Editing Bowling Green, Kentucky (section)

===19th century===
By 1810, Bowling Green had 154 residents. Growth in [[steamboat]] commerce and the proximity of the Barren River increased Bowling Green's prominence.  In 1821, the [[Kentucky Legislature]] built a toll road between the town and [[Cloverport, Kentucky|Cloverport]] on the [[Ohio River]].<ref>{{cite book | first=John E. | last=Kleber | title=The Kentucky Encyclopedia | publisher=The University Press of Kentucky | issue=v. 1 | year=1992 | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8eFSK4o--M0C&dq=joe+huston+cloverport&pg=PA122 | isbn=0-8131-1772-0 |access-date=July 5, 2023 | page=122}}</ref> [[Canal lock]]s and dams on the Barren River made it much more navigable. In 1832, the first [[portage railway]] connected the river to the location of the current county [[courthouse]]. Mules pulled freight and passengers to and from the city on the tracks.

Despite rapid urbanization of the Bowling Green area in the 1830s, agriculture remained an important part of local life. A visitor to Bowling Green noted the boasting of a tavern proprietor named Benjamin Vance:
{{cquote|[Vance] says that he has seen a turnip this fall that measures thirty-two inches around, and has a beet that weighs sixteen pounds and a half;... that corn in this country grows so fast that if you look at it the next, it has grown a foot higher; that the "little hickory twigs" growing in the barrens have roots as large as his legs...}}

In 1859, the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]] (currently [[CSX Transportation]]) laid railroad through Bowling Green that connected the city with northern and southern markets.

Bowling Green declared itself neutral in an attempt to escape the Civil War. Because of its prime location and resources, however, both the [[Union (American Civil War)|Union]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] sought control of the city. The majority of its residents rejected both the Confederacy and the [[Abraham Lincoln|Lincoln]] administration. On September 18, 1861, around 1,300 Confederate soldiers arrived from Tennessee to occupy the city, placed under command of Kentucky native [[Simon Bolivar Buckner, Sr.|General Simon Bolivar Buckner]]. The city's pro-Union feelings surprised the Confederate occupiers.<ref>{{cite book|last1=Baird|first1=Nancy Disher|last2=Carraco|first2=Carol Crowe|title=Bowling Green and Warren County: A Bicentennial History|date=1999|publisher=Liberty Printing|location=Bowling Green, KY|isbn=978-0932017048|page=13}}</ref> The Confederates fortified surrounding hills to secure possible military approaches to the valuable river and railroad assets. In November 1861, the provisional [[Confederate government of Kentucky]] chose Bowling Green as its capital.<ref name="kye-confgov">{{cite book |editor=Kleber, John E. |others=Associate editors: [[Thomas D. Clark]], Lowell H. Harrison, and James C. Klotter |title=''The Kentucky Encyclopedia'' |year=1992 |publisher=The University Press of Kentucky |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=0-8131-1772-0 |chapter=Confederate State Government}}</ref>

On February 14, 1862, after receiving reports that [[Battle of Fort Henry|Fort Henry]] on the [[Tennessee River]] and [[Fort Donelson]] on the [[Cumberland River]] had both been captured by Union forces under [[Ulysses S. Grant]], the Confederates began to withdraw from Bowling Green. They destroyed bridges across the Barren River, the railroad depot, and other important buildings that could be used by the enemy. The city was subject to disruptions and raids throughout the remainder of the war. During the summer of 1864, Union General [[Stephen G. Burbridge]] arrested 22 civilians in and around Bowling Green on a charge of [[treason]]. This incident and other harsh treatment by federal authorities led to bitterness toward the Union among Bowling Green residents and increased sympathies with the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]].

After the Civil War, Bowling Green's business district grew considerably. Previously, agriculture had dominated the city's economy. During the 1870s, many of the historic business structures seen today were erected. One of the most important businesses in Bowling Green of this era was Carie Burnam Taylor's dress-making company. By 1906, Taylor employed more than 200 women.

In 1868, the city constructed its first [[waterworks]] system. The fourth county courthouse was completed in 1868. The first three were completed in 1798, 1805, and 1813. In 1889, the first [[mule]]-drawn streetcars appeared in the city. The first electric streetcars began to replace them by 1895.

The [[Sisters of Charity of Nazareth]] founded St. Columbia's Academy in 1862, succeeded by St. Joseph's School in 1911.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.stjosephschoolbg.org/aboutus.htm |title=Saint Joseph School – Contact/Directions |publisher=Stjosephschoolbg.org |access-date=May 31, 2013 |archive-date=June 26, 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120626220509/http://stjosephschoolbg.org/aboutus.htm |url-status=dead }}</ref> In 1884, the Southern [[Normal school|Normal School]], which had been founded in 1875, moved to Bowling Green from the town of [[Glasgow, Kentucky]]. Pleasant J. Potter founded a women's college in Bowling Green in 1889. It closed in 1909 and its property was sold to the Western Kentucky State Normal School (see below, now known as [[Western Kentucky University]]). Other important schools in this era were Methodist Warren College, [[Ogden College]] (which also became a part of Western Kentucky University), and Green River Female College, a boarding school.