Kentucky was admitted into the Union as the 15th state on June 1, 1792, splitting from Virginia in the process.[6] It is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on Kentucky bluegrass, a species of green grass found in many of its pastures, which has supported the thoroughbred horse industry in the center of the state.[7] Historically, it was known for excellent farming conditions for this reason and the development of large tobacco plantations akin to those in Virginia and North Carolina in the central and western parts of the state with the use of enslaved labor during the Antebellum South and Civil War period. Kentucky ranks 5th nationally in goat farming, 8th in beef cattle production,[8] and 14th in corn production.[9] Kentucky has also been a long-standing major center of the tobacco industry. Today, Kentucky's economy has expanded to importance in non-agricuIturaI sectors, including auto manufacturing, energy fuel production, and medical facilities.[10] The state ranks 4th among US states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled.[11]
One theory sees the word based on an Iroquoian name meaning "(on) the meadow" or "(on) the prairie"[15][16] (cf. Mohawkkenhtà:ke, Senecagëdá'geh (phonemic/kɛ̃taʔkɛh/), "at the field").[17]
Another theory suggests a derivation from the term Kenta Aki, which could have come from an Algonquian language, in particular from Shawnee. Folk etymology translates this as "Land of Our Fathers". The closest approximation in another Algonquian language, Ojibwe, translates as "Land of Our In-Laws", thus making a fairer English translation "The Land of Those Who Became Our Fathers".[18] In any case, the word aki means "land" in most Algonquian languages.
A third theory states that the name Kentucky may be a corruption of the word Catawba, in reference to the Catawba people who inhabited Kentucky.
It is not known exactly when the first humans arrived in what is now Kentucky. Based on the evidence in other regions, humans were likely living in Kentucky prior to 10,000 BCE, but "archaeological evidence of their occupation has yet to be documented".[19] Around 1800 BCE, a gradual transition began from a hunter-gatherer economy to agriculturalism. Around 900 CE, a Mississippian culture took root in western and central Kentucky; by contrast, a Fort Ancient culture appeared in eastern Kentucky. While the two had many similarities, the distinctive ceremonial earthwork mounds constructed in the former's centers were not part of the culture of the latter.
In about the 10th century, the Kentucky native people's variety of corn became highly productive, supplanting the Eastern Agricultural Complex, and replaced it with a maize-based agriculture in the Mississippian era. French explorers in the 17th century documented numerous tribes living in Kentucky until the Beaver Wars in the 1670s; however, by the time that European colonial explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in greater numbers in the mid-18th century, there were no major Native American settlements in the region.
As of the 16th century, what became Kentucky was home to tribes from diverse linguistic groups. The Kispoko, an Algonquian-speaking tribe controlled much of the interior of the state.[20]
The Chickasaw had territory up to the confluence of Mississippi and Ohio rivers. During a period known as the Beaver Wars (1640–1680), another Algonquian tribe called the Maumee, or Mascouten was chased out of southern Michigan.[21] The vast majority of them moved to Kentucky, pushing the Kispoko east and war broke out with the Tutelo of North Carolina and Virginia that pushed them further north and east. The Maumee were closely related to the Miami from Indiana. Later, the Kispoko merged with the Shawnee, who migrated from the east and the Ohio River valley.
While the Cherokee did not settle in Kentucky, they hunted there. They relinquished their hunting rights there in the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals in 1775.[23]
On December 31, 1776, by an act of the Virginia General Assembly, the portion of Fincastle County west of the Appalachians extending to the Mississippi River, previously known as Kentucky (or Kentucke) territory, was split off into its own county of Kentucky. Harrod's Town (Oldtown as it was known at the time) was named the county seat. The county was subdivided into Jefferson, Lincoln and Fayette Counties in 1780, but continued to be administered as the District of Kentucky even as new counties were split off.
On several occasions the region's residents petitioned the General Assembly and the Confederation Congress for separation from Virginia and statehood. Ten constitutional conventions were held in Danville between 1784 and 1792. One petition, which had Virginia's assent, came before the Confederation Congress in early July 1788. Unfortunately, its consideration came up a day after word of New Hampshire's all-important ninth ratification of the proposed Constitution, thus establishing it as the new framework of governance for the United States. In light of this development, Congress thought that it would be "unadvisable" to admit Kentucky into the Union, as it could do so "under the Articles of Confederation" only, but not "under the Constitution", and so declined to take action.[24]
On December 18, 1789, Virginia again gave its consent to Kentucky statehood. The United States Congress gave its approval on February 4, 1791.[25] (This occurred two weeks before Congress approved Vermont's petition for statehood.[26]) Kentucky officially became the fifteenth state in the Union on June 1, 1792. Isaac Shelby, a military veteran from Virginia, was elected its first Governor.[27]
Native Americans and European colonists
A 1790 U.S. government report states that 1,500Kentucky settlers had been killed by Native Americans since the end of the Revolutionary War.[28] As more settlers entered the area, warfare broke out with the Native Americans over their traditional hunting grounds.[29] Historian Susan Sleeper-Smith documents the role of Kentucky settlers in displacing Native American communities living in the northern Ohio River Valley during the late 18th century.[30]
Central Kentucky, the bluegrass region, as well as Western Kentucky, were the areas of the state with the most slave owners. Planters cultivated tobacco and hemp (see Hemp in Kentucky) on plantations with the use of enslaved labor, and were noted for their quality livestock. During the 19th century, Kentucky slaveholders began to sell unneeded slaves to the Deep South, with Louisville becoming a major slave market and departure port for slaves being transported downriver.
Kentucky was one of the border states during the American Civil War, and it remained neutral within the Union.[31] Despite this, representatives from 68 of 110 counties met at Russellville calling themselves the "Convention of the People of Kentucky" and passed an Ordinance of Secession on November 20, 1861.[32] They established a Confederate government of Kentucky with its capital in Bowling Green.[33] The Confederate shadow government was never popularly elected statewide, though 116 delegates were sent representing 68 Kentucky counties which at the time made up a little over half the territory of the Commonwealth to the Russellville Convention in 1861, and were occupied and governed by the Confederacy at some point in the duration of the war, and Kentucky had full representation within the Confederate Government. Although Confederate forces briefly controlled Frankfort, they were expelled by Union forces before a Confederate government could be installed in the state capital. After the expulsion of Confederate forces after the Battle of Perryville, this government operated in-exile. Though it existed throughout the war, Kentucky's provisional government only had governing authority in areas of Kentucky under direct Confederate control and had very little effect on the events in the Commonwealth or in the war once they were driven out of the state.
Kentucky remained officially "neutral" throughout the war due to the Southern Unionists sympathies of a majority of the Commonwealth's citizens who were split between the struggle of Kentucky's sister Southern States fully in the Confederate States of America and a continued loyalty to the Unionist cause that was also prevalent in other areas of the South such as in East Tennessee, West Virginia, Western North Carolina, and others. Despite this, some 21st-century Kentuckians observe Confederate Memorial Day on Confederate leader Jefferson Davis' birthday, June 3, and participate in Confederate battle re-enactments.[34][35] Both Davis and U.S. president Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky. John C. Breckinridge, the 14th and youngest-ever Vice President was born in Lexington, Kentucky at Cabell's Dale Farm. Breckenridge was expelled from the U. S. Senate for his support of the Confederacy.
On January 30, 1900, Governor William Goebel, flanked by two bodyguards, was mortally wounded by an assassin while walking to the State Capitol in downtown Frankfort. Goebel was contesting the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899, which William S. Taylor was initially believed to have won. For several months, J. C. W. Beckham, Goebel's running mate, and Taylor fought over who was the legal governor until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in May in favor of Beckham. After fleeing to Indiana, Taylor was indicted as a co-conspirator in Goebel's assassination. Goebel is the only governor of a U.S. state to have been assassinated while in office.[36]
20th century
The Black Patch Tobacco Wars, a vigilante action, occurred in Western Kentucky in the early 20th century. As a result of the tobacco industry monopoly, tobacco farmers in the area were forced to sell their crops at prices that were too low. Many local farmers and activists united in a refusal to sell their crops to the major tobacco companies.
An Association meeting occurred in downtown Guthrie,[37] where a vigilante wing of "Night Riders", formed. The riders terrorized farmers who sold their tobacco at the low prices demanded by the tobacco corporations. They burned several tobacco warehouses throughout the area, stretching as far west as Hopkinsville to Princeton. In the later period of their operation, they were known to physically assault farmers who broke the boycott. Governor Augustus E. Willson declared martial law and deployed the Kentucky National Guard to end the wars.
On October 15, 1959, a B-52 carrying two nuclear weapons collided in midair with a KC-135 tanker near Hardinsburg, Kentucky. One of the nuclear bombs was damaged by fire but both weapons were recovered.[38]
Kentucky borders seven states, from the Midwest and the Southeast. West Virginia lies to the northeast, Virginia to the east, Tennessee to the south, Missouri to the west, Illinois to the northwest, and Indiana and Ohio to the north. Only Missouri and Tennessee, both of which border eight states, touch more.
Kentucky's northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River; however, the official border is based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792. For instance, northbound travelers on U.S. 41 from Henderson, after crossing the Ohio River, will be in Kentucky for about two miles (3.2 km). Ellis Park, a thoroughbred racetrack, is located in this small piece of Kentucky. Waterworks Road is part of the only land border between Indiana and Kentucky.[41]
Kentucky has a non-contiguous part known as Kentucky Bend, at the far west corner of the state. It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee, and is included in the boundaries of Fulton County. Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River (populated by 18 people as of 2010[update])[42] requires a trip through Tennessee.
The epicenter of the 1811–12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area, causing the Mississippi River to flow backwards in some places. Though the series of quakes changed the area geologically and affected the small number of inhabitants of the area at the time, the Kentucky Bend is the result of a surveying error, not the New Madrid earthquake.[43]
Regions
Kentucky's regions (click on image for color-coding information)
Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions: the Cumberland Plateau in the east, which contains much of the historic coal mines; the north-central Bluegrass region, where the major cities and the capital are located; the south-central and western Pennyroyal Plateau (also known as the Pennyrile or Mississippi Plateau); the Western Coal Fields; and the far-west Jackson Purchase.
The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions, the Inner Bluegrass encircling 90 miles (140 km) around Lexington, and the Outer Bluegrass that contains most of the northern portion of the state, above the Knobs. Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area, made up of short, steep, and very narrow hills.
Located within the southeastern interior portion of North America, Kentucky has a climate that is best described as a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa), only small higher areas of the southeast of the state has an oceanic climate (Cfb) influenced by the Appalachians.[44] Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 °F (31 °C) to the winter low of 23 °F (−5 °C). The average precipitation is 46 inches (1,200 mm) a year.[45] Kentucky has four distinct seasons, with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter.[46] The highest recorded temperature was 114 °F (46 °C) at Greensburg on July 28, 1930, while the lowest recorded temperature was −37 °F (−38 °C) at Shelbyville on January 19, 1994. The state rarely experiences the extreme cold of far northern states, nor the high heat of the states in the Deep South. Temperatures seldom drop below 0 degrees or rise above 100 degrees. Rain and snowfall totals about 45 inches per year.
