H. McKenna Distillery (Fairfield, Ky.) Records, 1872-2018 (bulk: 1880s-1940s)
Collection held by the Filson Historical Society, Louisville, Kentucky
Creator: H. McKenna Distillery (Fairfield, Ky.)
Title: Records, 1872-2018 (bulk: 1880s-1940s)
Rights: For information regarding literary and copyright interest for this collection, contact the Collections Department at gro.lacirotsihnoslif@hcraeser.
Size of Collection: 2.0 cu. ft. and 1 wrapped vol.
Location Number: Mss. BB M155
Finding aid created by: Lynn Pohl
Date finding aid created: 31 August 2026
Date finding aid last updated: 31 August 2026
Scope and Content Note
This collection consists of the records of H. McKenna Distillery of Fairfield, Nelson County, Kentucky. Henry McKenna began making whiskey in Fairfield in 1855 and expanded the business during the 1860s-1880s. Family members took over the distillery after Henry’s death in 1893. During Prohibition (1920-1933), H. McKenna whiskey was stored in A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery warehouses. The McKenna family sold the distillery to Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1941. Included in the collection are legal and financial records, marketing material, business orders and correspondence, and miscellaneous papers of McKenna family members.
Folders 1-15 hold legal, financial, and marketing records of H. McKenna, most dating from the 1880s-1930s. Included are receipts, licenses and permits, land records, McKenna whiskey labels, circulars and advertisements, publications, and notes about Henry McKenna’s 1840-1874 account books (the account books are not part of the collection).
Folders 16-47 hold orders and correspondence dating from 1883-1918. Current and potential customers from Kentucky and across the United States, including wholesale liquor dealers and physicians, wrote to H. McKenna to put in orders, inquire about prices, ask for samples, settle accounts, or find ways to circumvent local and state laws restricting the distribution of alcohol.
Folders 48-59 hold correspondence and paperwork from the period of Prohibition through the sale of H. McKenna Distillery in 1941. Records include correspondence with the Internal Revenue Service (IRS), permits to purchase medicinal whiskey, and claims for tax refunds on stolen whiskey. Beginning in 1923, correspondence and paperwork provide information about the storage of pre-Prohibition H. McKenna whiskey at consolidation warehouses owned by A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, with Stitzel authorized to sell the whiskey for medicinal purposes. Legal records, notes, and correspondence from 1941-1947 document the liquidation of H. McKenna, Inc., after its sale to Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1941.
Folders 60-65 hold newspaper clippings, correspondence and historical information about H. McKenna and other Kentucky distilleries, and marketing material for Henry McKenna bourbon made by Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in the 1960s and Heaven Hill in 2018.
Folders 66-79 consist of miscellaneous family correspondence, papers, and genealogy information. Within this material are references to H. McKenna and the whiskey industry.
Volume 80 is an H. McKenna Distillery scrapbook, which includes correspondence, ephemera, newspaper clippings, and advertisements.
Related collections:
H. McKenna Distillery photographs [026PC27]
Historical Note
Henry McKenna (1819-1893) immigrated to the United States from Derry County, Ireland, and eventually settled in Fairfield in Nelson County, Kentucky. He started distilling in 1855 while he was running a flour mill and a farm. In 1860, he opened an office in Louisville, which was run by his son James McKenna as a “Wholesale and Retail Liquor Dealer.” In 1883, he built a new brick distillery in Nelson County. By the early 1880s, the following name and tagline were being used by the business: “H. McKenna, Distiller of Nelson County Pure Old Line Sour Mash Whisky” (see warehouse receipts in folder 3).
In 1893, Henry died and was buried at the cemetery of St. Michael Catholic Church, which had been built on his property. After Henry’s death, his sons Daniel (1848-1918), James (1855-1941), and Stafford (1861-1935) took over the business. Daniel managed the distillery, and James promoted and sold the whiskey. H. McKenna continued production until 1917.
