. Tandy Centennial Park, and with a unanimous vote from the Commission, the final decision will come from the Urban County Council for final approval in August. 

“Ever since the beginning of our movement, redesign the space thinking or about what goes in that space, the names, things like that have always been something that we have looked to target.” Co-Founder of Take Back Cheapside, Russell Allen said. 

The name change will honor Henry A. Tandy, who was born into slavery in 1853. In 1865, he moved to Lexington and started working by 1867. He later became an important figure in the construction of many buildings in the downtown area. One being the foundation for the Old Courthouse downtown. 

“There's still a lot more work to do to get exactly what folks need here and like I said honor their history, and go forward from there,” Allen said.

If the renaming of Cheapside Park gets approved by the Urban County Council, the park will join nine other existing Lexington parks named after African Americans.