Harrodsburg, Kentucky
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Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in and the
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 ...
of
Mercer County, Kentucky Mercer County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,772. Its county seat is Harrodsburg. The county was formed from Lincoln County, Virginia in 1785 and i ...
, United States. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the Virginia
House of Burgesses The House of Burgesses () was the lower house of the Virginia General Assembly from 1619 to 1776. It existed during the colonial history of the United States in the Colony of Virginia in what was then British America. From 1642 to 1776, the Hou ...
after Boonesborough and was not incorporated by the Kentucky legislature until 1836,Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "Harrodsburg, Kentucky". Accessed 30 July 2013. it was honored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the oldest permanent American settlement west of the Appalachians.


History


18th century

Harrodstown (originally called ''Harrod's Town'') was laid out and founded by James Harrod on June 16, 1774. Harrod led a company of adventurers totaling 31 men, beginning in the spring of 1774 at Fort Redstone in Pennsylvania down the Monongahela and
Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...
Rivers in canoes and through a series of other rivers and creeks to the town's present-day location. Later that same year, amid Dunmore's War, Lord Dunmore sent two men to warn the surveyors of imminent Shawnee attacks,
Daniel Boone Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...
and Michael Stoner, who are said to have completed the round trip of 800 miles in 61 days. Regardless, the pioneers remained for a few weeks until a man was killed by the natives, when the settlement was abandoned and resettled the following year by March. It was one of three settlements in present-day Kentucky at the time the
Thirteen Colonies The Thirteen Colonies were the British colonies on the Atlantic coast of North America which broke away from the British Crown in the American Revolutionary War (1775–1783), and joined to form the United States of America. The Thirteen C ...
declared independence in 1776, along with Logan's Fort and Boonesborough. Also known as Oldtown, Harrodstown was the first seat of Virginia's
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 ...
(1776), Lincoln (1780), and Mercer (1785) Counties upon their formations. It remains the seat of Mercer County in Kentucky. A census taken between Dec. 16, 1777, and Oct. 16, 1778, lists 52 residents, several of whom were well-known pioneers and frontiersmen, including Daniel Boone's younger brother, Squire Boone, Silas Harlan, the Kentucky county's namesake, James Harrod, Hugh McGary, Isaac Hite and his cousins,
Isaac Isaac ( ; ; ; ; ; ) is one of the three patriarchs (Bible), patriarchs of the Israelites and an important figure in the Abrahamic religions, including Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Baháʼí Faith. Isaac first appears in the Torah, in wh ...
and John Bowman, and David Glenn, who later travelled further west and settled in Yellow Banks (present Daviess County). David Glenn, along with his brother Thomas, and Silas Harlan, with his brother James, had accompanied Harrod on his initial expedition in 1774. The settlement was formally established by the
Virginia General Assembly The Virginia General Assembly is the legislative body of the Commonwealth of Virginia, the oldest continuous law-making body in the Western Hemisphere, and the first elected legislative assembly in the New World. It was established on July 30, ...
in 1785 as Harrodsburg. Four years later, it was named the location for the newly created United States District Court for the District of Kentucky by the
Judiciary Act of 1789 The Judiciary Act of 1789 (ch. 20, ) was a United States federal statute enacted on September 24, 1789, during the first session of the First United States Congress. It established the federal judiciary of the United States. Article Three of th ...
.


19th century

The
Kentucky General Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...
incorporated Harrodsburg in 1836. During the
Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, 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 policies.J ...
, the town was generally pro- Confederate, however Union control permitted the organization two Union regiments, the 19th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and the 11th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry. The 19th Infantry as organized at nearby Camp Harwood for a three-year enlistment commencing January 2, 1862, under the command of
Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...
William J. Landram. Companies A, C, D, and F of the 11th Kentucky Cavalry were organized at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in July 1862. The remainder of the regiment was organized in Louisville, Kentucky, and mustered in on September 26, 1862, for three years service under the command of Colonel Alexander W. Holeman. Following the
Battle of Perryville The Battle of Perryville, also known as the Battle of Chaplin Hills, was fought on October 8, 1862, in the Chaplin Hills west of Perryville, Kentucky, as the culmination of the Confederate Heartland Offensive (Kentucky Campaign) during the Ame ...
, much of the city was converted into makeshift hospitals; 1600 sick and wounded Confederate soldiers were captured during a raid by the 9th Kentucky Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel John Boyle on October 10, 1862. The city then remained under martial law for the remainder of the war. The Louisville Southern Railroad network reached the city in 1888. Its construction commenced in 1884 and ran from Louisville through Shelbyville and Lawrenceburg to Harrodsburg, which was reached in 1888. A spur was constructed to Burgin, where the Louisville Southern joined the Cincinnati Southern's Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway CNO&TP mainline. Now all run and are operated by
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 ...
.


20th century

Pioneer Memorial Park (now Old Fort Harrod State Park) was opened on June 16, 1927. In 1936, President
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...
honored the city with a monument honoring the "first permanent settlement west of the Appalachians". Company D of the 192nd Tank Battalion in the Battle of Bataan was from Harrodsburg.


