Matthew Walton, 1759-1819

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Historical Marker #933, located two miles west of Springfield, commemorates Matthew Walton, a U.S. Representative from Kentucky and cousin of John Walton and George Walton (who signed the Declaration of Independence as a representative of Georgia).

Walton received a limited schooling. He served as member of the constitutional conventions held in Danville in 1785 and 1787. He also served as member of the first Kentucky constitutional convention in 1792 and as member of the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1792, 1795, and 1808.

Walton was elected as a Democratic-Republican to the Eighth and Ninth Congresses (March 4, 1803-March 3, 1807). He died in Springfield, Kentucky, on January 18, 1819. He was interred in Springfield Cemetery.

General Matthew Walton was the founder of Springfield and owned more than 200,000 acres of land in Washington County. He built the Walton Manor Cottage in 1784 and then Walton Manor in 1791. John R. Barber purchased the house and land in the late 1800s. The house was torn down in the early 1900s, but the original foundation, cellar, and kitchen were used to build the current home in 1904-05.