When a baby is christened we at once wonder why it was so named, especially if the name be a new or odd one. When we hear a new name for an invention we begin to look up the etymology of the word to see why it is so called. So it is with places, for there is a reason for their names being what they are. Take the beautiful capital of the blue-grass section of our state, and we find an interesting romance concerning its origin. In the year 1775, when
"The first oath of Freedom's gun
Came on the blast from Lexington,"
a party of hunters, while in camp on one of the branches of the Elkhorn, learned that the first battle between the British and Americans had taken place. To commemorate the important event they called the place of their encampment Lexington. William McConnell, Francis McConnell, Alex McClelland, John McClelland, David Perry, and Charles Lecompt came down the Ohio in a large canoe as far as the mouth of the Kentucky, thence up that stream to the Elkhorn region, where they explored and made some improvements, between April and June of 1775.
Another party—Joseph Lindsay, William Lindsay, Patrick Jordan, Garret Jordan, and John Vance—explored the country and made some improvements in the vicinity of the present site of Lexington, and Joseph Lindsay, here, at the spring, built an "improver's cabin" and raised the first corn and beans in that country.
Lexington was not permanently settled until a few years later, by Colonel Robert Patterson and others.
In the summer of 1773 two parties from Virginia came down the Ohio River to explore the rich lands of Kentucky. One of these made the first survey and settlement at what is now the metropolis of our state. In August, Captain Thomas Bullitt laid off a town at this site, which was occasionally visited by different persons. No permanent settlement was made until in the spring of 1778, when General George Rogers Clark brought a few families and left them on an island near the Kentucky shore, which was called Corn Island from the circumstance that the settlers raised their first Indian corn there. In the fall of the same year, after Clark had captured the British posts that had served as the fountain head for the Indian incursions, the settlers felt more secure and removed from the island to the mainland. In 1780 the legislature of Virginia passed an act to establish the town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio, naming it in honor of Louis XVI of France, whose troops were at that time aiding the Americans in their fight for liberty.
In 1780, on the Kentucky River, where our capital now stands, a party, among whom was Stephen Frank, on their way from Bryan's Station to the fort at Lexington to secure salt, encamped and were attacked by the Indians. Two were wounded, and Frank instantly killed. In memory of Frank the place was ever after called Frankfort.
Covington was named in honor of General Leonard Covington, who distinguished himself at Fort Recovery, 1749. The name of Colonel Richard Henderson, the head of the Transylvania Company, is perpetuated in Henderson, or, as it was formerly known, Hendersonville. Bowling Green, denoting a plat for bowling, probably came from the name found in Yorkshire, England.
Hopkinsville perpetuates the name of the Revolutionary hero, General Samuel Hopkins. Owensboro was named in honor of Colonel Abraham Owen, who fell at Tippecanoe. Ashland gained its name from the vast amount of ash timber in that region. Maysville bears the name of its founder, John May. Georgetown and Washington both took their names from our first President.
The first part of Mount Sterling was named from the many mounds in the vicinity, the latter from a city in Scotland. Richmond was named for a city in Virginia, and Shelbyville for our first governor. Smithland was named for Captain James Smith, the first white man to explore that region. Catlettsburg and Danville were called respectively from their founders, Horatio Catlett and Walker Daniel. Lebanon, with its abundance of cedar trees, was named for the mountain in Palestine, where such trees abound.