The climate varies markedly within the state. The northern parts tend to be about five degrees cooler than those in the western parts of the state. Somerset in the south-central part receives ten more inches of rain per year than, for instance, Covington to the north. Average temperatures for the entire Commonwealth range from the low 30s in January to the high 70s in mid-July. The annual average temperature varies from 55 to 60 °F (13 to 16 °C): of 55 °F (13 °C) in the far north as an average annual temperature and of 60 °F (16 °C) in the extreme southwest.[47][48]
In general, Kentucky has relatively hot, humid, rainy summers, and moderately cold and rainy winters. Mean maximum temperatures in July vary from 83 to 90 °F (28 to 32 °C); the mean minimum July temperatures are 61 to 69 °F (16 to 21 °C). In January the mean maximum temperatures range from 36 to 44 °F (2 to 7 °C); the mean minimum temperatures range from 19 to 26 °F (−7 to −3 °C). Temperature means vary with northern and far-eastern mountain regions averaging five degrees cooler year-round, compared to the relatively warmer areas of the southern and western regions of the state. Precipitation also varies north to south with the north averaging of 38 to 40 inches (970 to 1,020 mm), and the south averaging of 50 inches (1,300 mm). Days per year below the freezing point vary from about sixty days in the southwest to more than a hundred days in the far-north and far-east.[49]
Monthly average high and low temperatures for various Kentucky cities ( °F)
Though it has only three major natural lakes,[64] Kentucky is home to many artificial lakes. Kentucky has both the largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi in water volume (Lake Cumberland) and surface area (Kentucky Lake). Kentucky Lake's 2,064 miles (3,322 km) of shoreline, 160,300 acres (64,900 hectares) of water surface, and 4,008,000 acre-feet (4.9 billioncubic meters) of flood storage are the most of any lake in the TVA system.[65]
Kentucky's 90,000 miles (140,000 km) of streams provides one of the most expansive and complex stream systems in the nation.[66]
Natural environment and conservation
Once an industrial wasteland, Louisville's reclaimed waterfront now features thousands of trees and miles of walking trails.
Kentucky has an expansive park system, which includes one national park, two National Recreation Areas, two National Historic Parks, two national forests, two National Wildlife Refuges, 45 state parks, 37,896 acres (153 km2) of state forest, and 82 wildlife management areas.
Kentucky has been part of two of the most successful wildlife reintroduction projects in United States history. In the winter of 1997, the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources began to re-stock elk in the state's eastern counties, which had been extinct from the area for over 150 years. As of 2009[update], the herd had reached the project goal of 10,000 animals, making it the largest herd east of the Mississippi River.[67]
The state also stocked wild turkeys in the 1950s. There were reported to be fewer than 900 at one point. Once nearly extinct here, wild turkeys thrive throughout today's Kentucky.[68] Hunters officially reported a record 29,006 birds taken during the 23-day season in spring 2009.[69]
In 1991 the Land Between the Lakes partnered with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for the Red Wolf Recovery Program, a captive breeding program.[70]
Black Mountain, state's highest point of elevation.[73] Runs along the south ridge of Pine Mountain in Letcher County, Kentucky. The highest point located in Harlan County.
Bad Branch Falls State Nature Preserve, 2,639-acre (11 km2) state nature preserve on southern slope of Pine Mountain in Letcher County. Includes one of the largest concentrations of rare and endangered species in the state,[74] as well as a 60-foot (18 m) waterfall and a Kentucky Wild River.[clarification needed]
Kentucky's two most populous counties, Jefferson and Fayette, have their governments consolidated with the governments of their largest cities. Louisville-Jefferson County Government (Louisville Metro) and Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government (Lexington Metro) are unique in that their city councils and county Fiscal Court structures have been merged into a single entity with a single chief executive, the Metro Mayor and Urban County Mayor, respectively. Although the counties still exist as subdivisions of the state, in reference the names Louisville and Lexington are used to refer to the entire area coextensive with the former cities and counties.
The Metro Louisville government area has a 2018 population of 1,298,990. Under United States Census Bureau methodology, the population of Louisville was 623,867. The latter figure is the population of the so-called "balance" – the parts of Jefferson County that were either unincorporated or within the City of Louisville before the formation of the merged government in 2003. In 2018 the Louisville Combined Statistical Area (CSA) had a population of 1,569,112; including 1,209,191 in Kentucky, which means more than 25% of the state's population now lives in the Louisville CSA. Since 2000, over one-third of the state's population growth has occurred in the Louisville CSA. In addition, the top 28 wealthiest places in Kentucky are in Jefferson County and seven of the 15 wealthiest counties in the state are located in the Louisville CSA.[79][not specific enough to verify]
The second-largest city is Lexington with a 2018 census population of 323,780, its metro had a population of 516,697, and its CSA, which includes the Frankfort and Richmond statistical areas, having a population of 746,310. The Northern Kentucky area, which comprises the seven Kentucky counties in the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky metropolitan area, had a population of 447,457 in 2018. The metropolitan areas of Louisville, Lexington, and Northern Kentucky have a combined population of 2,402,958 as of 2018[update], which is 54% of the state's total population on only about 19% of the state's land. This area is often referred to as the Golden triangle as it contains a majority of the state's wealth, population, population growth, and economic growth, it is also where most of the state's largest cities by population are located. It is referred to as the Golden triangle as the metro areas of Lexington, Louisville, and Northern Kentucky/Cincinnati outline a triangle shape. Interstates I-71, I-75, and I-64 form the triangle shape. Additionally, all counties in Kentucky that are part of an MSA or CSA have a total population of 2,970,694, which is 67% of the state's population.
The two other fast-growing urban areas in Kentucky are the Bowling Green area and the "Tri-Cities Region" of southeastern Kentucky, comprising Somerset, London and Corbin.
Although only one town in the "Tri-Cities" (Somerset) currently has more than 12,000 people, the area has been experiencing heightened population and job growth since the 1990s. Growth has been especially rapid in Laurel County, which outgrew areas such as Scott and Jessamine counties around Lexington or Shelby and Nelson Counties around Louisville. London significantly grew in population in the 2000s, from 5,692 in 2000 to 7,993 in 2010. London also landed a Wal-Mart distribution center in 1997, bringing thousands of jobs to the community.
In northeast Kentucky, the greater Ashland area is an important transportation, manufacturing, and medical center. Iron and petroleum production, as well as the transport of coal by rail and barge, have been historical pillars of the region's economy. Due to a decline in the area's industrial base, Ashland has seen a sizable reduction in its population since 1990; however, the population of the area has since stabilized with the medical service industry taking a greater role in the local economy. The Ashland area, including the counties of Boyd and Greenup, is part of the Huntington-Ashland, WV-KY-OH, Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA). As of the 2000 census, the MSA had a population of 288,649. More than 21,000 of those people (as of 2010[update]) reside within the city limits of Ashland.
Racial plurality in Kentucky by county, per the 2020 U.S. census
Legend
Non-Hispanic White
60–70%
70–80%
80–90%
90%+
As of July 1, 2016, Kentucky had an estimated population of 4,436,974, which is an increase of 12,363 from the prior year and an increase of 97,607, or 2.2%, since the year 2010. This includes a natural increase since the last census of 73,541 people (that is 346,968 births minus 273,427 deaths) and an increase due to net migration of 26,135 people into the state. Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 40,051 people, and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 13,916 people. As of 2015[update], Kentucky's population included about 149,016 foreign-born persons (3.4%). In 2016 the population density of the state was 110 people per square mile (42.5/km2).[82]
Kentucky's population has grown during every decade since records have been kept. But during most decades of the 20th century there was also net out-migration from Kentucky. Since 1900, rural Kentucky counties have had a net loss of more than a million people to migration, while urban areas have experienced a slight net gain.[83]
According to U.S. Census Bureau official statistics, the largest ancestry in 2013 was American totalling 20.2%.[90] In 1980, before the status of ethnic American was an available option on the official census, the largest claimed ancestries in the commonwealth were English (49.6%), Irish (26.3%), and German (24.2%).[91][92][93][94][95][96][97] In the state's most urban counties of Jefferson, Oldham, Fayette, Boone, Kenton, and Campbell, German is the largest reported ancestry. Americans of Scots-Irish and English stock are present throughout the entire state. Many residents claim Irish ancestry because of known "Scots-Irish" among their ancestors, who immigrated from Ireland, where their ancestors had moved for a period from Scotland during the plantation period.
As of the 1980s, the only counties in the United States where over half of the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were in the hills of eastern Kentucky (virtually every county in this region had a majority of residents identifying as exclusively English in ancestry).[98]
African Americans, who were mostly enslaved at the time, made up 25% of Kentucky's population before the Civil War; they were held and worked primarily in the central Bluegrass region, an area of hemp and tobacco cultivation, as well as raising blooded livestock. The number of African Americans living in Kentucky declined during the 20th century. Many migrated during the early part of the century to the industrial North and Midwest during the Great Migration for jobs and the chance to leave the segregated, oppressive societies. Today, less than 9% of the state's total population is African-American.[100]
The state's African-American population is highly urbanized and 52% of them live in the Louisville metropolitan area; 44.2% of them reside in Jefferson County. The county's population is 20% African American. Other areas with high concentrations, besides Christian and Fulton counties and the Bluegrass region, are the cities of Paducah and Lexington. Some mining communities in far Southeastern Kentucky have populations that are between five and 10 percent African-American.[citation needed]
Language
In 2000 96.1% of all residents five years old and older spoke only English at home, a decrease from 97.5% in 1990.[101]
Speech patterns in the state generally reflect the first settlers' Virginia and Kentucky backgrounds. South Midland features are best preserved in the mountains, with Southern in most other areas of Kentucky, but some common to Midland and Southern are widespread.[101] After a vowel, the /r/ may be weak or missing. For instance, Coop has the vowel of put, but the root rhymes with boot. In southern Kentucky, earthworms are called redworms, a burlap bag is known as a tow sack or the Southern grass sack, and green beans are called snap beans. In Kentucky English, a young man may carry, not escort, his girlfriend to a party.[101]
Spanish is the second-most-spoken language in Kentucky, after English.[101]
The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is located in Bardstown, Kentucky. Author Thomas Merton, known as a social activist, worked to reconcile Christianity with other major religions, had converted to Catholicism as a young man, and became a Trappist monk; he lived and worked here from 1941 until his death in 1968.
Louisville is home to the Cathedral of the Assumption, the third-oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States. The city also holds the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and their printing press. Reflecting late 19th, 20th and 21st-century immigration from different countries, Louisville also has Jewish, Muslim,[104] and Hindu communities.
