Editing Louisa, Kentucky (section)

==History==
The origin of the city's name is unclear. Theories include that it was named for [[Louisa County, Virginia]], after Louisa Swetnam, one of the [[first white child]]ren born in the area, or after a corruption of the original name of the Levisa Fork, as it was originally written and spoken as the "Louisa Fork." An 1856 map still shows the river under the name "Louisa." [[Virginia]], [[the Carolinas|Carolina]] and other English colonial-linked settlement attempts began as early as 1790 but did not take hold until 1818. Louisa became the county seat in 1822 and a city in 1823.

About 1792, Vancouver's Station, which had been destroyed by the Native Americans in 1790, on the tongue of land between the Levisa and Tug Forks of the Big Sandy, was reestablished.  A few years later this settlement was known as "Balclutha" and is so designated on early maps of the state.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=hXIUAAAAYAAJ&dq=balclutha%20%22mason%20county%20kentucky%22&pg=PA241 Jillson, Willard Rouse. “The Big Sandy Valley: A Regional History Prior to 1850.” In: Register. Kentucky State Historical Society. Frankfort, KY : Kentucky State Historical Society, Vol. 20, No. 60 (September, 1922): pages 241-242]</ref>

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], Union troops under future president [[James A. Garfield]] occupied the city from December 1861 until the end of the war, despite several Confederate takeover attempts.

[[File:Needle dam louisa ky.jpg|thumb|left|General view of the needle dam and lock as originally built in 1896 at Louisa]]
The Chattaroi Railroad (now a part of [[CSX]]) connected to Louisa in 1881. The city is also served by [[US 23]].

The ''Big Sandy News'', headquartered in Louisa, profiled the town in March 1888.<ref>{{cite news |title=Louisa |url=https://chroniclingamerica.loc.gov/lccn/sn83004226/1888-03-22/ed-1/seq-2/ |access-date=29 November 2023 |publisher=Big Sandy News (Louisa, KY) |date=22 March 1888}}</ref>

The first [[needle dam]] constructed in the United States was completed just north of town in 1896.<ref>Thomas, B.F. & Watt, D.A. [https://books.google.com/books?id=M9ZAAAAAMAAJ&q=The+improvement+of+rivers+:+a+treatise+on+the+methods+employed+for+improving+streams+for+open+navigation,+and+for+navigation+by+menas+of+locks+and+dams+/+B.+F.+Thomas. ''The Improvement of Rivers: A Treatise on the Methods Employed For Improving Streams for Open Navigation, and for Navigation by Means of Locks and Dams''], p. 563. 1913.</ref>