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Lexington History
The history of the Lexington area dates back to 1775, when a small group of pioneers camped in the area and named the site Lexington in honor of the opening battle of the Revolutionary War. In 1779, Robert Patterson and a party of settlers from Harrodsburg established a permanent settlement in the area.
The Lexington area was incorporated as a township in May, 1781, a year after the Virginia Legislature divided the Kentucky District into three separate counties. Fayette County was named in honor of General Gilbert Mortier de Lafayette, hero of the American Revolution. Lexington became the county seat and Governor Thomas Jefferson of Virginia appointed John Todd as Colonel and Daniel Boone as Lt.-Colonel.
Kentucky was split from Virginia in 1792 to form a commonwealth, which became the 15th state in the union. Lexington was incorporated as a city in 1832. It was the center of activity for Kentucky and became the home of Kentucky's first newspaper, The Kentucky Gazette, in 1787.
Horse racing in downtown Lexington was a common sight until 1788 when the Town Trustees prohibited the sport from the town's thoroughfares. In 1789, Lexington's first race course was established. Racing at the Red Mile began in 1875, and Keeneland opened in 1936.
Lexington was one of the leading manufacturing centers of the early West. It was the center of production of hemp goods, nails and gunpowder, and the site of cotton and furniture factories, breweries and distilleries. Many famous people of early America made their homes in Lexington, including Mary Todd Lincoln, Henry Clay and Civil War General John Hunt Morgan.
An educational mecca in the 1800's, Lexington developed a broad range of educational opportunities based on strong programs in liberal arts, medicine, law, education and agriculture. During the Civil War, it not only became a prized possession alternately held by both the North and South, but the presidents of the Union and the Confederacy both had close ties to Lexington.
Transylvania University, the first institution of higher learning west of the Allegheny Mountains, was chartered in 1780. During the early 1800's Transylvania University trained many of the nation's leaders, including 17 congressmen, 6 senators, 3 governors and the president of the Confederacy.
Once known as the "Athens of the West", large numbers of early American artists, poets, musicians and architects settled in Lexington.
It's interesting to "note" that Lexingtonians heard the first performance of a Beethoven Symphony in the United States in 1817!
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