When national Prohibition took effect in 1920, whiskey and other liquors could only be sold by permit as medicinal spirits. The Liquor Concentration Act of 1922 required that liquor made before Prohibition be concentrated in specially designated warehouses to safeguard inventory. Barrels of H. McKenna whiskey were stored in consolidation warehouses owned by A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery, with Stitzel and W. L. Weller & Sons authorized to bottle and sell the whiskey as medicinal spirits.
After the repeal of Prohibition in 1933, the H. McKenna Distillery resumed production the following year, with James and Stafford running operations. Stafford’s wife Mary Lee Constantine McKenna (1863-1937) and his daughter Marcella McKenna (1904-1976) were also involved in the business. The deaths of Stafford in 1935 and then James in 1941 contributed to the decision of the McKenna family to sell the brand and the distillery to Joseph E. Seagram & Sons in 1941. Stafford’s daughter Marcella handled much of the liquidation of the family business. In the early 1980s Seagram sold the brand to Heaven Hill Distillery.
Sources:
https://bourbonveach.com/2020/06/01/brand-history-henry-mckenna/
https://kybourbon.com/enthusiast-stories/160-years-of-h-mckenna-medicinal-whiskey/
https://stuartwsanders.medium.com/the-real-mckenna-76bf1981da2c
https://www.unicornauctions.com/unicorn-review/marcella-mckenna-kentucky-bourbon
Folder/Item/Box List
Box 1
Folder 1: Special tax stamps, 1876-1941
Folder 2: Miscellaneous receipts and accounts, 1872-1915
Folder 3: Warehouse receipts, 1882-1918
Folder 4: Printed yeast recipes (not H. McKenna), ca. 1890s
Folder 5: List of gaugers, storekeepers, and storekeeper-gaugers, 1869-1941
Folder 6: Licenses and permits, 1900-1941
Folder 7: Deeds, survey, and appraisals, 1916-1938
Folder 8: H. McKenna and McKenna Brothers legal and business records, ca. 1903-1942
Folder 9: H. McKenna and McKenna Brothers financial records, 1923-1924, 1939-1942
Folder 10: H. McKenna handbills and circulars, ca. 1882-1915
Folder 11: H. McKenna advertisements, labels, letterhead, and ephemera, ca. 1890s-1930s
Folder 12: H. McKenna and liquor industry publications, ca. 1930s
Folder 13: “Survey on Liquors,” 1 Aug. 1937
Folder 14: Notes about Henry McKenna’s 1840-1874 account books, ca. 1960s
Folder 15: Notes about 1823-1907 Nelson County records, ca. 1960s
Folder 16: Orders and correspondence, 1882-1885
Folder 17: Orders and correspondence, 1886
Folder 18: Orders and correspondence, 1887
Folder 19: Orders and correspondence, 1888
Folder 20: Orders and correspondence, 1889
Folder 21: Orders and correspondence, 1890
Folder 22: Orders and correspondence, 1891
Folder 23: Orders and correspondence, 1892
Folder 24: Orders and correspondence, 1893
Folder 25: Orders and correspondence, 1894-1895
Folder 26: Orders and correspondence, 1896
Folder 27: Orders and correspondence, 1897-1901
Folder 28: Orders and correspondence, 1902
Folder 29: Orders and correspondence, 1903
Folder 30: Orders and correspondence, 1906
Folder 31: Orders and correspondence, 1907
Folder 32: Orders and correspondence, 1908-1909
Folder 33: Orders and correspondence, 1910-1911
Folder 34: Orders and correspondence with the IRS, 1912-1913
Folder 35: Orders and correspondence, Dec. 1913-March 1914
Folder 36: Orders and correspondence, April-Dec. 1914
Folder 37: Orders and correspondence, 1915
Folder 38: Correspondence and records about Stallard land notes, 1916-1917
Folder 39: Orders and correspondence, Jan.-July 1917
