Editing Estill County, Kentucky (section)

==History==
Estill County was formed in 1808 from land given by Clark and Madison counties, it was Kentucky's 50th county.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Collins |first=Lewis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=F5FQAQAAIAAJ&pg=PA166 |title=History of Kentucky |publisher=Library Reprints, Incorporated |year=1877 |isbn=9780722249208 |page=166}}</ref> Originally settled by European settlers entering Kentucky via old buffalo and Indian trails and traveling through [[Boonesborough, Kentucky|Boonesborough]] in what is today Madison County.<ref name="History" />

Estill County was one of the first areas in the United States to experience early industrialization, with iron mining and smelting beginning in 1810. The iron industry would go on to thrive in Estill County for decades, with the ruins of the Estill furnace, the Cottage furnace, and the [[Fitchburg Furnace]] still being visible today.<ref name="History">{{Cite web |title=History |url=https://www.estillcountyky.net/history.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180905094123/http://www.estillcountyky.net/history.html |archive-date=September 5, 2018 |access-date=February 7, 2019 |website=Estill Development Alliance |language=en}}</ref> The Fitchburg furnace was a particularly impressive engineering feat. Standing 81 feet tall, the furnace is the largest charcoal furnace in the world, and one of the largest 25 dry-stone masonry structures in the world.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Fitchburg Furnace Interpretive Site |url=https://www.fs.usda.gov/recarea/dbnf/recarea/?recid=64853 |website=Daniel Boone National Forest}}</ref> The iron industry declined after the Civil War when iron deposits and timber to fire the furnaces were depleted, and innovation made charcoal furnaces obsolete.<ref name="History" /> During the Civil War Estill County was strongly pro-union, similar to surrounding counties, especially to the southeast.

Additionally, the county was historically known for the Estill Springs summer resort, situated near mineral springs in Irvine. This resort was a popular vacation site for many prominent Kentuckians in the 19th century, with men including [[Henry Clay]], John Crittenden, and John C. Breckinridge vacationing there.<ref name="History" /> The current courthouse, built in 1941, replaced a structure dating from the 1860s.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Hogan, Roseann Reinemuth |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hAVlVS29NKIC&q=%22bell+county%22+1914+1918+1976&pg=PA226 |title=Kentucky Ancestry: A Guide to Genealogical and Historical Research |date=1992 |publisher=Ancestry Publishing |isbn=9780916489496 |pages=226 |access-date=July 26, 2013}}</ref>