Munfordville is a home rule-class city in, and the county seat of, Hart County,

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

, United States. The population was 1,615 at the 2010 U.S. census.

History

The settlement was once known as "Big Buffalo Crossing". The current name came from Richard Jones Munford, who donated the land to establish the new county seat in 1816. Munfordville was incorporated in 1858. In 1862, the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government polici ...

Battle of Munfordville The Battle of Munfordville (also known as the Battle of Green River) was an engagement in Munfordville, Kentucky during the American Civil War. Victory there allowed the Confederates to temporarily strengthen their hold on the region and impa ...

took place in the town.

Geography

Munfordville is located in central Hart County at (37.276608, -85.897822), on the north side of the Green River.

U.S. Route 31W U.S. Route 31W (US 31W) is the westernmost of two parallel routes for U.S. Route 31 from Nashville, Tennessee to Louisville, Kentucky. At one time, it split with U.S. Route 31E at Sellersburg, Indiana, crossing into nearby Louisville via the Ken ...

is Munfordville's Main Street, while

Interstate 65 Interstate 65 (I-65) is a major north–south Interstate Highway in the central United States. As with most primary Interstates ending in 5, it is a major crosscountry, north–south route, connecting between the Great Lakes and the Gul ...

passes just northwest of town, with access from Exit 65. I-65 leads north to Elizabethtown and southwest to

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. Federal Statistical System, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The Census Bureau is part of th ...

, Munfordville has a total area of , of which , or 0.47%, are water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 1,563 people, 698 households, and 418 families residing in the city. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was 619.0 people per square mile (238.5/km). There were 776 housing units at an average density of 307.3 per square mile (118.4/km). The racial makeup of the city was 87.33%

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

, 11.45%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.13% Asian, 0.13% from other races, and 0.96% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race were 1.09% of the population. There were 698 households, out of which 23.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 41.4% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognized union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children, and between ...

living together, 14.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.0% were non-families. 36.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 19.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.18 and the average family size was 2.82. The age distribution was 20.7% under the age of 18, 8.8% from 18 to 24, 23.7% from 25 to 44, 24.3% from 45 to 64, and 22.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 82.8 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.1 males. The median income for a household in the city was $18,015, and the median income for a family was $26,333. Males had a median income of $25,417 versus $20,417 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the city was $11,447. About 23.7% of families and 26.2% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 33.9% of those under age 18 and 25.8% of those age 65 or over. In 2010, Munfordville had the 20th-lowest median household income of all places in the United States with a population over 1,000.

Amish settlement

The

Amish The Amish (; pdc, Amisch; german: link=no, Amische), formally the Old Order Amish, are a group of traditionalist Anabaptist Christian church fellowships with Swiss German and Alsatian origins. They are closely related to Mennonite churc ...

settlement near Munfordville was founded in 1989. It has ties to the Geauga Amish settlement in Ohio, from where many of the Munfordville Amish came. It is the fastest-growing Amish settlement in America and had 14 church districts and a total population of about 1,800 as of 2013.

Education

Munfordville has a

lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a library ...

, the Hart County Public Library.

Notable people

Several government officials were born in Munfordville. Thomas John Wood, a US Army major general, and Simon B. Buckner Sr, a Confederate lieutenant general, knew each other as boys but then fought on opposing sides during the American Civil War. Buckner became governor of Kentucky (1887–1891) and ran unsuccessfully for vice president of the United States (1896). His son, Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr., was also born in Munfordville and served as a lieutenant general during World War II. Thelma Loyace Hawkins Stovall was a pioneering female Southern politician who won several statewide elective offices in Kentucky. Poet,

Davis McCombs Davis McCombs (born 1969) is an American poet. He attended Harvard University as an undergraduate, the University of Virginia as a Henry Hoyns Fellow, and Stanford University as a Wallace Stegner Fellow. He is also the recipient of fellowship ...

, grew up in Munfordville.

References

External links

City of Munfordville official website

local newspaper {{authority control Cities in Hart County, Kentucky Cities in Kentucky County seats in Kentucky Populated places established in 1816 1816 establishments in Kentucky