In 1996 the Center for Interfaith Relations established the Festival of Faiths, the first and oldest annual interfaith festival to be held in the United States.[105]
Early in its history, Kentucky gained recognition for its excellent farming conditions. It was the site of the first commercial winery in the United States (started in present-day Jessamine County in 1799) and due to the high calcium content of the soil in the Bluegrass region quickly became a major horse breeding (and later racing) area. Today Kentucky ranks 5th nationally in goat farming, 8th in beef cattle production,[106] and 14th in corn production.[9] Kentucky has also been a long-standing major center of the tobacco industry – both as a center of business and tobacco farming.
Today Kentucky's economy has expanded to importance in non-agricultural terms as well, especially in auto manufacturing, energy fuel production, and medical facilities.[10]
Kentucky has historically been a major coal producer, but the coal industry has been in decline since the 1980s, and the number of people employed in the coal industry there dropped by more than half between 2011 and 2015.[107]
As of 2010[update], 24% of electricity produced in the U.S. depended on either enriched uranium rods coming from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant (the only domestic site of low-grade uranium enrichment),[needs update] or from the 107,336 tons of coal extracted from the state's two coal fields (which combined produce 4% percent of the electricity in the United States).[108]
Kentucky produces 95% of the world's supply of bourbon whiskey, and the number of barrels of bourbon being aged in Kentucky (more than 5.7million) exceeds the state's population.[107][109] Bourbon has been a growing market – with production of Kentucky bourbon rising 170 percent between 1999 and 2015.[107] In 2019 the state had more than fifty distilleries for bourbon production.[110]
Kentucky exports reached a record $22.1billion in 2012, with products and services going to 199 countries.[111]
According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development, the primary state agency in Kentucky responsible for creating new jobs and new investment in the state, new business investment in Kentucky in 2012 totaled nearly $2.7billion, with the creation of more than 14,000 new jobs. One such investment was L'Oréal in Northern Kentucky, which added 200 jobs on top of the 280 already in existing facilities in Florence and Walton.[112]
The total gross state product for 2020 was $212.539billion.[114] Its per capita income was $25,888 in 2017.[115] An organization called the Institute for Truth in Accounting estimated that the state government's debts exceeded its available assets by $26,300 per taxpayer as of 2011[update], ranking the state as having the 5th highest such debt burden in the nation.[116]
As of November 2022, the state's unemployment rate is 4%.[117] In 2014 Kentucky was found to be the most affordable U.S. state in which to live.[118]
There are six income tax brackets, ranging from 2% to 6% of personal income.[120] The sales tax rate in Kentucky is 6%.[121]
Kentucky has a broadly based classified property tax system. All classes of property, unless exempted by the Constitution, are taxed by the state, although at widely varying rates.[122] Many of these classes are exempted from taxation by local government. Of the classes that are subject to local taxation, three have special rates set by the General Assembly, one by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the remaining classes are subject to the full local rate, which includes the tax rate set by the local taxing bodies plus all voted levies. Real property is assessed on 100% of the fair market value and property taxes are due by December 31. Once the primary source of state and local government revenue, property taxes now account for only about 6% of the Kentucky's annual General Fund revenues.[123]
Until January 1, 2006, Kentucky imposed a tax on intangible personal property held by a taxpayer on January1 of each year. The Kentucky intangible tax was repealed under House Bill 272.[124] Intangible property consisted of any property or investment that represents evidence of value or the right to value. Some types of intangible property included: bonds, notes, retail repurchase agreements, accounts receivable, trusts, enforceable contracts sale of real estate (land contracts), money in hand, money in safe deposit boxes, annuities, interests in estates, loans to stockholders, and commercial paper.
Government-promoted slogans
In December 2002, the Kentucky governor Paul Patton unveiled the state slogan "It's that friendly",[125] in hope of drawing more people into the state based on the idea of southern hospitality. This campaign was neither a failure nor a success.[citation needed] Though it was meant to embrace southern values, many Kentuckians rejected the slogan as cheesy and generic.[125] It was quickly seen that the slogan did not encourage tourism as much as initially hoped for. So government decided to create a different slogan to embrace Kentucky as a whole while also encouraging more people to visit the Bluegrass.[126]
In 2004, then Governor Ernie Fletcher launched a comprehensive branding campaign with the hope of making the state's $12–14million advertising budget more effective.[127] The resulting "Unbridled Spirit" brand was the result of a $500,000 contract with New West, a Kentucky-based public relations advertising and marketing firm, to develop a viable brand and tag line.[128] The Fletcher administration aggressively marketed the brand in both the public and private sectors. Since that time, the "Welcome to Kentucky" signs at border areas have an "Unbridled Spirit" symbol on them.
Tourism has become an increasingly important part of the Kentucky economy. In 2019 tourism grew to $7.6billion in economic impact. Key attractions include horse racing with events like the Kentucky Derby and the Keeneland Fall and Spring Meets, bourbon distillery tours, including along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Louisville Urban Bourbon Trail,[129] and natural attractions such as the state's many lakes and parks to include Mammoth Cave, Lake Cumberland and Red River Gorge.[130]
Horse Racing has long been associated with Kentucky. Churchill Downs, the home of the Derby, is a large venue with a capacity exceeding 165,000.[133] The track hosts multiple events throughout the year and is a significant draw to the city of Louisville. Keeneland Race Course, in Lexington, hosts two major meets, the Spring and Fall running. Beyond hosting races Keeneland also hosts a significant horse auction drawing buyers from around the world. In 2019 $360million was spent on the September Yearling sale.[134] The Kentucky Horse Park in Georgetown hosts multiple events throughout the year, including international equestrian competitions and also offers horseback riding from April to October.[135]
Kentucky maintains eight public four-year universities. There are two general tiers: major research institutions (the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville) and regional universities, which encompass the remaining six schools. The regional schools have specific target counties that many of their programs are targeted towards (such as Forestry at Eastern Kentucky University or Cave Management at Western Kentucky University), however, most of their curriculum varies little from any other public university.
The University of Kentucky (UK) and the University of Louisville (UofL) have the highest academic rankings and admissions standards although the regional schools aren't without their national recognized departments – examples being Western Kentucky University's nationally ranked Journalism Department or Morehead State University offering one of the nation's only Space Science degrees. UK is the flagship and land grant of the system and has agriculture extension services in every county. The two research schools split duties related to the medical field, UK handles all medical outreach programs in the eastern half of the state while UofL does all medical outreach in the state's western half.
The state's sixteen public two-year colleges have been governed by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System since the passage of the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997, commonly referred to as House Bill 1.[136] Before the passage of House Bill 1, most of these colleges were under the control of the University of Kentucky.
Berea College, located at the extreme southern edge of the Bluegrass below the Cumberland Plateau, was the first coeducational college in the South to admit both black and white students, doing so from its very establishment in 1855.[137] This policy was successfully challenged in the United States Supreme Court in the case of Berea College v. Kentucky in 1908.[138] This decision effectively segregated Berea until the landmark Brown v. Board of Education in 1954.
There are 173 school districts and 1,233 public schools in Kentucky.[139] For the 2010 to 2011 school year, there were approximately 647,827 students enrolled in public school.[140]
Kentucky has been the site of much educational reform over the past two decades. In 1989 the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the state's education system was unconstitutional.[141] The response of the General Assembly was passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act (KERA) the following year. Years later, Kentucky has shown progress, but most agree that further reform is needed.[142]
Ending the tolls some seven months ahead of schedule was generally agreed to have been a positive economic development for transportation in Kentucky. In June 2007, a law went into effect raising the speed limit on rural portions of Kentucky Interstates and parkways from 65 to 70 miles per hour (105 to 113 km/h).[146]
Norfolk Southern Railway passes through the Central and Southern parts of the Commonwealth, via its Cincinnati, New Orleans, and Texas Pacific (CNO&TP) subsidiary. The line originates in Cincinnati and terminates 338 miles south in Chattanooga, Tennessee.
As of 2004[update], there were approximately 2,640 miles (4,250 km) of railways in Kentucky, with about 65% of those being operated by CSX Transportation. Coal was by far the most common cargo, accounting for 76% of cargo loaded and 61% of cargo delivered.[147]
Bardstown features a tourist attraction known as My Old Kentucky Dinner Train. Run along a 20-mile (30 km) stretch of rail purchased from CSX in 1987, guests are served a four-course meal as they make a two-and-a-half-hour round-trip between Bardstown and Limestone Springs.[148] The Kentucky Railway Museum is located in nearby New Haven.[149]
Other areas in Kentucky are reclaiming old railways in rail trail projects. One such project is Louisville's Big Four Bridge. When the bridge's Indiana approach ramps opened in 2014, completing the pedestrian connection across the Ohio River, the Big Four Bridge rail trail became the second-longest pedestrian-only bridge in the world.[150] The longest pedestrian-only bridge is also found in Kentucky – the Newport Southbank Bridge, popularly known as the "Purple People Bridge", connecting Newport to Cincinnati, Ohio.[151]
On August 27, 2006, Blue Grass Airport was the site of a crash that killed 47 passengers and 2crew members aboard a Bombardier CRJ designated Comair Flight 191, or Delta Air Lines Flight 5191, sometimes mistakenly identified by the press as Comair Flight 5191.[153] The lone survivor was the flight's first officer, James Polehinke, who doctors determined to be brain damaged and unable to recall the crash at all.[154]
As the state is bounded by two of the largest rivers in North America, water transportation has historically played a major role in Kentucky's economy. Louisville was a major port for steamships in the nineteenth century. Today, most barge traffic on Kentucky waterways consists of coal that is shipped from both the Eastern and Western Coalfields, about half of which is used locally to power many power plants located directly off the Ohio River, with the rest being exported to other countries, most notably Japan.
Many of the largest ports in the United States are located in or adjacent to Kentucky, including:
Kentucky is one of four U.S. states to officially use the term commonwealth. The term was used for Kentucky as it had also been used by Virginia, from which Kentucky was created. The term has no particular significance in its meaning and was chosen to emphasize the distinction from the status of royal colonies as a place governed for the general welfare of the populace.[157] Kentucky was originally styled as the "State of Kentucky" in the act admitting it to the union since that is how it was referred to in Kentucky's first constitution.[158]
The commonwealth term was used in citizen petitions submitted between 1786 and 1792 for the creation of the state.[159] It was also used in the title of a history of the state that was published in 1834 and was used in various places within that book in references to Virginia and Kentucky.[160] The other three states officially called "commonwealths" are Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia. Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are also formally commonwealths.
Kentucky is one of only five states that elect their state officials in odd-numbered years (the others being Louisiana, Mississippi, New Jersey, and Virginia). Kentucky holds elections for these offices every four years in the years preceding Presidential election years. Thus, Kentucky held gubernatorial elections in 2011, 2015 and 2019.