Folder 40: Orders and correspondence, Aug.-Oct. 1917
Folder 41: Orders and correspondence, Nov.-Dec. 1917
Folder 42: Orders and correspondence, Jan.-Feb. 1918
Folder 43: Orders and correspondence, March 1918
Folder 44: Orders and correspondence, April 1918
Folder 45: Orders and correspondence, May 1918
Folder 46: Orders and correspondence, June-Aug. 1918
Box 2
Folder 47: Orders from and correspondence with Joseph R. Peebles’ Sons Co., 1917-1918
Folder 48: Permits to purchase and correspondence, Nov. 1919-Oct. 1921
Folder 49: Permits to purchase, receipts, and correspondence, Nov.-Dec. 1921
Folder 50: Permits to purchase, IRS forms, and correspondence, 1922-1923
Folder 51: Records and claims about tax refunds on stolen whiskey, 1920-1922
Folder 52: Correspondence about concentration warehouses, 1923
Folder 53: Permits to purchase, receipts, and correspondence, 1924
Folder 54: Correspondence from A. Philip Stitzel to customers, April-July 1924
Folder 55: Correspondence from A. Philip Stitzel to customers, Aug.-Dec. 1924
Folder 56: Miscellaneous correspondence, 1926-1943
Folder 57: Correspondence, legal records, and notes about H. McKenna liquidation, 1941-1942
Folder 58: Correspondence with Cotton and Eskew Accounting, 1929-1943
Folder 59: Correspondence with Liberty National Bank and Trust Company, 1944-1947
Folder 60: Correspondence with Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, 1942-1944
Folder 61: Historical information and correspondence with Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, Aug. 1961-March 1962
Folder 62: Historical information and correspondence with Joseph E. Seagram & Sons, March 1962-Aug. 1963
Folder 63: Henry McKenna bourbon advertisement material, ca. 1960s
Folder 64: Correspondence and clippings about Henry McKenna best bourbon award, 2018
Folder 65: Newspaper and magazine clippings, ca. 1920s-1960s
Folder 66: Correspondence and receipts of McKenna family, 1889, 1920s
Folder 67: Miscellaneous McKenna family papers, ca. 1891-1960s
Folder 68: Estate papers of Daniel McKenna, 1919-1920
Folder 69: Stocks and bonds of Stafford E. McKenna and related correspondence, ca. 1910s-1976
Folder 70: Miscellaneous papers and memorials of Stafford E. McKenna, 1924-1935
Folder 71: Will and estate settlement documents of Stafford E. McKenna, 1920-1939
Folder 72: Estate settlement documents of Stafford E. McKenna, 1935-1949
Folder 73: Financial ledger of Mary Lee McKenna and Marcella McKenna, ca. 1932-1948
Folder 74: Travel papers and passport of Regina Stafford McKenna, 1950s
Folder 75: Correspondence of Marcella McKenna about Eskimo Pie Corporation stock, 1948-1949
Folder 76: Miscellaneous correspondence and papers of Marcella McKenna, 1924-1967
Folder 77: Medical bills of Marcella McKenna, 1966
Folder 78: Family tree and genealogy notes, ca. 1930s-2018
Folder 79: Genealogy notebooks of Marcella McKenna, ca. early 1960s
Wrapped
Volume 80: H. McKenna Distillery scrapbook, ca. 1870s-1960s
Subject Headings
For details on how the below subjects appear in this collection, search the subject in the manuscript database at https://filsonhistorical.org/collections/manuscript-database/.
A. Ph. Stitzel Distillery.
Distilling industries – Kentucky.
Jockey Club (Louisville, Ky.)
Joseph E. Seagram & Sons.
McKenna, Daniel, 1848-1918.
McKenna, Henry, 1819-1893.
McKenna, James, 1855-1941.
McKenna, Marcella, 1904-1976.
McKenna, Regina Stafford, 1899-1974.
McKenna, Stafford E., 1861-1935.
Physicians.
Prohibition.
Whiskey industry – Kentucky.
