Harrodsburg, Kentucky

Harrodsburg is a home rule-class city in and the county seat<ref name="GR6">Template:Cite web</ref> of Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census.

Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the Virginia House of Burgesses after Boonesborough and was not incorporated by the Kentucky legislature until 1836,<ref name=sos>Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "Harrodsburg, Kentucky". Accessed 30 July 2013.</ref> it was honored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the oldest permanent American settlement west of the Appalachians.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

History

18th century

Harrodstown (originally called Harrod's Town) was laid out and founded by James Harrod on June 16, 1774.<ref name=ren>Template:Cite book</ref><ref name=EB1911>Template:Cite EB1911</ref> Harrod led a company of adventurers totaling 31 men, beginning in the spring of 1774 at Fort Redstone in Pennsylvania<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers in canoes and through a series of other rivers and creeks to the town's present-day location.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite book</ref>

Later that same year, amid Dunmore's War, Lord Dunmore sent two men to warn the surveyors of imminent Shawnee attacks, Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, who are said to have completed the round trip of 800 miles in 61 days.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Regardless, the pioneers remained for a few weeks until a man was killed by the natives, when the settlement was abandoned and resettled the following year by March. It was one of three settlements in present-day Kentucky at the time the Thirteen Colonies declared independence in 1776, along with Logan's Fort and Boonesborough. Also known as Oldtown, Harrodstown was the first seat of Virginia's Kentucky (1776), Lincoln (1780), and Mercer (1785) Counties upon their formations.<ref name="kleber">Template:Cite book</ref> It remains the seat of Mercer County in Kentucky.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

A census taken between Dec. 16, 1777, and Oct. 16, 1778,<ref name=":0" /> lists 52 residents, several of whom were well-known pioneers and frontiersmen, including Daniel Boone's younger brother, Squire Boone, Silas Harlan, the Kentucky county's namesake,<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> James Harrod, Hugh McGary, Isaac Hite and his cousins, Isaac and John Bowman,<ref name=":0" /> and David Glenn, who later travelled further west and settled in Yellow Banks (present Daviess County).<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> David Glenn, along with his brother Thomas, and Silas Harlan, with his brother James, had accompanied Harrod on his initial expedition in 1774.<ref name=":0" />

The settlement was formally established by the Virginia General Assembly in 1785 as Harrodsburg.<ref name=ren/> Four years later, it was named the location for the newly created United States District Court for the District of Kentucky by the Judiciary Act of 1789.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

19th century

The Kentucky General Assembly incorporated Harrodsburg in 1836.<ref name=sos/>

During the Civil War, the town was generally pro-Confederate,<ref name="kleber"/> however Union control permitted the organization two Union regiments, the 19th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and the 11th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry. The 19th Infantry as organized at nearby Camp Harwood for a three-year enlistment commencing January 2, 1862, under the command of Colonel William J. Landram. Companies A, C, D, and F of the 11th Kentucky Cavalry were organized at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in July 1862. The remainder of the regiment was organized in Louisville, Kentucky, and mustered in on September 26, 1862, for three years service under the command of Colonel Alexander W. Holeman. Following the Battle of Perryville, much of the city was converted into makeshift hospitals; 1600 sick and wounded Confederate soldiers were captured during a raid by the 9th Kentucky Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel John Boyle on October 10, 1862. The city then remained under martial law for the remainder of the war.<ref name="kleber"/>

The Louisville Southern Railroad network reached the city in 1888. Its construction commenced in 1884 and ran from Louisville through Shelbyville and Lawrenceburg to Harrodsburg, which was reached in 1888. A spur was constructed to Burgin, where the Louisville Southern joined the Cincinnati Southern's Cincinnati, New Orleans and Texas Pacific Railway CNO&TP mainline. Now all run and are operated by Norfolk Southern Railway.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

20th century

Pioneer Memorial Park (now Old Fort Harrod State Park) was opened on June 16, 1927. In 1936, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt honored the city with a monument honoring the "first permanent settlement west of the Appalachians".<ref name="kleber"/>

Company D of the 192nd Tank Battalion in the Battle of Bataan was from Harrodsburg.<ref>Life Magazine 1942</ref>

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of Template:Convert, all land.