The executive branch is headed by the governor, who serves as both head of state and head of government. The lieutenant governor may or may not have executive authority depending on whether the person is a member of the Governor's cabinet. Under the current Kentucky Constitution, the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the governor only if the governor is incapacitated. (Before 1992 the lieutenant governor assumed power any time the governor was out of the state.) The governor and lieutenant governor usually run on a single ticket (also per a 1992 constitutional amendment) and are elected to four-year terms. The current governor is Andy Beshear, and the lieutenant governor is Jacqueline Coleman. Both are Democrats.[161][162]
The executive branch is organized into the following "cabinets", each headed by a secretary who is also a member of the governor's cabinet:[163]
The cabinet system was introduced in 1972 by Governor Wendell Ford to consolidate hundreds of government entities that reported directly to the governor's office.[164]
Other elected constitutional offices include the Secretary of State, Attorney General, Auditor of Public Accounts, State Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture. Currently, Republican Michael G. Adams serves as the Secretary of State. The commonwealth's chief prosecutor, law enforcement officer, and law officer is the Attorney General, currently Republican Daniel Cameron. The Auditor of Public Accounts is Republican Mike Harmon. Republican Allison Ball is the current Treasurer. Republican Ryan Quarles is the current Commissioner of Agriculture.
In November 2016, Republicans won control of the House for the first time since 1922, and currently have supermajorities in both the House and Senate.[166]
The Kentucky Court of Justice is headed by the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth. The chief justice is appointed by, and is an elected member of, the Supreme Court of Kentucky. The current chief justice is John D. Minton Jr.
Unlike federal judges, who are usually appointed, justices serving on Kentucky state courts are chosen by the state's populace in non-partisan elections.
Kentucky's body of laws, known as the Kentucky Revised Statutes (KRS), were enacted in 1942 to better organize and clarify the whole of Kentucky law.[170] The statutes are enforced by local police, sheriffs and deputy sheriffs, and constables and deputy constables. Unless they have completed a police academy elsewhere, these officers are required to complete Police Officer Professional Standards (POPS) training at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond.[171] Additionally, in 1948, the Kentucky General Assembly established the Kentucky State Police, making it the 38th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state.[172]
Kentucky is one of the 32 states in the United States that sanctions the death penalty for certain murders defined as heinous. Those convicted of capital crimes after March 31, 1998, are always executed by lethal injection; those convicted on or before this date may opt for the electric chair.[173] Only three people have been executed in Kentucky since the U.S. Supreme Court re-instituted the practice in 1976. The most notable execution in Kentucky was that of Rainey Bethea on August 14, 1936. Bethea was publicly hanged in Owensboro for the rape and murder of Lischia Edwards.[174] Irregularities with the execution led to this becoming the last public execution in the United States.[175]
Kentucky has also been known to have unusually high political candidacy age laws, especially compared to surrounding states. The origin of this is unknown, but it has been suggested[by whom?] it has to do with the commonwealth tradition.
A 2008 study found that Kentucky's Supreme Court to be the least influential high court in the nation with its decisions rarely being followed by other states.[178]
Treemap of the popular vote by county, 2016 presidential election
Since the late 1990s, Kentucky has supported Republican candidates for most federal political offices, and, more recently, for state-level office as well. The state leaned toward the Democratic Party from 1860 (when the Whig Party dissolved) to the 1990s, and was considered a swing state at the presidential level for most of the latter half of the 20th century.
The southeastern region of the state aligned with the Union during the war and has consistently supported Republican candidates. The central and western portions of the state were heavily Democratic in the years leading to the Civil War, were pro-secessionist and pro-Confederate during the Civil War, and in the decades following the war. Kentucky was part of the Democratic Solid South in the second half of the nineteenth century and through the majority of the twentieth century.
Mirroring a broader national reversal of party composition, the Kentucky Democratic Party of the twenty-first century primarily consists of liberal whites, African Americans, and other minorities. Although most of the state's voters have reliably elected Republican candidates for federal office since the late 1990s, Democrats held an advantage in party registration until 2022. On July 15, 2022, the Kentucky Secretary of State's office announced that for the first time in its history, the commonwealth had more registered Republicans than registered Democrats, with 45.19% of the state's voters registered as Republicans, 45.12% registered as Democrats, and 9.69% registered with another political party or as independents.[180]
From 1964 through 2004, Kentucky voted for the eventual winner of the election for President of the United States; however, in the 2008 election the state lost its bellwether status. Republican John McCain won Kentucky, but he lost the national popular and electoral vote to Democrat Barack Obama (McCain carried Kentucky 57% to 41%). 116 of Kentucky's 120 counties supported former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 election while he lost to Barack Obama nationwide.[181][182]
Voters in the Commonwealth have supported the previous three Democratic candidates elected to the White House in the late 20th century, all from Southern states: Lyndon B. Johnson (Texas) in 1964, Jimmy Carter (Georgia) in 1976, and Bill Clinton (Arkansas) in 1992 and 1996. In the twenty-first century presidential elections, the state has become a Republican stronghold, supporting that party's presidential candidates by double-digit margins from 2000 through 2020. At the same time, voters have continued to elect Democratic candidates to state and local offices in many jurisdictions.
Elliott County, Kentucky is notable for having held the longest streak of any county in the United States voting Democratic. Founded in 1869, Elliott County supported the Democratic nominee in every presidential election from 1872 (the first in which it participated) until 2012. In 2016, Donald Trump became the first Republican to ever carry the county, and he did so in a 44-point landslide, highlighting the modern Republican Party's dominance among rural whites and many ancestrally Democratic, socially-conservative voters.
Kentucky is one of the most anti-abortion states in the United States. A 2014 poll conducted by Pew Research Center found that 57% of Kentucky's population thought that abortion should be illegal in all/most cases, while only 36% thought that abortion should be legal in all/most cases.[183]
In a 2020 study, Kentucky was ranked as the 8th hardest state for citizens to vote in.[184]
Voter registration and party enrollment as of July 15, 2022[185]
Nevertheless, during the 19th century, Kentucky did receive a substantial number of German immigrants, who settled mostly in the Midwest and parts of the Upper South, along the Ohio River primarily in Louisville, Covington and Newport.[187] Only Maryland, Delaware and West Virginia have higher German ancestry percentages than Kentucky among Census-defined Southern states, although Kentucky's percentage is closer to Arkansas and Virginia's than the previously named state's percentages. Scottish Americans, English Americans and Scotch-Irish Americans have heavily influenced Kentucky culture, and are present in every part of the state.[188] As of the 1980s the only counties in the United States where more than half the population cited "English" as their only ancestry group were all in the hills of eastern Kentucky (and made up virtually every county in this region).[98]
Kentucky was a slave state, and black people once comprised over one-quarter of its population; however, it lacked the cottonplantation system though it did support significant and large scale tobacco plantation systems in the western and central parts of the state more similar to the plantations developed in Virginia and North Carolina than those in the Deep South, and never had the same high percentage of African Americans as most other slave states. While less than 8% of the total population is black, Kentucky has a relatively significant rural African American population in the Central and Western areas of the state.[189][190][191]
Old Louisville is the largest Victorian Historic neighborhood in the United States.
Kentucky celebrates Confederate Memorial Day as a state holiday on June 3, on the anniversary of Jefferson Davis's birthday. The biggest day in American horse racing, the Kentucky Derby, is preceded by the two-week Derby Festival[194] in Louisville. The Derby Festival features many events, including Thunder Over Louisville, the Pegasus Parade, the Great Steamboat Race, Fest-a-Ville, the Chow Wagon, BalloonFest, BourbonVille, and many others leading up to the big race.
The residents of tiny Benton pay tribute to their favorite tuber, the sweet potato, by hosting Tater Day.[209] Residents of Clarkson in Grayson County celebrate their city's ties to the honey industry by celebrating the Clarkson Honeyfest.[210] The Clarkson Honeyfest is held the last Thursday, Friday and Saturday in September, and is the "Official State Honey Festival of Kentucky".
Renfro Valley, Kentucky is home to Renfro Valley Entertainment Center and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and is known as "Kentucky's Country Music Capital", a designation given it by the Kentucky State Legislature in the late 1980s. The Renfro Valley Barn Dance was where Renfro Valley's musical heritage began, in 1939, and influential country music luminaries like Red Foley, Homer & Jethro, Lily May Ledford &the Original Coon Creek Girls, Martha Carson and many others have performed as regular members of the shows there over the years. The Renfro Valley Gatherin' is today America's second-oldest continually broadcast radio program of any kind. It is broadcast on local radio station WRVK and a syndicated network of nearly 200 other stations across the United States and Canada every week.
Kentucky's cuisine is generally similar to and is a part of traditional southern cooking, although in some areas of the state it can blend elements of both the South and Midwest, mixing Midwestern with the native Southern cuisine of the area.[215][216] One original Kentucky dish is called the Hot Brown, a dish normally layered in this order: toasted bread, turkey, bacon, tomatoes and topped with mornay sauce. It was developed at the Brown Hotel in Louisville.[217] The Pendennis Club in Louisville is the birthplace of the Old Fashioned cocktail. Also, Western Kentucky is known for its own regional style of Southern barbecue. Central Kentucky is the birthplace of Beer Cheese.
As in many states, especially those without major league professional sports teams, college athletics are prominent. This is especially true of the state's three DivisionIFootball Bowl Subdivision (FBS) programs, including the Kentucky Wildcats, the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers, and the Louisville Cardinals. The Wildcats, Hilltoppers, and Cardinals are among the most tradition-rich college men's basketball teams in the United States, combining for 11 National Championships and 24 NCAA Final Fours;[citation needed] all three are high on the lists of total all-time wins, wins per season, and average wins per season.[citation needed]
Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville was the primary location for training and rehab for WWE professional wrestlers from 2000 until 2008, when WWE moved its contracted talent to Florida Championship Wrestling. OVW later became the primary developmental territory for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling (TNA) from 2011 to 2013.
In 2014 Louisville City FC, a professional soccer team in the league then known as USL Pro and now as the United Soccer League, was announced. The team made its debut in 2015, playing home games at Louisville Slugger Field. In its first season, Louisville City was the official reserve side for Orlando City SC, who made its debut in Major League Soccer at the same time. That arrangement ended in 2016 when Orlando City established a directly controlled reserve side in the USL.
The distinction of being named a Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community, state or the nation. The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel's commission, by issuance of letters patent. Kentucky colonels are commissioned for life and act officially as the state's goodwill ambassadors.[221]
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Bibliography
Politics
Miller, Penny M. Kentucky Politics & Government: Do We Stand United? (1994)
Jewell, Malcolm E. and Everett W. Cunningham, Kentucky Politics (1968).
History
Surveys and reference
Bodley, Temple and Samuel M. Wilson. History of Kentucky 4 vols. (1928).
Bakeless, John. Daniel Boone, Master of the Wilderness (1989)
Blakey, George T. Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky, 1929–1939 (1986)
Coulter, E. Merton. The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky (1926)
Davis, Alice. "Heroes: Kentucky's Artists from Statehood to the New Millennium" (2004)
Ellis, William E. The Kentucky River (2000).
