Frankfort, Kentucky

Like many cities given the honor of being named a capital, Frankfort is not the largest, or perhaps even the most important city in Kentucky. One of the state's most famous features, the Kentucky Derby, is held in Louisville, not Frankfort. The state's large thoroughbred horse farms are located primarily in Lexington.

Although there are bigger and better-known places in Kentucky, the architecture, history, and political significance of Frankfort make it a city worthy of attention.

Landscape

Frankfort is located on the Kentucky River, in the center of what is known as "bluegrass country." The area is so named because of the state's favorite plant, bluegrass, which grows in the pastures of the region's many horse farms.

Located a short distance upstream from the Palisades scenic area, with its famously twisting river bends and tree-covered hills, Frankfort lies fifty miles east of Louisville, and twenty-five miles west of Lexington. Its location is one reason why Frankfort was chosen as Kentucky's capital: it is a compromise between the two major cities of the state, and is central to both.

This central location gives the city access to three major airports. Because of its proximity to both Lexington and Louisville, Frankfort has the use of a transportation network typical of a much larger city. Frankfort is served by five major highways, increasing its accessibility.

People

Kentucky State University is located in Frankfort, and supplies the city with a young, vibrant, and ever-changing population. However, Frankfort is also a state capital and a county seat, and it has the professional citizens that go along with those distinctions. The combination of college students and government officials makes for an interesting mix.

Regarding the ethnic composition of Frankfort's population—totaling 28,391 in 2022, according to the US Census Bureau—the majority (73 percent of the population) identify themselves as White. The largest minority in the city is the African American community, which accounted for 12.2 percent of the population in 2022.

Other minorities are represented in Frankfort, although in much smaller numbers. Asians (including citizens of Chinese, Japanese, Korean, and Filipino descent) accounted for 2.5 percent and Hispanics (including Mexicans, Puerto Ricans, and Cubans) accounted for 6.0 percent, maintaining small but vibrant communities in the city.

Economy

Frankfort's economy is service-based, and revolves around the two largest segments of the city's population: students and government workers. According to a US Census Bureau estimate, 17.4 percent of the city's population lived below the poverty line in 2022, and the median household income between 2018 and 2022 was $33,386.

Kentucky State University is one of the city's largest employers. In providing education, a service that will always be needed, the university is somewhat immune to downward economic trends, and that gives an important stabilizing element to Frankfort's economy. In the same way, the state and county governments are also a stable source of jobs in the area. Government activities not only provide employment for those involved in the running of the state, but also create secondary jobs for file clerks, office workers, drivers, and others.

Farming of both crops and livestock is also still a significant part of Frankfort's economy. Along with the area's horse-farming activities, cattle are raised for both milk and beef. Tobacco is traditionally the area's chief agricultural product, but tobacco farming has declined over the years. Therefore, beginning around 2013, farmers in the state began turning to other crops, with some beginning to lead what would become an increasingly large effort to farm hemp, a plant similar to marijuana but with very minor traces of tetrahydrocannabinol (THC). When a 2014 federal law gave states authority over growing hemp crops, Kentucky became one of the biggest proponents of experimentally growing hemp industrially; by 2017, several thousands of acres had been planted with the crop. Limestone mining is another important segment of the economy that takes advantage of Frankfort's natural resources.

In addition to the agricultural and service industries, manufacturing is an important part of the local economy. Many products are manufactured in Frankfort, including Rebecca-Ruth candy, plastic products, automotive parts, and liquor, primarily bourbon. Kentucky produces a significant percentage of the world's supply of this beverage, and the Frankfort area is home to a number of the state's distilleries. Frankfort, then, provides almost half of the world's supply of bourbon.

By 2018, a plan had been approved to redevelop the city's downtown area to allow for more housing and retail space as well as to generally attract more visitors.

