Editing Stanford, Kentucky (section)

== History ==
[[Image:Lincoln County Courthouse (Stanford, Kentucky).jpg|thumb|left|250px|Lincoln County Courthouse]]
Stanford was founded in 1775 by [[Benjamin Logan]] as "[[Saint Asaph|St. Asaph]]"; the early settlement was also known simply as "Logan's Fort".<ref name='gaz'>{{cite web|url=http://www.uky.edu/KentuckyAtlas/ky-stanford.html |title=Kentucky Atlas and Gazetteer: Stanford |access-date=2009-01-17 |publisher=[[University of Kentucky]]}}</ref> The site of the fort is about one mile west of the [[courthouse]] at the center of town. The name "Fort Logan" is still used to this day by local businesses, including the Fort Logan Hospital and Standing Fort Collectibles. The main street was built on what was originally a [[American bison|buffalo]] trail.<ref name='kleber'>{{cite book | last = Kleber | first = John E. | title = The Kentucky Encyclopedia | publisher = The University Press of Kentucky | year = 1992 | location = Lexington KY | isbn = 0-8131-1772-0 }}</ref>

The name "Stanford" may have come from "Standing Fort", a name given to Fort Logan because it survived multiple attacks by British-led [[Native Americans in the United States|Native Americans]] during the American Revolution. Alternately, it may have been named for [[Stamford, England]].<ref name='gaz'/> Although it was one of the smaller pioneer forts, it never fell to an attack.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}

In 1781, the original settlement expanded when Benjamin Logan donated part of his own land as the site for a courthouse. The county court continued to meet at Fort Harrod (now [[Harrodsburg, Kentucky|Harrodsburg]]) until 1785, when [[Mercer County, Kentucky|Mercer County]] was established. By 1786 Stanford had received its [[charter]], making it one of the first towns in the former (1776–1780) Kentucky County, Virginia, with a formal charter. In 1787 the courthouse opened in a building made of logs. It has been expanded and upgraded over time, but the courthouse remains on the same site. Unlike most courthouses in Kentucky, it has never suffered from a fire or other major loss of records. Lincoln County has all its original records and archives dating from November 1789, making it one of the more complete archives in Kentucky. Among its original land deeds kept on [[vellum]] are deeds granting land to both [[Daniel Boone]] and [[Simon Kenton]].

The first recorded church in Stanford was a [[Presbyterian]] church built in 1790, reflecting the staunch Presbyterian beliefs of the Logan family. The building still stands and is now part of the Harvey Helm Memorial Historic Library and Museum on Main Street. Other denominations, including [[Baptist]] and [[Methodist]], were not established in the area until the 1830s. The current Presbyterian Church in Stanford has stood on the same site since around 1850.<ref name='kleber'/>

A small local library was first established in the 1830s. The library was renamed in 1970 in honor of Harvey Helm, a native son who became a Kentucky statesman and member of the [[United States House of Representatives]] between 1909 and 1917.<ref name='kleber'/>

The first school was built sometime in the 1850s, as the Male Academy. It was established in a building that is now the Fox Funeral Home on West Main Street. The corresponding Female Academy was built in the 1870s. The Stanford School was founded in 1900, and after much expansion, still serves, now as the Lincoln County Student Support Center.<ref name='kleber'/>

Largely untouched by the [[American Civil War]] (the nearest conflict was the [[Battle of Perryville]], {{convert|20|mi|km}} away), Stanford grew significantly in the post-war period. In the late 1860s, the town gained its own newspaper, the ''Stanford Banner'', which is still publishing as the ''Interior Journal''. The city continued to grow, especially after the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]] built a station and line into the town in late 1865. Now the railroad line has closed, and the tracks were removed in 1988, leaving only a small spur line that connects to [[Mount Vernon, Kentucky|Mount Vernon]], {{convert|24|mi}} to the southeast. However, the railway depot has been restored, and Stanford is notable as the location of the first automobile garage in Kentucky, which opened in 1905.{{Citation needed|date=February 2018}}