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Kentucky - History

Historical Sites

Fayette County - Lexington, Kentucky

This picture is of Lexington from a helicopter.

Marker # 1554 Blockhouse and Fort

This site was the first Lexington blockhouse and stockade built in April of 1779. After many Indian attacks in Kentucky, Colonel John Todd in 1781 led in building a new artillery-proof fort. The walls are seven feet thick, and surrounded by a wide ditch.

Marker # 136 Lexington

The City of Lexington was named in honor of the first Battle of the American Revolutionary War. Lexington has been the home of Henry Clay, Mary Todd Lincoln and John C. Breckinridge.

Lexington Kentucky Historical Site

Marker # 1550 Lexington Cemetery

Lexington Cemetery, incorporated in 1849, was laid out as a natural landscape park. Both Confederate and Union soldiers are buried in this cemetery. A 120-ft monument stands above the grave of Henry Clay. Other noted men buried at this location include the following: James Lane Allen, John C. Breckinridge, and John Hunt Morgan.

Marker # 1961 Lexington Colored Fair Association

The Lexington Colored Agricultural and Mechanical Association was started in 1869. This annual fair promoted entertainment which attracted thousands from Kentucky, and beyond. When it was located on Georgetown Pike, the site had an exhibition hall, amphitheatre, and racetrack.

Lexington’s Colored Fair was the most successful of all the fairs held throughout the entire state.

Marker # 1556 Town Branch

Under Vine Street flows the Town Branch of Elkhorn, the stream upon whose banks Lexington was established in 1779. This stream was used in the early days to bring merchandise to Lexington from the Ohio River.

Marker # 554 Lexington Named

In early June of 1775, a party of frontiersmen, led by William McConnell, camped near here on a branch of Elkhorn Creek. Upon hearing of the colonist victory at Lexington, Massachusetts, on April 19, 1775, they named their campsite Lexington to commemorate the first battle of the American Revolution.

Due to the danger of attacks from Indians, the permanent settlement was delayed for four years. In 1779 Colonel Robert Patterson and 25 companions came from Fort Harrod and built a blockhouse at present day Main and Mill streets. The town of Lexington was established on May 6, 1782, by act of Virginia General Assembly.

Marker # 2199 Lexington Public Library (Carnegie Library)

Lexington Public Library was the first library west of the Alleghenies Mountain Range, established in 1795. In 1902, Andrew Carnegie gave $60,000 to build the Lexington Public Library, which served the community from 1905 to 1989.

Marker # 1437 Oldest House in Lexington

Built in 1784 for Adam Rankin, minister of Lexington’s pioneer Presbyterian Church. Samuel D. McCullough, born here in 1803, who was a teacher, astronomer, antiquarian and maker of world famous Burrowes mustard. In 1971, the Blue Grass Trust for Historic Preservation moved this house from its original location, at 215 west high street, to the present destination (317 S. Mill St. Lexington).

Marker # 1552 Pioneer Burying Ground

This was the first burial ground in Lexington. Since 1788, there have been four Baptist church at this location.

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