Editing Shepherdsville, Kentucky (section)

==History==
[[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] have been shown to have lived in the area for at least 15,000 years.<ref name=kenkybullco>''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&pg=PA140 pp. 140 ff]. "Bullitt County" & "Bullitt's Lick". University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1992. Accessed October 10, 2013.</ref>

The vicinity was originally known by European Americans as "[[Bullitt's Lick]]" for the [[salt lick]]s discovered by surveyor [[Captain (United States O-3)|Capt.]] [[Thomas Bullitt]] in 1773. The area was home to Kentucky's first commercial salt works. These were shuttered in the 1830s because of competition from [[West Virginia|Virginia]]n works along the [[Kanawha River]] (now in West Virginia).<ref name=kenkybullco/> Shepherdsville developed around the mill and store erected along the [[Salt River (Kentucky)|Salt River]] by Adam Shepherd, who had purchased {{convert|900|acre}} in the area. The city received its charter in 1793 and was designated as the [[county seat]] when Bullitt County was formed in 1796.<ref name=ren>Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names''. University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987.</ref>

The first post office opened in 1806.<ref name=ren/> In 1836, a [[thermal bath|mineral water spa]] called '''Paroquet Springs''' opened. The mineral water was believed to have medicinal properties, so people with a variety of maladies visited Shepherdsville to drink and bathe in the water. In the mid-1850s, the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]]'s mainline was constructed nearby.

During the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], the railroad bridge over the Salt River at Shepherdsville was a potential target for sabotage and was guarded by [[Union Army|Union]] troops. In 1879 shortly after the formal end of Reconstruction, the Paroquet Springs hotel burned to the ground. Water from the springs continued to be bottled and sold until 1915.

[[The Lynching of Marie Thompson of Shepherdsville]] was conducted in 1904, close to the jail near Lebanon Junction.

About 50 people were killed in the [[Shepherdsville train wreck]] in late December 1917, a two-train collision that was the deadliest train wreck in Kentucky history.<ref>[http://www.bcplib.org/images/Genealogy/Train%20Disaster/1917TrainWreckMarker-3.pdf A Train Wreck Marker] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110528101638/http://www.bcplib.org/images/Genealogy/Train%20Disaster/1917TrainWreckMarker-3.pdf |date=May 28, 2011 }} was installed at [http://www.bcplib.org/Genealogy/Train%20Disaster/1917%20Train%20Disaster.htm the corner of 2nd and Walnut streets in Shepherdsville, Bullitt County] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100704090901/http://www.bcplib.org/Genealogy/Train%20Disaster/1917%20Train%20Disaster.htm |date=July 4, 2010 }}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://bullittcountyhistory.org/announce.html|title=1917 Train Wreck Book – New Edition|publisher=The Bullitt County History Museum|access-date=October 4, 2014|archive-date=June 28, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140628145741/http://bullittcountyhistory.org/announce.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Throughout most of the 20th century, Shepherdsville's economy was based on agriculture. It was a trading center for the county, and important for law and justice related to the county seat. Construction of the Kentucky Turnpike (now [[Interstate 65 in Kentucky|Interstate 65]]) in the 1950s stimulated residential development in the suburbs, as people who worked in Louisville could commute more easily to work. Many moved to Shepherdsville and other outlying areas to have new houses.