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==History== [[File:Houses in the Washington Historic District, Washington, Kentucky.jpg|thumb|right|250px|Buildings in the Washington Historic District]] ===Early settlement=== [[American bison|Buffalo]] once forded the Ohio here, beating a broad path into the interior of Kentucky in search of [[salt lick]]s. For thousands of years, various cultures of [[indigenous peoples]] inhabited the area, hunting the buffalo and other game. In the 17th century, the powerful [[Iroquois Confederacy]], based in present-day [[New York (state)|New York state]], drove out other tribes to hold the Ohio Valley as a hunting ground. [[European-American]] settlers traveling down the Ohio in the 18th century and early 19th century found a natural harbor at Limestone Creek. The buffalo trace, also a well-used trail traveled for centuries by [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Native Americans]], was a natural path into the bluegrass region, extending all the way to [[Lexington, Kentucky]].<ref name="leocha" /><ref>Wilson (1909), p 443.</ref> Frontiersman [[Simon Kenton]] made the first settlement in the area in 1775, but temporarily abandoned that to fight in the [[Western theater of the American Revolutionary War|western battles of the American Revolution]]. Returning in 1784, Kenton built a [[blockhouse]] at the site of Maysville and founded Kenton's Station (frontier fort) at a site {{convert|3|mi|0}} inland.<ref>Wilson, p 443.</ref><ref>Howe, p. 21. The old Maysville High School building (converted to apartments in 1999) occupies the site of Kenton's 1784 blockhouse.</ref> Kenton met new settlers at Limestone, as the landing place was called, and escorted them inland to his station. In 1786 the village which grew up near Kenton's Station was established by act of the [[Virginia General Assembly]] as the town of [[Washington, Kentucky|Washington]].<ref name="best">Best (1936).</ref> By this time, John May had acquired the land at Limestone and [[Daniel Boone]] established a [[trading post]] and tavern there. In 1787 the little settlement was [[municipal incorporation|incorporated]] as Maysville, though the name "Limestone" persisted well into the 19th century.<ref>Rennick</ref> ===Growth=== [[File:View of Maysville, Kentucky in 1821.jpg|thumbnail|250px|View of Maysville, 1821]] In 1788, when [[Mason County, Kentucky|Mason County]] was organized and Washington was named its county seat, Maysville was still a primitive site of warehouses and wharves, with few dwellings. In 1795, the conclusion of the [[Northwest Indian War]] reduced the likelihood of [[Indigenous peoples of the Americas|Indian]] attacks from across the Ohio. Maysville began to flourish.<ref name="rodgers" /> [[Zane's Trace]], a road from [[Wheeling, West Virginia|Wheeling, Virginia]] (now West Virginia), to the bank of the Ohio River opposite Maysville, was completed in 1797 and stimulated [[ferry]] traffic across the river.<ref>''Zane's Trace'', Ohio History Central.</ref> By 1807, Maysville was one of two principal ports in Kentucky; it was still mostly a place through which goods and people passed, having only about sixty dwellings.<ref>Verhoeff (1917).</ref> In 1811, the first [[steamboat]] came down the Ohio from [[Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania]], passing Maysville on its way to [[New Orleans]].<ref>''Steamboats'', Ohio History Central.</ref> With the coming of the steamboat, Maysville's population and area expanded rapidly.<ref name="calvert">Calvert (1992)</ref> ===Maysville Road=== {{see also|Maysville Road veto}} Southwest from Maysville, the road followed the former buffalo trace and Native American trail to Lexington. It was called both the Maysville Road and the Limestone Road. It was maintained by the various counties through which it passed with local labor from the county levies.<ref>Wilson, p. 444. Road taxes were generally paid in labor.</ref> The road was rough and during certain seasons practically impassable. In 1829, the [[Kentucky General Assembly|Kentucky legislature]] authorized the Maysville, Washington, Paris, and Lexington [[Toll roads in the United States#Origins of funding through toll|Turnpike]] Road Company to construct a modern roadway along the route of the old Limestone Road. Users would be charged fees for maintenance and paying off the debt to [[shareholder]]s. The act set aside blocks of shares for purchase by the [[federal government of the United States|federal government]]. [[Henry Clay]], an influential Kentucky politician and proponent of the [[American System (economic plan)|American System]], argued for the Maysville Road and other infrastructure, noting it would be part of a longer road terminating in [[New Orleans, Louisiana]], and proper for federal funding.<ref>Wilson, pp. 452-3.</ref> In 1830, [[United States Congress|Congress]] passed a bill authorizing the federal government to purchase shares in the turnpike company. President [[Andrew Jackson]], a bitter rival of Clay, [[veto]]ed the bill, arguing that the project was of purely local benefit.<ref>{{Cite EB1911 |wstitle=Maysville |volume=17|page=939}}</ref> The [[Maysville Road veto]] was one of Jackson's first acts in aligning the federal government with his principles of [[Jacksonian democracy]].<ref>"Andrew Jackson, American President" - An Online Reference Resource</ref> An attempt to [[veto override|override Jackson's veto]] failed, but the controversy over the Maysville Road veto continued for some time. The turnpike was completed in 1835 with funding from local entities and private investment. It was the first [[macadam]]ized road in the state.<ref>Wilson, p. 454.</ref> Today it is [[U.S. Route 68]].<ref name="rodgers" /> ===County seat=== By the 1830s, Maysville had a population of 3,000 and was the second-most important commercial city in Kentucky after [[Louisville, Kentucky|Louisville]].<ref name="atlas">Atwater, Caleb. ''[http://www.kyatlas.com/ky-maysville.html The Writings of Caleb Atwater]''. 1833. Accessed 25 July 2013.</ref> Washington, the county seat, had dwindled in importance after a fire in 1825 and a series of deadly [[cholera]] epidemics.<ref name="best" /><ref name="reis" /> A proposal to move the county government from Washington to Maysville was bitterly fought but passed by a slender margin in 1848. Maysville donated its city hall, completed in 1846, to the county for a court house.<ref name="calvert" /><ref name="simon" /> Today, much of Washington is designated as a [[historic district (United States)|historic district]], the [[Washington Historic District (Washington, Kentucky)|Washington Historic District]]; it is listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]].<ref>{{NRISref|2008a}}</ref> In 1850, the [[Maysville and Lexington Railroad|Maysville & Lexington Railroad]] began operation, but it failed within the decade. Successor companies maintained the connection until 1921 when they were bought out by the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad|L&N]]. Today, the Maysville & Lexington's former routes and rights-of-way are owned by [[CSX Transportation]].
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