Landmarks

The refurbished old State Capitol building, designed in a Greek Revival style, was the home of the state's government from 1830 until 1910. Highlights of the building include its characteristic multiple pillars and its self-supporting circular stairway. The capitol was designed by Gideon Shryock in the tradition of Benjamin Latrobe, the architect of the US Capitol building in Washington, DC. The building is now home to the Kentucky Historical Society. Frankfort's old State Capitol was the only Union capitol building captured by Confederate troops in the Civil War.

The Kentucky Vietnam Veteran's Memorial is a large sundial with a stainless steel triangle in its center, surrounded by a granite dial. This memorial commemorates the 1,100 Kentuckians who were killed in the Vietnam War. Each person's name is engraved around the outside of the circle so that on the anniversary of their death, the tip of the sundial's shadow touches their name. No soldier's name is divided between two blocks (for symbolic reasons), and because of the different-sized blocks required to make this happen, the dial takes on the appearance of a web.

The gravesite of famous American explorer and frontiersman Daniel Boone is also located in Frankfort, in a cemetery overlooking the Kentucky River. Many residents consider this spot to be the most beautiful part of the city. Between Boone's popularity and fame, and the scenic beauty of his gravesite, this is one of the most frequently visited and fondly remembered places in Frankfort.

History

Daniel Boone is said to have been the first to reach the site of Frankfort, in 1770. The area was home to many American Indians at that time, and Boone was probably the first white settler in the area. Other settlers soon followed his lead.

White settlement continued during the next ten years, and cities began springing up. The ford in the Kentucky River where Frankfort now stands was used by the city of Lexington for making salt. It was here that a settler named Stephen Frank was killed by a raiding party of American Indians. To commemorate his death, the spot was commonly called "Frank's Ford," which became the city's name when it was established in 1786. At that time, the city was known as Frankfort, Virginia.

When Kentucky entered the Union as the fifteenth state in 1792, Frankfort was made the new state's capital, and the seat of Franklin County.

The Civil War was an important event in the history of Frankfort, as was the case with most American cities. Both politically and geographically, Kentucky was the border between the Union and the Confederacy, and was referred to as "the thousand mile front" during the war. The state was so strategically important that President Abraham Lincoln remarked "I hope to have God on our side, but I must have Kentucky." The citizens of Frankfort were divided during the war, with most fighting for the Union, and about half as many for the Confederacy. This division resulted in a tremendous feeling of uneasiness among the citizens of Frankfort, and the people of Kentucky as a whole.

Social unrest was one of the results of the Civil War, and reached its summit in 1900, when William Goebel, a Democratic candidate for governor, was assassinated.

The city eventually rebounded and returned to normal. Businesses flourished, and the population began to grow again, almost tripling by 1900. Frankfort was well on its way to prosperity when the Kentucky River flooded in early 1937 due to persistent rain, nearly destroying the city. Frankfort continued to experience flooding problems for a few years after this major flood, but a floodwall was eventually built, and today the city is well protected against flooding.

In the 1960s, a renewal project was conceived to rebuild the downtown area. A portion of downtown was transformed into the center of state government, with many old buildings being torn down and replaced. The greatest of these were the twenty-eight-story tower completed in 1972, and the hotel complex, completed in 1984.

In 2018, Frankfort had a home-based brewery for the first time in over a century when the Sig Luscher Brewery, which was closed in 1891, was reopened.

Bibliography

Bucha, David L. Kentucky's State Capitol. Arcadia, 2010.

"Frankfort (City), Kentucky." QuickFacts, US Census Bureau, 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/frankfortcitykentucky,US/PST045221. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

“Frankfort History.” City of Frankfort, Kentucky. City of Frankfort, KY, www.frankfort.ky.gov/323/City-History Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Hatter, Russell, and Nicky Hughes. Historic Images of Frankfort. Frankfort Heritage, 2004–5. 2 vols.

"QuickFacts: Frankfort (City), Kentucky." US Census Bureau, US Dept. of Commerce, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/frankfortcitykentucky/PST045218. Accessed 22 Feb. 2024.

Ramage, James, and Andrea S. Watkins. Kentucky Rising: Democracy, Slavery, and Culture from the Early Republic to the Civil War. U of Kentucky P, 2011.