Faragher, John Mack. Daniel Boone (1993)
Fenton, John H. Politics in the Border States: A Study of the Patterns of Political Organization, and Political Change, Common to the Border States: Maryland, West Virginia, Kentucky, and Missouri (1957)
Harlow, Luke E. Religion, Race, and the Making of Confederate Kentucky, 1830–1880. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2014.
Ireland, Robert M. The County in Kentucky History (1976)
Klotter, James C.; Harrison, Lowell; Ramage, James; Roland, Charles; Taylor, Richard; Bush, Bryan S; Fugate, Tom; Hibbs, Dixie; Matthews, Lisa; Moody, Robert C.; Myers, Marshall; Sanders, Stuart; McBride, Stephen (2005). Rose, Jerlene (ed.). Kentucky's Civil War 1861–1865. Clay City, Kentucky: Back Home in Kentucky, Inc. ISBN978-0-9769231-1-4.
Kelly, Andrew, Ed. "Kentucky by Design: The Decorative Arts and American Culture". Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 2015. ISBN978-0-8131-5567-8
kentucky, this, article, about, state, river, river, other, uses, disambiguation, listen, kən, officially, commonwealth, state, southeastern, region, united, states, states, upper, south, borders, illinois, indiana, ohio, north, west, virginia, northeast, virg. This article is about the U S state For the river see Kentucky River For other uses see Kentucky disambiguation Kentucky US k e n ˈ t ʌ k i listen ken TUK ee UK k ɛ n ken 5 officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky b is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South It borders Illinois Indiana and Ohio to the north West Virginia to the northeast Virginia to the east Tennessee to the south and Missouri to the west Its northern border is defined by the Ohio River Its capital is Frankfort and its two largest cities are Louisville and Lexington Its population was approximately 4 5 million in 2020 KentuckyStateCommonwealth of KentuckyFlagSealNickname The Bluegrass StateMotto s United we stand divided we fallDeo gratiam habeamus Let us be grateful to God Anthem My Old Kentucky HomeMap of the United States with Kentucky highlightedCountryUnited StatesBefore statehoodPart of Virginia District of Kentucky Admitted to the UnionJune 1 1792 15th CapitalFrankfortLargest cityLouisvilleLargest metro and urban areasLouisvilleGovernment GovernorAndy Beshear D Lieutenant GovernorJacqueline Coleman D LegislatureKentucky General Assembly Upper houseSenate Lower houseHouse of RepresentativesJudiciaryKentucky Supreme CourtU S senatorsMitch McConnell R Rand Paul R U S House delegation5 Republicans1 Democrat list Area Total40 408 sq mi 104 656 km2 Land39 486 sq mi 102 269 km2 Water921 sq mi 2 387 km2 2 2 Rank37thDimensions Length397 mi 640 km Width187 mi 302 km Elevation750 ft 230 m Highest elevation Black Mountain 1 a 4 145 ft 1 265 m Lowest elevation Mississippi River at Kentucky Bend 1 a 250 ft 78 m Population 2020 Total4 509 342 2 Rank26th Density110 sq mi 42 5 km2 Rank23rd Median household income 52 295 3 Income rank44thDemonymKentuckianLanguage Official languageEnglish 4 Time zoneseastern halfUTC 05 00 Eastern Summer DST UTC 04 00 EDT western halfUTC 06 00 Central Summer DST UTC 05 00 CDT USPS abbreviationKYISO 3166 codeUS KYTraditional abbreviationKyLatitude36 30 N to 39 09 NLongitude81 58 W to 89 34 WWebsitekentucky wbr gov The template below Infobox U S state symbols is being considered for merging See templates for discussion to help reach a consensus Kentucky state symbolsFlag of KentuckyLiving insigniaBirdCardinalButterflyViceroy butterflyWildlife animalGray squirrelFishKentucky spotted bassFlowerGoldenrodHorse breedThoroughbredInsectWestern honeybeeTreeTulip poplarInanimate insigniaBeverageMilkDanceCloggingFoodBlackberryFossilBrachiopodGemstoneFreshwater pearlMineralCoalRockKentucky agateSloganKentucky Unbridled SpiritSoilCrider Soil SeriesOtherChevrolet Corvette state sports car State route markerState quarterReleased in 2001Lists of United States state symbolsKentucky was admitted into the Union as the 15th state on June 1 1792 splitting from Virginia in the process 6 It is known as the Bluegrass State a nickname based on Kentucky bluegrass a species of green grass found in many of its pastures which has supported the thoroughbred horse industry in the center of the state 7 Historically it was known for excellent farming conditions for this reason and the development of large tobacco plantations akin to those in Virginia and North Carolina in the central and western parts of the state with the use of enslaved labor during the Antebellum South and Civil War period Kentucky ranks 5th nationally in goat farming 8th in beef cattle production 8 and 14th in corn production 9 Kentucky has also been a long standing major center of the tobacco industry Today Kentucky s economy has expanded to importance in non agricuIturaI sectors including auto manufacturing energy fuel production and medical facilities 10 The state ranks 4th among US states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled 11 The state is home to the world s longest cave system in Mammoth Cave National Park as well as the greatest length of navigable waterways and streams in the contiguous United States and the two largest man made lakes east of the Mississippi River Kentucky is also known for its culture which includes horse racing bourbon moonshine coal My Old Kentucky Home historic state park automobile manufacturing tobacco bluegrass music college basketball Louisville Slugger baseball bats Kentucky Fried Chicken and the Kentucky colonel Contents 1 Etymology 2 History 2 1 Native American settlement 2 2 European settlement 2 3 County of Kentucky and statehood 2 4 Native Americans and European colonists 2 5 19th century 2 6 20th century 3 Geography 3 1 Regions 3 2 Climate 3 2 1 Natural disasters 3 3 Lakes and rivers 3 4 Natural environment and conservation 3 5 Natural attractions 4 Administrative divisions 4 1 Counties 4 2 Consolidated city county governments 4 3 Major cities 5 Demographics 5 1 Race and ancestry 5 2 Language 5 3 Religion 6 Economy 6 1 Taxation 6 2 Government promoted slogans 6 3 Tourism 6 3 1 Horse industry 7 Education 8 Transportation 8 1 Roads 8 2 Rails 8 3 Air 8 4 Water 9 Law and government 9 1 Executive branch 9 2 Legislative branch 9 3 Judicial branch 9 4 Federal representation 9 5 Law 9 6 Politics 10 Culture 10 1 Music 10 2 Literature 10 3 Cuisine 10 4 Sports 10 5 Kentucky colonel 11 See also 12 Notes 13 References 14 Bibliography 14 1 Politics 14 2 History 14 2 1 Surveys and reference 14 2 2 Specialized scholarly studies 15 External linksEtymology EditIn 1776 the counties of Virginia beyond the Appalachian Mountains became known to European Americans as Kentucky County 12 named for the Kentucky River 13 The precise etymology of the name is uncertain 14 One theory sees the word based on an Iroquoian name meaning on the meadow or on the prairie 15 16 cf Mohawk kenhta ke Seneca geda geh phonemic kɛ taʔkɛh at the field 17 Another theory suggests a derivation from the term Kenta Aki which could have come from an Algonquian language in particular from Shawnee Folk etymology translates this as Land of Our Fathers The closest approximation in another Algonquian language Ojibwe translates as Land of Our In Laws thus making a fairer English translation The Land of Those Who Became Our Fathers 18 In any case the word aki means land in most Algonquian languages A third theory states that the name Kentucky may be a corruption of the word Catawba in reference to the Catawba people who inhabited Kentucky History EditMain article History of Kentucky Native American settlement Edit It is not known exactly when the first humans arrived in what is now Kentucky Based on the evidence in other regions humans were likely living in Kentucky prior to 10 000 BCE but archaeological evidence of their occupation has yet to be documented 19 Around 1800 BCE a gradual transition began from a hunter gatherer economy to agriculturalism Around 900 CE a Mississippian culture took root in western and central Kentucky by contrast a Fort Ancient culture appeared in eastern Kentucky While the two had many similarities the distinctive ceremonial earthwork mounds constructed in the former s centers were not part of the culture of the latter In about the 10th century the Kentucky native people s variety of corn became highly productive supplanting the Eastern Agricultural Complex and replaced it with a maize based agriculture in the Mississippian era French explorers in the 17th century documented numerous tribes living in Kentucky until the Beaver Wars in the 1670s however by the time that European colonial explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in greater numbers in the mid 18th century there were no major Native American settlements in the region As of the 16th century what became Kentucky was home to tribes from diverse linguistic groups The Kispoko an Algonquian speaking tribe controlled much of the interior of the state 20 The Chickasaw had territory up to the confluence of Mississippi and Ohio rivers During a period known as the Beaver Wars 1640 1680 another Algonquian tribe called the Maumee or Mascouten was chased out of southern Michigan 21 The vast majority of them moved to Kentucky pushing the Kispoko east and war broke out with the Tutelo of North Carolina and Virginia that pushed them further north and east The Maumee were closely related to the Miami from Indiana Later the Kispoko merged with the Shawnee who migrated from the east and the Ohio River valley The Shawnee settled Lower Shawnee Town at the Scioto and Ohio rivers in 1734 to 1738 22 While the Cherokee did not settle in Kentucky they hunted there They relinquished their hunting rights there in the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals in 1775 23 European settlement Edit Main articles French and Indian War Indian Reserve 1763 Colony of Virginia and Kentucky County Virginia In 1774 James Harrod founded the first permanent European settlement in Kentucky at the site of present day Harrodsburg County of Kentucky and statehood Edit See also History of slavery in Kentucky On December 31 1776 by an act of the Virginia General Assembly the portion of Fincastle County west of the Appalachians extending to the Mississippi River previously known as Kentucky or Kentucke territory was split off into its own county of Kentucky Harrod s Town Oldtown as it was known at the time was named the county seat The county was subdivided into Jefferson Lincoln and Fayette Counties in 1780 but continued to be administered as the District of Kentucky even as new counties were split off On several occasions the region s residents petitioned the General Assembly and the Confederation Congress for separation from Virginia and statehood Ten constitutional conventions were held in Danville between 1784 and 1792 One petition which had Virginia s assent came before the Confederation Congress in early July 1788 Unfortunately its consideration came up a day after word of New Hampshire s all important ninth ratification of the proposed Constitution thus establishing it as the new framework of governance for the United States In light of this development Congress thought that it would be unadvisable to admit Kentucky into the Union as it could do so under the Articles of Confederation only but not under the Constitution and so declined to take action 24 On December 18 1789 Virginia again gave its consent to Kentucky statehood The United States Congress gave its approval on February 4 1791 25 This occurred two weeks before Congress approved Vermont s petition for statehood 26 Kentucky officially became the fifteenth state in the Union on June 1 1792 Isaac Shelby a military veteran from Virginia was elected its first Governor 27 Native Americans and European colonists Edit A 1790 U S government report states that 1 500 Kentucky settlers had been killed by Native Americans since the end of the Revolutionary War 28 As more settlers entered the area warfare broke out with the Native Americans over their traditional hunting grounds 29 Historian Susan Sleeper Smith documents the role of Kentucky settlers in displacing Native American communities living in the northern Ohio River Valley during the late 18th century 30 19th century Edit Main articles Ordinance of Secession Border states American Civil War and Kentucky in the American Civil War See also Hatfield McCoy feud Abraham Lincoln Birthplace near Hodgenville Central Kentucky the bluegrass region as well as Western Kentucky were the