Geography

According to the
United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the city has a total area of , all land.


Transportation

U.S. 127 runs north–south through Harrodsburg. U.S. 127 Bypass goes around Harrodsburg. U.S. 68 runs east–west through the city, but U.S. 68 turns onto U.S. 127 some of the time in Harrodsburg. KY 152 also runs east–west through the area.


Climate

Harrodsburg is in the
humid subtropical climate A humid subtropical climate is a subtropical -temperate climate type, characterized by long and hot summers, and cool to mild winters. These climates normally lie on the southeast side of all continents (except Antarctica), generally between ...
zone, although verging on a
humid continental climate A humid continental climate is a climatic region defined by Russo-German climatologist Wladimir Köppen in 1900, typified by four distinct seasons and large seasonal temperature differences, with warm to hot (and often humid) summers, and cold ...
. Summers are hot and humid, and winters are cool with mild periods. Average high is 87 °F in July and August, the warmest months, with the average lows of 26 °F in January, the coolest month. The highest recorded temperature was 105 °F in September 1954. The lowest recorded temperature was −18 °F in January 1985. Average annual precipitation is , with the wettest month being May, averaging .


Demographics

As of the 2020 United States census, 9,064 people and 4,088 households were residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 87.0%
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 ...
, 6.5%
African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.6% Native American, 1.6% Asian, and 4.2% of two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos were 3.7% of the population. The
population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), 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 geog ...
was with 4,128 housing units. had an average density of . Of the 4,088 households, 27.1% had children under 18 living with them, 31% were married couples living together, 33.1% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 31.4% were male householders with no spouse present. About 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.16, and the average family size was 3.16. In 2021, the city's age distribution was 20.6% under 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 7.7%% from 25 to 29, and 25.9% who were 60 or older. The median age was 39.5 years. Female persons comprised 48.7 percent of residents in 2020. The median income for a household in the city was
US $ The United States dollar (Currency symbol, symbol: Dollar sign, $; ISO 4217, currency code: USD) is the official currency of the United States and International use of the U.S. dollar, several other countries. The Coinage Act of 1792 introdu ...
41,839 (in 2021). The
per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the city was $24,242. About 15.5% of the population was 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 20.8% of those under age 18 and 21.6% of those age 65 or over.


Education and libraries


Primary and secondary education

Public education is provided by the Mercer County School District. The Harrodsburg Independent Schools, which operated Harrodsburg High School, merged into the Mercer County Schools in 2006. These schools located are within the Mercer County district: *Harrodsburg Area Technology Center *Mercer County Senior High School *Kenneth D. King Middle School *Mercer County Intermediate School *Mercer County Elementary School *Harlow Early Learning Center


Higher education

Harrodsburg's Beaumont Inn (1917–present) was known as the Christian Baptist School (1830–1833), Greeneville Institute (1841–1856), Daughters' College (1856–1893), Young Ladies College (1893–1894), Beaumont College (1895–1915), and Daughters' College (1916), prior to becoming Beaumont Inn. Campbellsville University established a branch campus at the Conover Education Center in 2016.


Libraries

Harrodsburg 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 librar ...
, the Mercer County Public Library.


Economy

*
Hitachi () is a Japanese Multinational corporation, multinational Conglomerate (company), conglomerate founded in 1910 and headquartered in Chiyoda, Tokyo. The company is active in various industries, including digital systems, power and renewable ener ...
Astemo is based in Harrodsburg. * Corning Incorporated has a plant located in Harrodsburg that makes Gorilla Glass.


Notable people

* Ralph G. Anderson, founder Belcan Corporation, philanthropist * Jane T. H. Cross (1817–1870), author * Maria T. Daviess (1814–1896), author; grandmother of Maria Thompson Daviess * Maria Thompson Daviess (1872–1924), author * Jason Dunn, National Football League player * David Winfield Huddleston, Christian author and minister * Rachel Jackson, wife of President Andrew Jackson * Frances Wisebart Jacobs, philanthropist *
Dennis Johnson Dennis Wayne Johnson (September 18, 1954 – February 22, 2007), nicknamed "DJ", was an American professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association's (NBA) Seattle SuperSonics, Phoenix Suns, and Boston Celtics. He was a c ...
, National Football League player * William Logan, politician * Beriah Magoffin,
Governor of Kentucky The governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky is the head of government of the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Kentucky. Sixty-two men and one woman have served as governor of Kentucky. The governor's term is four years in length; sinc ...
(1859 − 1862) and namesake of Magoffin County, Kentucky * William Sullivan, politician and lawyer * John Burton Thompson, politician * Al Wilson, actor and stunt pilot * Craig Yeast, National Football League player


See also

* Low Dutch Station * Rocky Point Manor


References


External links


City of Harrodsburg

Harrodsburg / Mercer County Tourist Commission
{{authority control * Cities in Kentucky Cities in Mercer County, Kentucky County seats in Kentucky Populated places established in 1774 Former county seats in Virginia