Leestown, Kentucky

Frankfort is the capital city of the U.S. state of Kentucky and the seat of Franklin County. It is a home rule-class city. The population was 28,602 at the 2020 United States census. Located along the Kentucky River, Frankfort is the principal city of the Frankfort, Kentucky Micropolitan Statistical Area, which includes all of Franklin and Anderson counties. It is the 4th least populous state capital in the United States, and the 13th most populous city in Kentucky.Before Frankfort was founded, the site was a ford across the Kentucky River, along one of the great buffalo trails used as highways in colonial America. English explorers first visited the area in the 1750s. The site evidently received its name after an incident in 1780, when pioneer Stephen Frank was killed in a skirmish with Native Americans; the crossing was named "Frank's Ford" in his memory. In 1786, the Virginia legislature designated 100 acres as the town of Frankfort and, after Kentucky became a state in 1792, it was chosen as capital.The city is located in the inner Bluegrass region of Kentucky. The Kentucky River flows through the city, making a turn as it passes through the center of town; the Downtown and South Frankfort districts are opposite one another on each side of the river. The suburban areas on either side of the river valley are known as East and West Frankfort. Frankfort has four distinct seasons; winter is normally cool with some snowfall, while summers are hot and humid.Because of the city's location on the Kentucky River, it has flooded many times, with the two highest recorded floods occurring in 1937 and 1978. The North Frankfort levee, finished in 1969, and the South Frankfort floodwall, built in the 1990s, were constructed for flood protection. Five bridges cross the river in downtown Frankfort, including the St. Clair Street bridge and Capitol Avenue bridge. Notable locations include the Kentucky State Capitol building, the Capital City Museum, and Fort Hill, a promontory with a view of downtown. As of 2016, the city's largest industry was public administration with 28% of the workforce. Manufacturing totaled over 12% of the workforce. Frankfort is adjacent to Interstate 64, and Interstate 75 is nearby; general aviation access is via the Capital City Airport, and commercial air travel is available through Blue Grass Airport in Lexington.

The Frankfort Cemetery is a historic rural cemetery located on East Main Street in Frankfort, Kentucky. The cemetery is the burial site of Daniel Boone and contains the graves of other famous Americans including seventeen Kentucky governors and a Vice President of the United States.The cemetery is built on a bluff overlooking the Kentucky River with views of the Kentucky State Capitol, the Kentucky Governor's Mansion, downtown Frankfort, south Frankfort, and the Capitol District.

The Kentucky State Penitentiary in Frankfort was an American prison. It was the first prison built west of the Allegheny Mountains and completed on June 22, 1800, when Kentucky was still virtually a wilderness. The Kentucky Legislature of 1798 had appointed Harry Innes, Alexander S. Bullitt, Caleb Wallace, Isaac Shelby and John Coburn as commissioners to choose a location for a “penitentiary house.” The house was described "to be built of brick, or stone, containing cells, workshops, with an outside wall high enough and strong enough to keep the prisoners from getting away." The site chosen was Frankfort, Kentucky. Henry Innis, one of the commission, gave one acre of land and the legislature appropriated $500 towards its building with more funds to be allocated later. This prison was known as the Kentucky Penitentiary until the 1910 Prison Reform bill passed March 1, 1910: This bill included that one institution be penal and the other reform; the changing of its mode of Capital Punishment from the gallows to the use of an electric chair, and included that the electric chair be kept in a "penitentiary," and that a "Death House" to be built. The electric chair was installed at the Branch Penitentiary September 1910. All convicts under 30 years of age with minor crimes should be kept in a reformatory and those over 30 years of age should be kept in a penitentiary. The prison's history ended in January 1937 when a flood ravaged towns and cities all along the Ohio River and the trans-Mississippi River Valley wreaking havoc in its wake. The old Frankfort prison was among its victims. The flood made the prison uninhabitable. The State had appropriated funds the previous year (1936) for the building of a new prison to ease the overcrowding. No one predicted a flood would hasten the process.

Fort Hill (formerly known as Blanton's Hill) is a promontory overlooking downtown Frankfort, Kentucky. It is the site of two earthwork forts from the American Civil War. Fort Hill is on the National Register of Historic Places and is now a public park.

The Kentucky War Memorial is a memorial to Kentuckians who have died in all wars. On a high-point called the "State Mound" in Frankfort Cemetery in Frankfort, Kentucky, the memorial consists of a 65-foot-tall monument erected in 1850, nine low stone monuments built in a semi-circle, and two low straight monuments. The 1850 monument honors men who died up until 1850 and it lists the battles and the officers who fell. The semi-circular area to the south of the tall monument lists the wars, and the straight monuments list the names of all of Kentucky's fallen. The wars mentioned include: War of Independence, War of 1812, the Texas War of Independence, the Mexican War, Civil War, Spanish–American War, World War I, World War II, Korean War, Vietnam War, and Persian Gulf War.: 134 In 1848, an act passed by the state legislature appropriated $15,000 for its construction. The 65-foot-tall granite monument, topped by a statue of Victory, was unveiled in 1850. The monument was erected to stand over the graves of 17 Kentucky soldiers who had fallen at the Battle of Buena Vista. Their interment in Frankfort Cemetery on July 20, 1847, was marked by a eulogy from John C. Breckinridge, a supporter of the war. According to a popular story, this mass funeral inspired Mexican-War veteran, Theordore O'Hara, to pen his famed poem, "Bivouac of the Dead". However, O'Hara was still with the army in Mexico in July 1848.