Transportation

U.S. 127 runs north–south through Harrodsburg. U.S. 127 Bypass goes around Harrodsburg. U.S. 68 runs east–west through the city, but U.S. 68 turns onto U.S. 127 some of the time in Harrodsburg. KY 152 also runs east–west through the area.Template:Citation needed

Climate

Harrodsburg is in the humid subtropical climate zone, although verging on a humid continental climate.<ref>How Stuff Works Template:Webarchive Map of American climate zones. Retrieved on 2010-04-03</ref> Summers are hot and humid, and winters are cool with mild periods.

Average high is 87 °F in July and August, the warmest months, with the average lows of 26 °F in January, the coolest month. The highest recorded temperature was 105 °F in September 1954. The lowest recorded temperature was −18 °F in January 1985. Average annual precipitation is Template:Convert, with the wettest month being May, averaging Template:Convert.<ref>Monthly Averages for Harrodsburg, Kentucky Retrieved on 2010-04-03</ref>

Demographics

File:Mercer County Courthouse.jpg

Mercer County Courthouse, 2006

As of the 2020 United States census, 9,064 people and 4,088 households were residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 87.0% White, 6.5% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.6% Asian, and 4.2% of two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos were 3.7% of the population.<ref name="U.S. Census Bureau QuickFacts">Template:Cite web</ref> The population density was Template:Convert with 4,128 housing units. had an average density of Template:Convert.

Of the 4,088 households, 27.1% had children under 18 living with them, 31% were married couples living together, 33.1% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 31.4% were male householders with no spouse present. About 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.16, and the average family size was 3.16.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

In 2021, the city's age distribution was 20.6% under 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 7.7%% from 25 to 29, and 25.9% who were 60 or older. The median age was 39.5 years.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref> Female persons comprised 48.7 percent of residents in 2020.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

The median income for a household in the city was US $41,839 (in 2021). The per capita income for the city was $24,242. About 15.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 20.8% of those under age 18 and 21.6% of those age 65 or over.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Education and libraries

Primary and secondary education

Public education is provided by the Mercer County School District. The Harrodsburg Independent Schools, which operated Harrodsburg High School, merged into the Mercer County Schools in 2006. These schools located are within the Mercer County district:<ref>Mercer County School District Template:Webarchive Retrieved on 2010-05-04</ref>

• Harrodsburg Area Technology Center
• Mercer County Senior High School
• Kenneth D. King Middle School
• Mercer County Intermediate School
• Mercer County Elementary School
• Harlow Early Learning Center

Higher education

Harrodsburg's Beaumont Inn (1917–present) was known as the Christian Baptist School (1830–1833), Greeneville Institute (1841–1856), Daughters' College (1856–1893),<ref name="EB1911" /> Young Ladies College (1893–1894), Beaumont College (1895–1915), and Daughters' College (1916), prior to becoming Beaumont Inn.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Campbellsville University established a branch campus at the Conover Education Center in 2016.<ref>Template:Cite web</ref>

Libraries

Harrodsburg has a lending library, the Mercer County Public Library.

Economy

• Hitachi Astemo is based in Harrodsburg.Template:Citation needed
• Corning Incorporated has a plant located in Harrodsburg that makes Gorilla Glass.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>

Notable people

• Ralph G. Anderson, founder Belcan Corporation, philanthropist
• Jane T. H. Cross (1817–1870), author
• Maria T. Daviess (1814–1896), author; grandmother of Maria Thompson Daviess
• Maria Thompson Daviess (1872–1924), author
• Jason Dunn, National Football League player
• David Winfield Huddleston, Christian author and minister
• Rachel Jackson, wife of President Andrew Jackson
• Frances Wisebart Jacobs, philanthropist
• Dennis Johnson, National Football League player
• William Logan, politician
• Beriah Magoffin, Governor of Kentucky (1859 − 1862) and namesake of Magoffin County, Kentucky
• William Sullivan, politician and lawyer
• John Burton Thompson, politician
• Al Wilson, actor and stunt pilot
• Craig Yeast, National Football League player

See also

• Low Dutch Station
• Rocky Point Manor

External links

• City of Harrodsburg Template:Webarchive
• Harrodsburg / Mercer County Tourist Commission