High Bridge is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

census-designated place A census-designated place (CDP) is a Place (United States Census Bureau), concentration of population defined by the United States Census Bureau for statistical purposes only. CDPs have been used in each decennial census since 1980 as the counte ...

in Jessamine County,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

. As of the 2010 census it had a population of 242. It lies along the lower reaches of the

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River in Kentucky, United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of eastern and central Kentucky, passing through the Eastern Coalfield, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Bluegrass re ...

across from the confluence of the

Dix River The Dix River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 tributary of the Kentucky River in central Kentucky in the United States. It begins in western Rockcastl ...

with the Kentucky. The community is part of the Lexington–Fayette Metropolitan Statistical Area.

History

A post office was established in 1879 in the community then known as "North Tower". In 1888, the town was renamed for the landmark High Bridge, a

railroad Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in railway track, tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel railway track, rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of ...

bridge over the Kentucky River. The first bridge was planned by

John Roebling John Augustus Roebling (born Johann August Röbling; June 12, 1806 – July 22, 1869) was a German-born American civil engineer. He designed and built wire rope suspension bridges, in particular the Brooklyn Bridge, which has been designated as ...

as a suspension bridge, but ultimately built as a cantilever bridge. The current bridge, the second one on these foundations, is the highest railroad bridge in the United States over a navigable river. The Kentucky River runs through the

Kentucky River Palisades The Kentucky River Palisades are a series of steep, scenic gorges and limestone outcroppings that stretch for approximately 100 mi (160 km), along the Kentucky River in central Kentucky in the United States. Geology The Kentucky Rive ...

for much of the lower portion of its length. Most of the bridges over it in the area are relatively high ones. High Bridge was opened in 1876 and was the first

cantilever bridge A cantilever bridge is a bridge built using structures that project horizontally into space, supported on only one end (called cantilevers). For small footbridges, the cantilevers may be simple beam (structure), beams; however, large cantilever ...

in North America. Standing over the river between the Palisades, it first carried both passenger and freight trains. The

American Society of Civil Engineers The American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) is a tax-exempt professional body founded in 1852 to represent members of the civil engineering profession worldwide. Headquartered in Reston, Virginia, it is the oldest national engineering soci ...

has designated it a

National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark __NOTOC__ The following is a list of Historic Civil Engineering Landmarks as designated by the American Society of Civil Engineers since it began the program in 1964. The designation is granted to projects, structures, and sites in the United Stat ...

. The 1876 bridge was replaced in 1911 by a more robust bridge in the same place. This is the current bridge, which stands above the river. Freight trains of the

Norfolk Southern Railway The Norfolk Southern Railway is a Class I freight railroad operating in the Eastern United States. Headquartered in Atlanta, the company was formed in 1982 with the merger of the Norfolk and Western Railway and Southern Railway. The comp ...

still use this bridge several times a day. The Palisades were a popular spot for picnics and dances, as breezes from the river gorge kept it comfortable. An open-air roofed ballroom was built there for community dances and has been preserved. A small playground and park adjoin the Palisades property. A brand of

bottled water Bottled water is drinking water (e.g., Water well, well water, distilled water, Reverse osmosis, reverse osmosis water, mineral water, or Spring (hydrology), spring water) packaged in Plastic bottle, plastic or Glass bottle, glass water bott ...

named for the community depicts the bridge on its label. Highbridge Springs water is well known to the

University of Kentucky Wildcats The Kentucky Wildcats are the men's and women's intercollegiate athletic squads of the University of Kentucky (UK), a founding member of the Southeastern Conference. The Kentucky Wildcats is the student body of the University of Kentucky. 30, ...

. The Wildcat mascot is used on the bottle label to show support for the team. The bottle name is "Swish".

Bethel Academy Bethel Academy was the first Methodist school established in the United States west of the Appalachian Mountains. Established by Francis Asbury in 1790, the school operated in present-day Jessamine County, Kentucky until 1805. Establishment In ...

, the first

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

school west of the

Appalachians The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

, was established in the High Bridge vicinity in 1790.Young, Bennett Henderson
''A History of Jessamine County, Kentucky, From Its Earliest Settlement to 1898''
Courier-Journal Job Printing, 1898, 171.

Geography

The High Bridge census-designated place consists of the community of High Bridge as well as rural land comprising the inside of the bend on the

where the bridge is located.

Kentucky Route 29 Kentucky Route 29 (KY 29) is an state highway located entirely within Jessamine County in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The highway, maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, runs north from High Bridge, Kentucky through Wilmore befor ...

leads northeast from High Bridge to Wilmore, and Nicholasville, the Jessamine

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

, is northeast of High Bridge. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the High Bridge CDP has a total area of , of which are land and , or 6.36%, are water.

Demographics

As of the 2020 census, there were 268 people, 120 housing units, and 51 families in the CDP. The racial makeup was 93.0%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 0.3% Asian, 0.7% from some other race, and 6.0% from two or more races. Those of

Hispanic or Latino ''Hispanic'' and '' Latino'' are ethnonyms used to refer collectively to the inhabitants of the United States who are of Spanish or Latin American ancestry (). While many use the terms interchangeably, for example, the United States Census Bureau ...

origin made up 4.1% of the population. The ancestry of the CDP was 79.3%

American American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

, 3.4% Irish, and 2.3%

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany, the country of the Germans and German things **Germania (Roman era) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...

. The median age was 59.2 years old. The average family size was 1.97 people per household. The median household income was $30,750. 17.2% of the population were in poverty.

References

External links

Jessamine County Kentucky Tourism - High BridgeHigh Bridge Springs WaterDigitized images from the Louis Edward Nollau High Bridge Photographic Collection, 1910-1912
housed at the University of Kentucky Libraries Special Collections Research Center {{authority control Census-designated places in Kentucky Unincorporated communities in Jessamine County, Kentucky Unincorporated communities in Kentucky Lexington–Fayette metropolitan area