But it was the second floor office of Lexington businessman Thomas Asbury Combs to which one can trace the beginning of what was to become one of the nations’ leading energy companies  -  born as Swiss Oil Company in downtown Lexington in 1918, documents signed in Combs office in 1924 created the business now known worldwide as Ashland Inc.  As the president of both Combs Lumber Company and the Lexington Telephone Company when he ventured into the new business of oil exploration in Kentucky, Combs had already established himself as a dedicated community leader.  Born in Breathitt County, he had moved to Lexington to establish Combs Lumber in 1893 with his father and four brothers.  Ten years later, after having quickly been elected to the city council, the citizens of Lexington elected him mayor where he served until 1907 when he resigned to be the Democratic candidate for the state senate.  Elected handily, the popular Combs was soon named senate president pro tem and had won statewide notice by championing the highly debated issue of women’s right to vote in Kentucky.             Assuming Kentucky’s top legislative office also caused him to assume the responsibilities of the governor on several occasions when the governor and lieutenant governor ventured outside state boundaries.  On one occasion in 1916 when fellow Democrat, Governor Augustus Stanley, was away for an extended trip, Combs’ Lexington friends hosted a gala dinner in his honor not so subtlety aimed at pushing Combs toward the governorship on a full time basis.  The assembled businessmen heard toastmaster, Dr. Joseph Kastle, bemoan that “it is scarcely believable, my friends, and yet it seems to be a historical fact that the goodly town of Lexington, the first capital of the Commonwealth, has never given a governor to this great State and Nation.”  He continued, “It is high time, my friends, that this great little city was represented in the high councils of the state.”  The evening also included the presentation of a gold watch by University of Kentucky President James K. Patterson and a congratulatory phone call from William Jennings Bryan, the three-time candidate for president. Despite the push to seek higher office, in 1917 Combs left the Kentucky senate and returned to his many Fayette County interests focusing on his growing holdings and business interests including responsibilities as a member of the Federal Reserve Bank.

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