Editing Bloomfield, Kentucky (section)

==History==
The community on the east fork of Simpson Creek originally grew up on sites purchased from Leven Powell's {{convert|2000|acre|sp=us|adj=on}} land grant, which he received from the state of [[Virginia]] in 1779 and surveyed in 1781.<ref name=bloohi>City of Bloomfield. "[http://www.bloomfieldky.com/history.shtml History of the City of Bloomfield, Kentucky]". 
2013. Accessed 8 October 2013.</ref> The community on the east bank of the creek was known as ''Middlesburg'' when its first post office opened in 1803;<ref name=ren/> the west bank was known as ''Gandertown'' from its sport of "[[ganderpulling]]". Dr. John Bemiss of [[Rochester, New York|Rochester]], [[New York (state)|New York]], had settled in the area in 1799;<ref name=bloohi/> in 1817, he laid out the town and renamed it ''Bloomfield'', supposedly after his wife's maiden name (Bloomer) and his daughter's married name (Merrifield). The post office adopted this name the next year,<ref name=ren>Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lac2FUSj_oC&pg=PA23 p. 23]. University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987. Accessed 8 October 2013.</ref> but, according to the state's Land Office, the town was still formally incorporated under the name Middlesburg in 1819.<ref name=sos/>

Bloomfield's economy has always been agriculturally based, but there was a flour mill and a tobacco auction house in the 19th century. The [[Newell B. McClaskey House]] and [[plantation]] was built in 1835, and is now listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref name="nrhpdoc">{{cite web|date=March 24, 2000|others=Kentucky Heritage Council|title=National Register of Historic Places Inventory/Nomination: Newell B. McClaskey House|url={{NRHP url|id=00000269}}|access-date=June 22, 2021|publisher=[[National Park Service]], [[U.S. Department of the Interior]]}} (with {{NRHP url|id=00000269|photos=y|title=accompanying photos}})</ref> The McClaskey family had owned over 700 acres of land in the area at one time.<ref name="nrhpdoc" />

The public library was established in 1916 by the local Woman's Club.<ref name="bloohi" />