Editing Frankfort, Kentucky (section)

===Pre-1900===
The town of Frankfort likely received its name from an event that took place in the 1780s. Native Americans attacked a group of early European colonists from [[Lexington, Kentucky|Bryan Station]], who were on their way to make salt at Mann's Lick in Jefferson County. Pioneer Stephen Frank was killed at the Kentucky River and the settlers thereafter called the crossing "Frank's Ford". This name was later [[Elision|elided]] to Frankfort.<ref name="ky.gov">{{cite web|url=http://www.frankfort.ky.gov/About/About-Frankfort/City-History/city-history.html|title=City History|publisher=City of Frankfort, Kentucky|work=Official website|access-date=July 1, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160718152323/http://www.frankfort.ky.gov/About/About-Frankfort/City-History/city-history.html|archive-date=July 18, 2016|url-status=dead}}</ref>

In 1786, [[James Wilkinson]] purchased a {{convert|260|acre|ha|abbr=off|adj=on}} tract of land on the north side of the Kentucky River, which developed as downtown Frankfort. He was an early promoter of Frankfort as the state capital. Wilkinson felt Frankfort would be a center of transportation using the Kentucky River to ship farm produce to the Ohio River and then to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans.

After Kentucky became [[list of U.S. states|the 15th state]] in 1792, five commissioners from various counties were appointed, on 20 June 1792, to choose a location for the capital. They were John Allen and John Edwards (both from [[Bourbon County, Kentucky|Bourbon County]]), Henry Lee (from [[Mason County, Kentucky|Mason]]), Thomas Kennedy (from [[Madison County, Kentucky|Madison]]), and [[Robert Todd (pioneer)|Robert Todd]] (from [[Fayette County, Kentucky|Fayette]]). A number of communities competed for this honor, but Frankfort won.  According to early histories, the offer of Andrew Holmes' log house as capitol for seven years, a number of town lots, £50 worth of locks and hinges, 10 boxes of glass, 1,500 pounds of nails, and $3,000 in gold helped the decision go to Frankfort.<ref name=":3">[http://kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch.aspx?mode=Subject&subject=134 "Kentucky Historical Marker 1774"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060818090817/http://kentucky.gov/kyhs/hmdb/MarkerSearch.aspx?mode=Subject&subject=134 |date=August 18, 2006 }}. Kentucky Historical Society Website</ref>

[[File:Frankfort bird eye.jpg|thumb|left|upright|Downtown Frankfort is seen in the foreground, while South Frankfort lies across the river in the background. Fort Hill is in the lower left hand corner, 1871.]]
Frankfort had a United States [[post office]] by 1794, with Daniel Weisiger as postmaster. On 1 October 1794, Weisiger sent the first quarterly account to Washington.<ref name=ren>Rennick, Robert M. (1993) ''Kentucky's Bluegrass: A Survey of the Post Offices'', pp. 91 & 99. Lake Grove, Oregon: The Depot, {{ISBN|0-943645-31-X}}. Post Office Department records were destroyed by a fire in 1836.</ref>

[[John Brown (Kentucky politician, born 1757)|John Brown]], a Virginia lawyer and statesman, built a home now called [[Liberty Hall (Kentucky)|Liberty Hall]] in Frankfort in 1796. Before Kentucky statehood, he represented Virginia in the [[Continental Congress]] (1777−78) and the [[U.S. Congress]] (1789−91). While in Congress, he introduced the bill granting statehood to Kentucky. [[History of Kentucky#1792 – Admission to the Union|After statehood]], he was elected by the state legislature as one of the state's [[list of U.S. senators from Kentucky|U.S. Senator]]s.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://bioguideretro.congress.gov/|title=Biographical Directory of the U.S. Congress - Retro Search|website=[[Biographical Directory of the United States Congress]]}}</ref>

In 1796, the [[Kentucky General Assembly]] appropriated funds to provide a house to accommodate the governor; it was completed two years later. The [[Old Governor's Mansion (Frankfort, Kentucky)|Old Governor's Mansion]] is claimed to be the oldest official executive residence still in use in the United States. In 1829, [[Gideon Shryock]] designed the [[Old State Capitol (Kentucky)|Old Capitol]], Kentucky's third, in [[Greek Revival]] style. It served Kentucky as its capitol from 1830 to 1910. The separate settlement known as '''South Frankfort''' was annexed by the city on 3 January 1850.<ref name=SOS>Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "Frankfort, Kentucky". Accessed July 25, 2013.</ref>

The ''[[Argus of Western America]]'' was published in Frankfort from 1808 until 1830.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://steveinskeep.com/77-the-argus-of-western-america/|title=How Politicians Bought the 19th Century Media|date=May 4, 2015|website=Steve Inskeep: NPR Host and Author}}{{Dead link|date=January 2022 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>

During the [[American Civil War]], the Union Army built fortifications overlooking Frankfort on what is now called [[Fort Hill (Frankfort, Kentucky)|Fort Hill]]. The [[Confederate Army]] also occupied Frankfort for a short time, starting on 3 September 1862, the only such time that Confederate forces took control of a Union capitol.<ref name="ky.gov"/>

The [[Clinton Street High School]], a segregated public school for African American students in Frankfort operated from either 1882 or 1884 until 1928.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=African American Schools in Frankfort and Franklin County, KY |url=https://nkaa.uky.edu/nkaa/items/show/2647 |access-date=2023-02-06 |website=Notable Kentucky African Americans Database, University of Kentucky Libraries, [[University of Kentucky]]}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book |last=Boyd |first=Douglas |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=N2YiDiKWa_0C |title=Crawfish Bottom: Recovering a Lost Kentucky Community |date=2011-08-01 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |isbn=978-0-8131-3409-3 |pages=93–96 |language=en}}</ref>