1851 – 1903
Distiller and Attorney
Richard P. Stoll was born in Lexington on January 21, 1851, the second son of George J. Stoll, Sr. He attended Kentucky University, graduating in 1868. In 1875, Stoll was elected to the Kentucky Legislature (serving one term). In 1877, he became the Deputy Director of the Internal Revenue Bureau in Lexington and the next year Commissioner of the Internal Revenue Bureau for Kentucky. He oversaw the collection of the Federal excise taxes.
In 1881, he formed the Stoll, Clay & Company, that rebuilt the old cotton mill at Sandersville into a distillery. Also in 1881, Stoll and Robert B. Hamilton established a partnership to wholesale whiskey. This firms would later become Stoll & Company. This interest would later pass to his sons. The firm was disposed of by Prohibition.
In the 1890s, he was a director of the Kentucky Distillers Association. In 1883 Stoll became the President of the Lexington City National Bank, serving until his death in 1903. He was prominent in Republican politics, being nominated in 1900 for the U. S. Congress.
He died in March 1903. At the time of his death, he was President of the Lexington City National Bank, Kentucky Trotting Horse Breeders Association (the Red Mile), Lexington Gas Company, Stoll, Hamilton & Company and Stoll & Company. He was the Treasurer of the Lexington Street Railway Company. He was also a director of the Security Trust Company, Eastern State Lunatic Asylum, Lexington & Eastern Railway, Belt Electric Line Company, Central Electric Company, Lexington Brick Company, Hercules Ice Company and the Passenger & Belt Railway Company. He was stated to be the wealthiest individual in Lexington at the time of his death. [i]
[i] Lexington Herald, March 2, 1903, page 1, column 1.
