In 1876, the house caught fire, just before it was to be auctioned to satisfy a debt to local wagonmaker Benjamin Austin.

In 1898, Peter won the Kentucky Futurity, and he went on to become one of the greatest sires in trotting history.

The Oaklands served for many years as the residence of the university president, and later as the school's reception center.

[2] The Oaklands Is a twenty-three-room, two-story Italianate house located in a grove of oak trees.

The house has paneled brick chimney stacks, round-headed windows, and a projecting tripartite entrance with stylized Corinthian pilasters.