areas of the state with the most slave owners Planters cultivated tobacco and hemp see Hemp in Kentucky on plantations with the use of enslaved labor and were noted for their quality livestock During the 19th century Kentucky slaveholders began to sell unneeded slaves to the Deep South with Louisville becoming a major slave market and departure port for slaves being transported downriver Kentucky was one of the border states during the American Civil War and it remained neutral within the Union 31 Despite this representatives from 68 of 110 counties met at Russellville calling themselves the Convention of the People of Kentucky and passed an Ordinance of Secession on November 20 1861 32 They established a Confederate government of Kentucky with its capital in Bowling Green 33 The Confederate shadow government was never popularly elected statewide though 116 delegates were sent representing 68 Kentucky counties which at the time made up a little over half the territory of the Commonwealth to the Russellville Convention in 1861 and were occupied and governed by the Confederacy at some point in the duration of the war and Kentucky had full representation within the Confederate Government Although Confederate forces briefly controlled Frankfort they were expelled by Union forces before a Confederate government could be installed in the state capital After the expulsion of Confederate forces after the Battle of Perryville this government operated in exile Though it existed throughout the war Kentucky s provisional government only had governing authority in areas of Kentucky under direct Confederate control and had very little effect on the events in the Commonwealth or in the war once they were driven out of the state Kentucky remained officially neutral throughout the war due to the Southern Unionists sympathies of a majority of the Commonwealth s citizens who were split between the struggle of Kentucky s sister Southern States fully in the Confederate States of America and a continued loyalty to the Unionist cause that was also prevalent in other areas of the South such as in East Tennessee West Virginia Western North Carolina and others Despite this some 21st century Kentuckians observe Confederate Memorial Day on Confederate leader Jefferson Davis birthday June 3 and participate in Confederate battle re enactments 34 35 Both Davis and U S president Abraham Lincoln were born in Kentucky John C Breckinridge the 14th and youngest ever Vice President was born in Lexington Kentucky at Cabell s Dale Farm Breckenridge was expelled from the U S Senate for his support of the Confederacy On January 30 1900 Governor William Goebel flanked by two bodyguards was mortally wounded by an assassin while walking to the State Capitol in downtown Frankfort Goebel was contesting the Kentucky gubernatorial election of 1899 which William S Taylor was initially believed to have won For several months J C W Beckham Goebel s running mate and Taylor fought over who was the legal governor until the Supreme Court of the United States ruled in May in favor of Beckham After fleeing to Indiana Taylor was indicted as a co conspirator in Goebel s assassination Goebel is the only governor of a U S state to have been assassinated while in office 36 20th century Edit The Black Patch Tobacco Wars a vigilante action occurred in Western Kentucky in the early 20th century As a result of the tobacco industry monopoly tobacco farmers in the area were forced to sell their crops at prices that were too low Many local farmers and activists united in a refusal to sell their crops to the major tobacco companies An Association meeting occurred in downtown Guthrie 37 where a vigilante wing of Night Riders formed The riders terrorized farmers who sold their tobacco at the low prices demanded by the tobacco corporations They burned several tobacco warehouses throughout the area stretching as far west as Hopkinsville to Princeton In the later period of their operation they were known to physically assault farmers who broke the boycott Governor Augustus E Willson declared martial law and deployed the Kentucky National Guard to end the wars On October 15 1959 a B 52 carrying two nuclear weapons collided in midair with a KC 135 tanker near Hardinsburg Kentucky One of the nuclear bombs was damaged by fire but both weapons were recovered 38 Geography EditSee also List of counties in Kentucky and Coal mining in Kentucky A map of Kentucky Kentucky is situated in the Upland South 39 40 A significant portion of eastern Kentucky is part of Appalachia Kentucky borders seven states from the Midwest and the Southeast West Virginia lies to the northeast Virginia to the east Tennessee to the south Missouri to the west Illinois to the northwest and Indiana and Ohio to the north Only Missouri and Tennessee both of which border eight states touch more Kentucky s northern border is formed by the Ohio River and its western border by the Mississippi River however the official border is based on the courses of the rivers as they existed when Kentucky became a state in 1792 For instance northbound travelers on U S 41 from Henderson after crossing the Ohio River will be in Kentucky for about two miles 3 2 km Ellis Park a thoroughbred racetrack is located in this small piece of Kentucky Waterworks Road is part of the only land border between Indiana and Kentucky 41 Kentucky has a non contiguous part known as Kentucky Bend at the far west corner of the state It exists as an exclave surrounded completely by Missouri and Tennessee and is included in the boundaries of Fulton County Road access to this small part of Kentucky on the Mississippi River populated by 18 people as of 2010 update 42 requires a trip through Tennessee The epicenter of the 1811 12 New Madrid earthquakes was near this area causing the Mississippi River to flow backwards in some places Though the series of quakes changed the area geologically and affected the small number of inhabitants of the area at the time the Kentucky Bend is the result of a surveying error not the New Madrid earthquake 43 Regions Edit Kentucky s regions click on image for color coding information Kentucky can be divided into five primary regions the Cumberland Plateau in the east which contains much of the historic coal mines the north central Bluegrass region where the major cities and the capital are located the south central and western Pennyroyal Plateau also known as the Pennyrile or Mississippi Plateau the Western Coal Fields and the far west Jackson Purchase The Bluegrass region is commonly divided into two regions the Inner Bluegrass encircling 90 miles 140 km around Lexington and the Outer Bluegrass that contains most of the northern portion of the state above the Knobs Much of the outer Bluegrass is in the Eden Shale Hills area made up of short steep and very narrow hills Climate Edit Koppen climate types of Kentucky using 1991 2020 climate normals Located within the southeastern interior portion of North America Kentucky has a climate that is best described as a humid subtropical climate Koppen Cfa only small higher areas of the southeast of the state has an oceanic climate Cfb influenced by the Appalachians 44 Temperatures in Kentucky usually range from daytime summer highs of 87 F 31 C to the winter low of 23 F 5 C The average precipitation is 46 inches 1 200 mm a year 45 Kentucky has four distinct seasons with substantial variations in the severity of summer and winter 46 The highest recorded temperature was 114 F 46 C at Greensburg on July 28 1930 while the lowest recorded temperature was 37 F 38 C at Shelbyville on January 19 1994 The state rarely experiences the extreme cold of far northern states nor the high heat of the states in the Deep South Temperatures seldom drop below 0 degrees or rise above 100 degrees Rain and snowfall totals about 45 inches per year The climate varies markedly within the state The northern parts tend to be about five degrees cooler than those in the western parts of the state Somerset in the south central part receives ten more inches of rain per year than for instance Covington to the north Average temperatures for the entire Commonwealth range from the low 30s in January to the high 70s in mid July The annual average temperature varies from 55 to 60 F 13 to 16 C of 55 F 13 C in the far north as an average annual temperature and of 60 F 16 C in the extreme southwest 47 48 In general Kentucky has relatively hot humid rainy summers and moderately cold and rainy winters Mean maximum temperatures in July vary from 83 to 90 F 28 to 32 C the mean minimum July temperatures are 61 to 69 F 16 to 21 C In January the mean maximum temperatures range from 36 to 44 F 2 to 7 C the mean minimum temperatures range from 19 to 26 F 7 to 3 C Temperature means vary with northern and far eastern mountain regions averaging five degrees cooler year round compared to the relatively warmer areas of the southern and western regions of the state Precipitation also varies north to south with the north averaging of 38 to 40 inches 970 to 1 020 mm and the south averaging of 50 inches 1 300 mm Days per year below the freezing point vary from about sixty days in the southwest to more than a hundred days in the far north and far east 49 Monthly average high and low temperatures for various Kentucky cities F City Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun Jul Aug Sep Oct Nov DecLexington 40 9 24 8 45 5 27 9 55 3 35 4 65 7 44 7 74 3 54 2 82 8 62 7 86 1 66 5 85 6 65 2 78 8 57 6 67 5 46 6 55 4 37 2 43 9 28Louisville 43 26 8 47 8 29 9 57 9 37 8 68 8 47 3 77 1 57 85 3 66 88 7 69 9 88 3 68 5 81 5 60 5 70 1 48 9 57 9 39 5 45 8 30Owensboro 41 2 23 2 46 6 26 8 58 3 36 7 69 3 45 9 78 1 54 5 86 4 62 8 89 2 66 6 88 2 64 4 82 4 58 3 71 6 45 7 58 1 37 4 45 9 28 2Paducah 43 4 25 8 48 9 29 5 59 37 7 69 4 46 6 78 56 3 86 2 64 9 89 3 68 5 89 66 1 82 1 57 8 71 46 7 58 4 37 9 46 3 28 6Pikeville 44 23 50 25 60 32 69 39 77 49 84 58 87 63 86 62 80 56 71 42 60 33 49 26Ashland 42 19 47 21 57 29 68 37 77 47 84 56 88 61 87 59 80 52 69 40 57 31 46 23Bowling Green 45 26 4 50 29 6 59 8 37 69 7 45 6 77 8 55 86 1 63 9 89 4 67 9 88 9 66 1 82 1 58 71 2 46 3 59 4 37 5 47 9 29 2Natural disasters Edit Deadliest weather events in Kentucky history Date Death Toll Affected RegionsMarch 1890 middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak March 27 1890 200 Louisville W KYGradyville flood June 7 1907 20 GradyvilleMay June 1917 tornado outbreak sequence May 27 1917 66 Fulton areaEarly May 1933 tornado outbreak sequence May 9 1933 Tornado 38 South Central KYOhio River flood of 1937 Early 1937 unknown StatewideApril 3 1974 tornado outbreak April 3 1974 72 StatewideMarch 1 1997 Flooding Early March 1997 18 StatewideTornado outbreak sequence of May 2004 57 May 30 2004 0 Jefferson County KYDecember 21 24 2004 North American winter storm 58 December 21 24 2004 unknown StatewideWidespread Flash Flooding 59 September 22 23 2006 6 StatewideJanuary 2009 North American ice storm 60 January 26 28 2009 35 Statewide2009 Kentuckiana Flash Flood 61 August 4 2009 36 KentuckianaTornado outbreak of March 2 3 2012 March 2 2012 22 StatewideTornado outbreak of December 10 11 2021 December 10 11 2021 74 Kentucky 5 other statesJuly August 2022 United States floods July 24 August 2 2022 37 Kentucky 5 other statesLakes and rivers Edit See also List of lakes in Kentucky List of rivers of Kentucky and List of dams and reservoirs in Kentucky Lake Cumberland is the largest artificial American lake east of the Mississippi River by volume Kentucky has more navigable miles of water than any other state in the union other than Alaska 62 Kentucky is the only U S state to have a continuous border of rivers running along three of its sides the Mississippi River to the west the Ohio River to the north and the Big Sandy River and Tug Fork to the east 63 Its major internal rivers include the Kentucky River Tennessee River Cumberland River Green River and Licking River Though it has only three major natural lakes 64 Kentucky is home to many artificial lakes Kentucky has both the largest artificial lake east of the Mississippi in water volume Lake Cumberland and surface area Kentucky Lake Kentucky Lake s 2 064 miles 3 322 km of shoreline 160 300 acres 64 900 hectares of water surface and 4 008 000 acre feet 4 9 billion cubic meters of flood storage are the most of any lake in the TVA system 65 Kentucky s 90 000 miles 140 000 km of streams provides one of the most expansive and complex stream systems in