Editing Russellville, Kentucky (section)

==History==
{{see also|Confederate government of Kentucky}}
Local historian Alex C. Finley has claimed the area was first settled by Gasper Butcher, as a frontier settlement of the [[Transylvania Colony]] of Virginia, around 1780, but others have questioned this claim.<ref name=ren/> Although the area is known to have been called "Big &nbsp;Boiling&nbsp;Spring", "Gasper&nbsp;Butcher's&nbsp;Spring", and "Butcher's&nbsp;Station", W.R. Jillson was unable to find written records of any habitation before 1790. That year William Cook and his wife erected Cook's Cabin, accompanied by eighteen-year-old William Stewart.<ref name=ren/><ref name=kenky>''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&pg=PA790 p. 790]. "Russellville". University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1992. Accessed 4 October 2013.</ref> Also known as "Cook's Station", the community was located  about {{convert|1|mi}} east of the present city.<ref name=ren/> It was renamed "Logan&nbsp;Court&nbsp;House" when it was chosen as the [[county seat|seat]] of newly formed [[Logan County, Kentucky|Logan County]] in 1792.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

General [[William Russell (Virginia)|William Russell]] was given a {{convert|2000|acre|sp=us|adj=on}} grant here for his military service during the [[American Revolution]]. He donated part of this property, in 1795, as a platted section for the county seat, known as Logan Court House. The town was renamed in Russell's honor in 1798.<ref name=ren>Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lac2FUSj_oC&pg=PA259 p. 259]. University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987. Accessed October 4, 2013.</ref> It was formally established by the [[Kentucky Assembly|state legislature]] on January 15, 1810.<ref name=sos/> It was incorporated as a city on February 19, 1840.<ref name=sos/>

In the early 19th century, the community had leaders who were politically prominent in the state. Four homes in the city still stand that were residences of future [[list of Kentucky governors|governors of Kentucky]]: [[John Breathitt]], [[James Turner Morehead (Kentucky politician)|James Morehead]], [[John J. Crittenden]], and [[Charles S. Morehead]].<ref name=kenky/>

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the Kentucky General Assembly declared its neutrality and declined to secede with the rest of the [[Southern United States|South]]. Kentucky was a [[slave state]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] sentiment was strong in the [[Bluegrass region]] and the west, but the residents of the mountainous eastern section were mainly small farmers and pro-[[Union (American Civil War)|Union]]. In the summer of 1861, when Confederate troops had occupied the area, 116 prominent pro-Confederate delegates from 68 [[list of Kentucky counties|counties]] met as the [[Russellville Convention]] and created a rival [[Confederate government for Kentucky]].<ref name=kenky/> [[George W. Johnson (governor)|George W. Johnson]] was elected as the state's Confederate [[list of Kentucky governors|governor]] and the Confederacy controlled more than half the state early in the war. Despite ''de facto'' Union control over the rest of Kentucky after 1862, the government was recognized and Kentucky admitted to the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]]. Kentucky was represented by the thirteenth star on the [[Confederate flag]]. During the war, there were several minor skirmishes in and around Russellville.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}

After the war, Kentucky struggled for some years with [[insurgent]] unrest. A gang made up of the former Confederate guerrillas [[Cole Younger]], George Shepard, and Oliver Shepard, along with Confederate veterans John Jarrett and Arthur McCoy, robbed the Nimrod Long Bank<ref name=kenky/> or the Southern Deposit Bank{{citation needed|date=October 2013}} in Russellville on March 20, 1868. Brothers [[Frank James|Frank]] and [[Jesse James]], who later had their own outlaw gang based in western [[Missouri]], may have taken part. A Russellville bank on the city square displays a large mural painted depicting the robbery. A reenactment (called a "play on horseback") is performed annually during the city's Tobacco and Heritage Festival.

Several downtown homes have been listed on the [[National Register of Historic Places]] including the Victorian Mansion at 224 Cornelius Avenue, a house that boasted the state's first indoor bathroom.{{Citation needed|date=October 2019}}