Kentucky Derby winner worked in Forest Park
Isaac Lewis, a notable African American from Kentucky, a groomsman at the Harlem Race Track in 1900, was featured on a cigarette card in 1890.
Initially named the Harlem Jockey Club, the Harlem Race Track was located in the village of Harlem (now known as Forest Park) at Roosevelt and Hannah Street. The track operated from 1894 to 1904. In 1900, the village population was about 4,000 and practically all of the African Americans from Kentucky who lived in Proviso Township were employed at the Harlem Race Track. One of the most notable was Isaac Lewis, the jockey who rode the horse, Montrose, to win the 1887 Kentucky Derby. He was a groom at the Harlem Jockey Club according to the 1900 Census. Horse racing was banned in 1905 and the track was used for auto racing for a short time before becoming a golf course. In 1910 Isaac Lewis was managing a Turkish bath in Chicago.
The University of Kentucky Notable Kentucky African American Database sites the following Kentucky men who were listed on the U.S. Census in Proviso and employed with the track:
Cooks: Marvin Blair, John McGorman [or McGowan], John Young;
Grooms: Albert Bell, Alis Calarneys, Hy Carrington, Casper Cash, M. Dudley, John Griffen, William Hanson, C. Jackson, Milt Kennedy, Isaac Lewis, J. Madison, William Mason, John C. Smith, John Stepp, W. Wells;
Jockeys: T. Knight;
Stable Boys: E. Anderson, William Crow, George Green, Sam Kennedy, Steve Porter, S. Porter;
Trainers: William Reid, Charles Gather.