the nation 66 Natural environment and conservation Edit Once an industrial wasteland Louisville s reclaimed waterfront now features thousands of trees and miles of walking trails Kentucky has an expansive park system which includes one national park two National Recreation Areas two National Historic Parks two national forests two National Wildlife Refuges 45 state parks 37 896 acres 153 km2 of state forest and 82 wildlife management areas Kentucky has been part of two of the most successful wildlife reintroduction projects in United States history In the winter of 1997 the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources began to re stock elk in the state s eastern counties which had been extinct from the area for over 150 years As of 2009 update the herd had reached the project goal of 10 000 animals making it the largest herd east of the Mississippi River 67 The state also stocked wild turkeys in the 1950s There were reported to be fewer than 900 at one point Once nearly extinct here wild turkeys thrive throughout today s Kentucky 68 Hunters officially reported a record 29 006 birds taken during the 23 day season in spring 2009 69 In 1991 the Land Between the Lakes partnered with the U S Fish and Wildlife Service for the Red Wolf Recovery Program a captive breeding program 70 Natural attractions Edit Red River Gorge is one of Kentucky s most visited places Forest at Otter Creek Outdoor Recreation Area Meade County Kentucky Cumberland Gap chief passageway through the Appalachian Mountains in early American history Cumberland Falls the only place in the Western Hemisphere where a moonbow may be regularly seen due to the spray of the falls 71 Mammoth Cave National Park featuring the world s longest known cave system 72 Red River Gorge Geological Area part of the Daniel Boone National Forest Land Between the Lakes a National Recreation Area managed by the United States Forest Service Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area near Whitley City Black Mountain state s highest point of elevation 73 Runs along the south ridge of Pine Mountain in Letcher County Kentucky The highest point located in Harlan County Bad Branch Falls State Nature Preserve 2 639 acre 11 km2 state nature preserve on southern slope of Pine Mountain in Letcher County Includes one of the largest concentrations of rare and endangered species in the state 74 as well as a 60 foot 18 m waterfall and a Kentucky Wild River clarification needed Jefferson Memorial Forest located in the southern fringes of Louisville in the Knobs region the largest municipally run forest in the United States 75 Lake Cumberland 1 255 miles 2 020 km of shoreline located in South Central Kentucky Natural Bridge located in Slade Kentucky Powell County Breaks Interstate Park located in southeastern Pike County Kentucky and Southwestern Virginia The Breaks is commonly known as the Grand Canyon of the South 76 Administrative divisions EditCounties Edit See also List of counties in Kentucky and Fiscal Court Kentucky is subdivided into 120 counties the largest being Pike County at 787 6 square miles 2 040 km2 and the most populous being Jefferson County which coincides with the Louisville Metro governmental area with 741 096 residents as of 2010 update 77 County government under the Kentucky Constitution of 1891 is vested in the County Judge Executive formerly called the County Judge who serves as the executive head of the county and a legislature called a Fiscal Court Despite the unusual name the Fiscal Court no longer has judicial functions Consolidated city county governments Edit Kentucky s two most populous counties Jefferson and Fayette have their governments consolidated with the governments of their largest cities Louisville Jefferson County Government Louisville Metro and Lexington Fayette Urban County Government Lexington Metro are unique in that their city councils and county Fiscal Court structures have been merged into a single entity with a single chief executive the Metro Mayor and Urban County Mayor respectively Although the counties still exist as subdivisions of the state in reference the names Louisville and Lexington are used to refer to the entire area coextensive with the former cities and counties Major cities Edit See also List of cities in Kentucky Largest cities or towns in Kentucky Source 78 Rank Name County Pop Louisville Lexington 1 Louisville Jefferson 633 045 Bowling Green Owensboro2 Lexington Fayette 322 5703 Bowling Green Warren 72 2944 Owensboro Daviess 60 1835 Covington Kenton 40 4556 Richmond Madison 35 3977 Georgetown Scott 33 6608 Florence Boone 32 3059 Hopkinsville Christian 30 78910 Nicholasville Jessamine 30 553 The Metro Louisville government area has a 2018 population of 1 298 990 Under United States Census Bureau methodology the population of Louisville was 623 867 The latter figure is the population of the so called balance the parts of Jefferson County that were either unincorporated or within the City of Louisville before the formation of the merged government in 2003 In 2018 the Louisville Combined Statistical Area CSA had a population of 1 569 112 including 1 209 191 in Kentucky which means more than 25 of the state s population now lives in the Louisville CSA Since 2000 over one third of the state s population growth has occurred in the Louisville CSA In addition the top 28 wealthiest places in Kentucky are in Jefferson County and seven of the 15 wealthiest counties in the state are located in the Louisville CSA 79 not specific enough to verify The second largest city is Lexington with a 2018 census population of 323 780 its metro had a population of 516 697 and its CSA which includes the Frankfort and Richmond statistical areas having a population of 746 310 The Northern Kentucky area which comprises the seven Kentucky counties in the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky metropolitan area had a population of 447 457 in 2018 The metropolitan areas of Louisville Lexington and Northern Kentucky have a combined population of 2 402 958 as of 2018 update which is 54 of the state s total population on only about 19 of the state s land This area is often referred to as the Golden triangle as it contains a majority of the state s wealth population population growth and economic growth it is also where most of the state s largest cities by population are located It is referred to as the Golden triangle as the metro areas of Lexington Louisville and Northern Kentucky Cincinnati outline a triangle shape Interstates I 71 I 75 and I 64 form the triangle shape Additionally all counties in Kentucky that are part of an MSA or CSA have a total population of 2 970 694 which is 67 of the state s population As of 2017 update Bowling Green had a population of 67 067 making it the third most populous city in the state The Bowling Green metropolitan area had an estimated population of 174 835 and the combined statistical area it shares with Glasgow has an estimated population of 228 743 The two other fast growing urban areas in Kentucky are the Bowling Green area and the Tri Cities Region of southeastern Kentucky comprising Somerset London and Corbin Although only one town in the Tri Cities Somerset currently has more than 12 000 people the area has been experiencing heightened population and job growth since the 1990s Growth has been especially rapid in Laurel County which outgrew areas such as Scott and Jessamine counties around Lexington or Shelby and Nelson Counties around Louisville London significantly grew in population in the 2000s from 5 692 in 2000 to 7 993 in 2010 London also landed a Wal Mart distribution center in 1997 bringing thousands of jobs to the community In northeast Kentucky the greater Ashland area is an important transportation manufacturing and medical center Iron and petroleum production as well as the transport of coal by rail and barge have been historical pillars of the region s economy Due to a decline in the area s industrial base Ashland has seen a sizable reduction in its population since 1990 however the population of the area has since stabilized with the medical service industry taking a greater role in the local economy The Ashland area including the counties of Boyd and Greenup is part of the Huntington Ashland WV KY OH Metropolitan Statistical Area MSA As of the 2000 census the MSA had a population of 288 649 More than 21 000 of those people as of 2010 update reside within the city limits of Ashland The largest county in Kentucky by area is Pike which contains Pikeville and suburb Coal Run Village The county and surrounding area is the most populated region in the state that is not part of a Micropolitan Statistical Area or a Metropolitan Statistical Area containing nearly 200 000 people in five counties Floyd County Martin County Letcher County and neighboring Mingo County West Virginia Pike County contains slightly more than 68 000 people Only three U S states have capitals with smaller populations than Kentucky s Frankfort pop 25 527 Augusta Maine pop 18 560 Pierre South Dakota pop 13 876 and Montpelier Vermont pop 8 035 Demographics EditMain article Demographics of Kentucky Kentucky Population Density Map Historical populationCensus Pop 179073 677 1800220 955199 9 1810406 51184 0 1820564 31738 8 1830687 91721 9 1840779 82813 4 1850982 40526 0 18601 155 68417 6 18701 321 01114 3 18801 648 69024 8 18901 858 63512 7 19002 147 17415 5 19102 289 9056 6 19202 416 6305 5 19302 614 5898 2 19402 845 6278 8 19502 944 8063 5 19603 038 1563 2 19703 218 7065 9 19803 660 77713 7 19903 685 2950 7 20004 041 7709 7 20104 339 3677 4 20204 505 8363 8 Sources 1790 2000 80 1910 2020 81 The United States Census Bureau determined that the population of Kentucky was 4 505 836 in 2020 increasing since the 2010 United States census 82 Racial plurality in Kentucky by county per the 2020 U S censusLegend Non Hispanic White 60 70 70 80 80 90 90 As of July 1 2016 Kentucky had an estimated population of 4 436 974 which is an increase of 12 363 from the prior year and an increase of 97 607 or 2 2 since the year 2010 This includes a natural increase since the last census of 73 541 people that is 346 968 births minus 273 427 deaths and an increase due to net migration of 26 135 people into the state Immigration from outside the United States resulted in a net increase of 40 051 people and migration within the country produced a net decrease of 13 916 people As of 2015 update Kentucky s population included about 149 016 foreign born persons 3 4 In 2016 the population density of the state was 110 people per square mile 42 5 km2 82 Kentucky s population has grown during every decade since records have been kept But during most decades of the 20th century there was also net out migration from Kentucky Since 1900 rural Kentucky counties have had a net loss of more than a million people to migration while urban areas have experienced a slight net gain 83 Kentucky s center of population is in Washington County in the city of Willisburg 84 Race and ancestry Edit Ethnic composition as of the 2020 census Race and Ethnicity 85 Alone TotalWhite non Hispanic 81 3 81 3 85 0 85 African American non Hispanic 7 9 7 9 9 4 9 4 Hispanic or Latino c 4 6 4 6 Asian 1 6 1 6 2 1 2 1 Native American 0 2 0 2 1 8 1 8 Pacific Islander 0 1 0 1 0 2 0 2 Other 0 3 0 3 0 9 0 9 Historical racial demographics Racial composition 1990 86 2000 87 88 2015 Est 89 White 92 0 90 1 87 8 Black 7 1 7 3 7 8 Asian 0 5 0 7 1 1 Native American andAlaska Native 0 2 0 2 0 2 Native Hawaiian andother Pacific Islander 0 1 Other race 0 2 0 6 1 3 Two or more races 1 0 1 7 According to U S Census Bureau official statistics the largest ancestry in 2013 was American totalling 20 2 90 In 1980 before the status of ethnic American was an available option on the official census the largest claimed ancestries in the commonwealth were English 49 6 Irish 26 3 and German 24 2 91 92 93 94 95 96 97 In the state s most urban counties of Jefferson Oldham Fayette Boone Kenton and Campbell German is the largest reported ancestry Americans of Scots Irish and English stock are present throughout the entire state Many residents claim Irish ancestry because of known Scots Irish among their ancestors who immigrated from Ireland where their ancestors had moved for a period from Scotland during the plantation period As of the 1980s the only counties in the United States where over half of the population cited English as their only ancestry group were in the hills of eastern Kentucky