The Old Governor's Mansion, also known as Lieutenant Governor's Mansion, is located at 420 High Street, Frankfort, Kentucky. It is reputed to be the oldest official executive residence officially still in use in the Contiguous United States, as the mansion is the official residence of the lieutenant governor of Kentucky.In 1796, the Kentucky General Assembly appropriated funds to provide a house to accommodate the governor. Construction was completed in 1798. The home barely survived fires and neglect through the years. It has undergone several style changes as evidenced by some Victorian design elements that were added. The Mansion was often referred to as the "Palace" in its early days. Dignitaries including Theodore Roosevelt, Andrew Jackson, Louis-Philippe of France, Henry Clay, William Jennings Bryan, and the Marquis de Lafayette have been guests of the Mansion. The last occupants of the mansion were Lieutenant Governor Steve Henry and his wife Heather French Henry. Since Henry, Lieutenant Governors have chosen not to live in the mansion but to maintain residences in their hometowns and travel to Frankfort as needed. Because of this, the mansion has been turned over to the Kentucky Historical Society.Both a bricklayer and stonemason who helped build the house, Robert P. Letcher and Thomas Metcalf, later became governors and lived there.It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1971.

The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet (KYTC) is Kentucky's state-funded agency charged with building and maintaining federal highways and Kentucky state highways, as well as regulating other transportation related issues. The Transportation Cabinet is led by the Kentucky Secretary of Transportation, who is appointed by the governor of Kentucky. The current Secretary is Jim Gray, who was appointed by Democratic Governor Andy Beshear. As of October 2012, KYTC maintains 27,562.975 miles (44,358.308 km) of roadways in the state.The KYTC mission statement is "To provide a safe, efficient, environmentally sound and fiscally responsible transportation system that delivers economic opportunity and enhances the quality of life in Kentucky."

The War Mothers Memorial Bridge is a box girder bridge that carries US 60 and KY 420 across the Kentucky River in Frankfort, Kentucky. The bridge carries approximately 12,900 cars per day as of 2009. The bridge was built in 1938. At some point, US 60 was shifted from the Singing Bridge just downstream to the War Mothers Memorial Bridge. This bridge connects Frankfort to the Kentucky State Capitol.

Kentucky State University (KSU, and KYSU) is a public historically black land-grant university in Frankfort, Kentucky. Founded in 1886 as the State Normal School for Colored Persons, and becoming a land-grant college in 1890, KSU is the second-oldest state-supported institution of higher learning in Kentucky. In fall 2019, total undergraduate enrollment was 2,029 with a total graduate enrollment of 142.

The Gooch House is a Queen Anne style house located in Frankfort, Kentucky. The building formerly housed the Frankfort Visitor's Center and the offices of the Frankfort/Franklin County Tourist & Convention Commission, the Frankfort Area Chamber of Commerce, and the Downtown Frankfort, Inc. It was purchased in 2019 by the Kentucky Distillers Association to be used as the new headquarters for the non-profit trade group that represents the state's signature Bourbon and distilled spirits industry. The property was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places in 1980.

The Old State Capitol in Kentucky, also known as Old Statehouse, was the third capitol of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The building is located in the Kentucky capital city of Frankfort and served as home of the Kentucky General Assembly from 1830 to 1910. The current Kentucky State Capitol was built in 1910. The Old State Capitol has served as a museum and the home of the Kentucky Historical Society since 1920. It has been restored to its American Civil War era appearance and was designated a U.S. National Historic Landmark in 1971 for its exceptional Greek Revival architecture, and is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.The Kentucky legislature voted for its construction in 1827. The building was designed in the Greek Revival style by Gideon Shryock, an early Lexington, Kentucky architect. The Old State Capitol was his first building and he was only twenty-five years old. Shryock chose the Greek Revival style to symbolically link Kentucky, a young republic, with ancient Greece, the prototype of popular democratic government. He wanted the front of the building to duplicate the Temple of Minerva Polias at Priene. Greek temples had no windows, therefore the front of the capitol is devoid of fenestration. Other architectural features include a self-supporting stone stairway and a domed lantern above it to bring in sunlight. A bitterly contested 1899 state governor election came to a climax when Democratic claimant William Goebel of Covington, Kentucky was assassinated at the capitol on his way to be inaugurated. A plaque reading "William Goebel fell here, Jan. 30th, 1900" exists near the front entrance of the building.

The Frankfort Convention Center was a 5,000-seat multi-purpose arena in Frankfort, Kentucky, USA. It hosted locals sporting events and concerts. It was opened as part of the Capital Plaza urban renewal project in the 1970s. The arena's original name was the Farnham Dudgeon Civic Center. In January 2018, demolition on the facility started. Demolition was completed in Spring 2018. No replacement for the convention center were planned, and on 2022 there are still no plans to build a replacement. On Wednesday, January 20, 1999, the arena hosted an untelevised live event from World Championship Wrestling.