McDaniels 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 ...
in
Breckinridge 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 ...
. McDaniels is located along
Kentucky Route 259, due south of
Hardinsburg. McDaniels is situated on
Rough River Lake, which collects the North Fork
Rough River, which flows for its entire length in Breckinridge County. McDaniels has a
post office
A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...
with
ZIP code 40152.
History
The town was founded by Sam Spencer and named in honor of
William McDaniels after his death. A post office was established in 1860 but it quickly closed. Another post office was opened in 1874.
McDaniels was one of the original pioneers of Breckinridge County, and where the town got its name. McDaniels was with Captain
William Hardin, John Jolly, Christopher Bush, and Sinclair Hardin when they first came to Breckinridge County in 1779.
[Powell, Burnett. 1976, July 4. "Brave Beginnings". ''Breckinridge County Herald-News'', Hardinsburg, KY. Collected from the Breckinridge Historical Society.]
William McDaniels' wife drowned within minutes of docking their flatboat in Breckinridge County, just south of the Falls of Sinking Creek. William McDaniel left his wife in the
flatboat, and walked up to Hardin's Fort to get some help and supplies. While William was doing this, a band of
Shawnee
The Shawnee ( ) are a Native American people of the Northeastern Woodlands. Their language, Shawnee, is an Algonquian language.
Their precontact homeland was likely centered in southern Ohio. In the 17th century, they dispersed through Ohi ...
scared Mrs. McDaniels to the point that she jumped out of the boat, into the Sinking Creek, whereupon she drowned shortly thereafter. McDaniel's black slave was kidnapped, and eventually killed by the same band of Shawnee.
[
William McDaniels would be killed in later years when he was bringing some cows outside of Hardin's Fort inside to milk. McDaniels was ambushed by two Shawnee Indians who killed him.][
In McDaniels City, Rillus Dockery ran a ]blacksmith
A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...
shop from the time of 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 ...
to around 1900. Eli Storms and Frank Rhodes ran a mercantile business in the early years after the Civil War. Pleasant Hill Methodist Church was founded in 1853 with James Parson as a member of the original board. John H. Hart practiced medicine here from 1876 to his death.
References
Unincorporated communities in Breckinridge County, Kentucky
Unincorporated communities in Kentucky
{{BreckinridgeCountyKY-geo-stub