Bradley, Walter T., Jr.

Walter Thomas Bradley, Jr. was born in Midway, KY to Walter T. Sr. and Sarah J. Craig Bradley. 

In 1977 became the first African American on the Midway City Council and served on the council for 24 years. An Army veteran, he was also a past Grand Secretary of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. of Kentucky for. whom he served as editor of the lodge's newspaper, Masonic Herald. Bradley was employed at Avon Army Depot, where he was an electrical engineer inspector.

Walter was the husband of Mollie McFarland Bradley, and the couple owned and lived in the building that had housed the Midway Colored School. Walter had been a student in the school; he purchased the building in 1959. He and his father did all of the repair work, and he and his wife leased space within the building to a number of businesses, including a beauty shop and shoe shop, and there was also a lodge hall and apartments.

The couple were also owners of the first laundrette in Midway. The building was also home to the offices of the Most Worshipful Prince Hall Grand Lodge F. & A.M. during Walter Bradley's tenure as grand secretary. Walter was also a member of a male singing group from Midway called the "Five Royalties of Song." He was a piano player, as are his wife and their sons.

Walter Bradley was a contributing writer for The Woodford Sun newspaper during Black History Month. His wife Mollie continues to write articles each year. In 1989, Walter was the first African American deacon at the Immanuel Baptist Church in Lexington, KY.

The Walter Bradley Memorial Park, located at 101 E. Main Street in Midway, is named in his honor.

For more see "Middlesboro city councilwoman top vote-getter" in 1988 Kentucky Directory of Black Elected Officials, Seventh Report, by the Kentucky Commission on Human Rights, p. 28; W. Bradley, "Black Free Masonry's Founder Never a Slave," Lexington Herald-Leader, 2/25/2002, Commentary section, p. A8; and Who's Who Among African Americans, 1988-2004.