History

Native American tribes such as the Cherokee, Chickasaw, and Shawnee lived and hunted in the Bluegrass Region for thousands of years.

A party of frontiersmen make camp at the Middle Fork of Elkhorn Creek— the same waterway that runs beneath downtown Lexington today. When these settlers hear of the colonists’ victories in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, Lexington gets its name.

Lexington becomes a permanent settlement.

The First African Baptist Church—the oldest black Baptist congregation in Kentucky and the third-oldest in the nation—opens in Lexington under founder Peter Durrett, an enslaved preacher in circa 1790.

Kentucky’s first library is founded in Lexington. In 1906, the Carnegie Foundation helped construct a new building to house Lexington’s library, which eventually became the Lexington Public Library.

The Kentucky Baptist Mission Society opened a school for Native American boys on land owned by Richard Mentor Johnson in Scott County.

Benjamin Gratz, of whom Gratz Park is named after, purchased a home at the corner of Mill and New Street.

The Kentucky Association forms in Lexington to promote Thoroughbred breeding and racing.

The Kentucky Association opens a racetrack near downtown.

The Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky is founded as a land grant university. Later, it’ll be known as the University of Kentucky.

The Ashland Distillery is established on Manchester Street—the first registered distillery in Central Kentucky. The building lives on as Manchester Music Hall.

Bluegrass-bred Aristides wins the very first Kentucky Derby.

Garrett Morgan, inventor of the traffic light (among other things), is born in nearby Paris.

Sweet Evening Breeze, one of America’s first openly trans citizens and the originator of Lexington’s drag scene, is born (under a different name) in Georgetown.

Prohibition begins, spiking bourbon prices. Arrests for illegally selling whiskey in Lexington begin immediately.

Madeline Breckinridge became president of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association (KERA), Kentucky’s leading women’s suffrage organization, advocating for women’s right to vote.

Ike Miller, the “Bootlegger King” of Lexington, is finally sent to the Atlanta Penitentiary after years of arrests, trials, and flaunting the law.

Cumberland National Forest—later renamed Daniel Boone National Forest—is officially established by President Franklin D. Roosevelt.

The Kentucky Wildcats win their first NCAA basketball championship.

Lexington establishes the country’s first Urban Services Boundary to manage growth and protect farms.

George Clooney is born in Lexington.

Adolph Rupp wins his fifth and final NCAA basketball championship with the Kentucky Wildcats, making him one of the most successful college basketball coaches in history.

The Gay Services Organization (GSO) is founded in Lexington.

Mayor Pam Miller signs Kentucky’s first county-wide, fully-inclusive Fairness Ordinance into law.

Keeneland is ranked the #1 racetrack on the continent by the Horseplayers Association of North America.

Jim Gray is elected mayor—the first openly-gay mayor in Kentucky.

The Brewgrass Trail is founded, celebrating craft beer in Central Kentucky.

Horses sold at Keeneland win all three Triple Crown races.

You’re now a bona-fide Lexington historian!