virtually every county in this region had a majority of residents identifying as exclusively English in ancestry 98 In the 2000 census some 20 000 people 0 49 in the state self identified as Native American The state has no federally recognized tribes or state recognized tribes 99 African Americans who were mostly enslaved at the time made up 25 of Kentucky s population before the Civil War they were held and worked primarily in the central Bluegrass region an area of hemp and tobacco cultivation as well as raising blooded livestock The number of African Americans living in Kentucky declined during the 20th century Many migrated during the early part of the century to the industrial North and Midwest during the Great Migration for jobs and the chance to leave the segregated oppressive societies Today less than 9 of the state s total population is African American 100 The state s African American population is highly urbanized and 52 of them live in the Louisville metropolitan area 44 2 of them reside in Jefferson County The county s population is 20 African American Other areas with high concentrations besides Christian and Fulton counties and the Bluegrass region are the cities of Paducah and Lexington Some mining communities in far Southeastern Kentucky have populations that are between five and 10 percent African American citation needed Language Edit In 2000 96 1 of all residents five years old and older spoke only English at home a decrease from 97 5 in 1990 101 Speech patterns in the state generally reflect the first settlers Virginia and Kentucky backgrounds South Midland features are best preserved in the mountains with Southern in most other areas of Kentucky but some common to Midland and Southern are widespread 101 After a vowel the r may be weak or missing For instance Coop has the vowel of put but the root rhymes with boot In southern Kentucky earthworms are called redworms a burlap bag is known as a tow sack or the Southern grass sack and green beans are called snap beans In Kentucky English a young man may carry not escort his girlfriend to a party 101 Spanish is the second most spoken language in Kentucky after English 101 Religion Edit See also Religion in Louisville Kentucky Lexington Theological Seminary then College of the Bible 1904 Religion in Kentucky 2014 102 Religion PercentProtestant 65 No religion 22 Catholic 10 Other faith 2 As of 2010 update the Association of Religion Data Archives ARDA 103 reported the following groupings of Kentucky s 4 339 367 residents 48 not affiliated with any religious group 2 101 653 persons 42 Protestant Christian 1 819 860 adherents 33 Evangelical Protestant 1 448 947 adherents 23 within the Southern Baptist Convention 1 004 407 adherents 7 1 Mainline Protestant 305 955 adherents 4 4 in the United Methodist Church 189 596 adherents 1 5 Black Protestant 64 958 adherents 8 3 Catholic Church 359 783 adherents 0 74 Latter day Saints 31 991 adherents 0 60 other religions 26 080 adherents 0 26 Muslim 0 16 Judaism 0 06 Buddhism 0 01 Hindu other Christian etc Kentucky is home to several seminaries Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville is the principal seminary for the Southern Baptist Convention Louisville is also the home of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary an institution of the Presbyterian Church USA Lexington has one seminary Lexington Theological Seminary affiliated with the Disciples of Christ The Baptist Seminary of Kentucky is located on the campus of Georgetown College in Georgetown Asbury Theological Seminary a multi denominational seminary in the Methodist tradition is located in nearby Wilmore In addition to seminaries there are several colleges affiliated with denominations In Louisville Bellarmine University and Spalding University are affiliated with the Roman Catholic Church In Lexington Transylvania University is affiliated with the Disciples of Christ In Owensboro Kentucky Wesleyan College is associated with the United Methodist Church and Brescia University is associated with the Roman Catholic Church In Pikeville the University of Pikeville is affiliated with the Presbyterian Church USA In Wilmore Asbury University a separate institution from the seminary is associated with the Christian College Consortium The Baptist denomination is associated with several colleges University of the Cumberlands in Williamsburg Campbellsville University in Campbellsville Georgetown College in Georgetown Clear Creek Baptist Bible College in Pineville Kentucky Grayson in Carter County is home to Kentucky Christian University which is affiliated with the Christian Churches and Churches of Christ The Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani is located in Bardstown Kentucky Author Thomas Merton known as a social activist worked to reconcile Christianity with other major religions had converted to Catholicism as a young man and became a Trappist monk he lived and worked here from 1941 until his death in 1968 Louisville is home to the Cathedral of the Assumption the third oldest Catholic cathedral in continuous use in the United States The city also holds the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church USA and their printing press Reflecting late 19th 20th and 21st century immigration from different countries Louisville also has Jewish Muslim 104 and Hindu communities In 1996 the Center for Interfaith Relations established the Festival of Faiths the first and oldest annual interfaith festival to be held in the United States 105 The Christian creationist apologetics group Answers in Genesis along with its Creation Museum is headquartered in Petersburg Kentucky Economy EditSee also Economy of Louisville Kentucky Economy of Lexington Kentucky and Kentucky locations by per capita income The best selling car in the United States the Toyota Camry is manufactured in Georgetown Kentucky The best selling truck in the United States the Ford F Series is manufactured in Louisville Kentucky Early in its history Kentucky gained recognition for its excellent farming conditions It was the site of the first commercial winery in the United States started in present day Jessamine County in 1799 and due to the high calcium content of the soil in the Bluegrass region quickly became a major horse breeding and later racing area Today Kentucky ranks 5th nationally in goat farming 8th in beef cattle production 106 and 14th in corn production 9 Kentucky has also been a long standing major center of the tobacco industry both as a center of business and tobacco farming Today Kentucky s economy has expanded to importance in non agricultural terms as well especially in auto manufacturing energy fuel production and medical facilities 10 Kentucky ranks 4th among U S states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled 11 The Chevrolet Corvette Cadillac XLR 2004 2009 Ford Escape Ford Super Duty trucks Ford Expedition Lincoln Navigator Toyota Camry 107 Toyota Avalon 107 Toyota Solara Toyota Venza 107 and Lexus ES 350 107 are assembled in Kentucky Kentucky has historically been a major coal producer but the coal industry has been in decline since the 1980s and the number of people employed in the coal industry there dropped by more than half between 2011 and 2015 107 As of 2010 update 24 of electricity produced in the U S depended on either enriched uranium rods coming from the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant the only domestic site of low grade uranium enrichment needs update or from the 107 336 tons of coal extracted from the state s two coal fields which combined produce 4 percent of the electricity in the United States 108 Kentucky produces 95 of the world s supply of bourbon whiskey and the number of barrels of bourbon being aged in Kentucky more than 5 7 million exceeds the state s population 107 109 Bourbon has been a growing market with production of Kentucky bourbon rising 170 percent between 1999 and 2015 107 In 2019 the state had more than fifty distilleries for bourbon production 110 Kentucky exports reached a record 22 1 billion in 2012 with products and services going to 199 countries 111 According to the Kentucky Cabinet for Economic Development the primary state agency in Kentucky responsible for creating new jobs and new investment in the state new business investment in Kentucky in 2012 totaled nearly 2 7 billion with the creation of more than 14 000 new jobs One such investment was L Oreal in Northern Kentucky which added 200 jobs on top of the 280 already in existing facilities in Florence and Walton 112 Fort Knox a United States Army post best known as the site of the United States Bullion Depository which is used to house a large portion of the United States official gold reserves is located in Kentucky between Louisville and Elizabethtown In May 2010 the Army Human Resource Center of Excellence the largest office building in the state at nearly 900 000 square feet 84 000 m2 opened at Fort Knox The complex employs nearly 4 300 soldiers and civilians 113 Kentucky contains two of the twenty U S Federal Penitentiaries USP Big Sandy in the east in Martin County near Inez and USP McCreary in the south in McCreary County in the Daniel Boone National Forest The total gross state product for 2020 was 212 539 billion 114 Its per capita income was 25 888 in 2017 115 An organization called the Institute for Truth in Accounting estimated that the state government s debts exceeded its available assets by 26 300 per taxpayer as of 2011 update ranking the state as having the 5th highest such debt burden in the nation 116 As of November 2022 the state s unemployment rate is 4 117 In 2014 Kentucky was found to be the most affordable U S state in which to live 118 Taxation Edit Tax is collected by the Kentucky Department of Revenue 119 There are six income tax brackets ranging from 2 to 6 of personal income 120 The sales tax rate in Kentucky is 6 121 Kentucky has a broadly based classified property tax system All classes of property unless exempted by the Constitution are taxed by the state although at widely varying rates 122 Many of these classes are exempted from taxation by local government Of the classes that are subject to local taxation three have special rates set by the General Assembly one by the Kentucky Supreme Court and the remaining classes are subject to the full local rate which includes the tax rate set by the local taxing bodies plus all voted levies Real property is assessed on 100 of the fair market value and property taxes are due by December 31 Once the primary source of state and local government revenue property taxes now account for only about 6 of the Kentucky s annual General Fund revenues 123 Until January 1 2006 Kentucky imposed a tax on intangible personal property held by a taxpayer on January 1 of each year The Kentucky intangible tax was repealed under House Bill 272 124 Intangible property consisted of any property or investment that represents evidence of value or the right to value Some types of intangible property included bonds notes retail repurchase agreements accounts receivable trusts enforceable contracts sale of real estate land contracts money in hand money in safe deposit boxes annuities interests in estates loans to stockholders and commercial paper Government promoted slogans Edit In December 2002 the Kentucky governor Paul Patton unveiled the state slogan It s that friendly 125 in hope of drawing more people into the state based on the idea of southern hospitality This campaign was neither a failure nor a success citation needed Though it was meant to embrace southern values many Kentuckians rejected the slogan as cheesy and generic 125 It was quickly seen that the slogan did not encourage tourism as much as initially hoped for So government decided to create a different slogan to embrace Kentucky as a whole while also encouraging more people to visit the Bluegrass 126 In 2004 then Governor Ernie Fletcher launched a comprehensive branding campaign with the hope of making the state s 12 14 million advertising budget more effective 127 The resulting Unbridled Spirit brand was the result of a 500 000 contract with New West a Kentucky based public relations advertising and marketing firm to develop a viable brand and tag line 128 The Fletcher administration aggressively marketed the brand in both the public and private sectors Since that time the Welcome to Kentucky signs at border areas have an Unbridled Spirit symbol on them Tourism Edit See also Kentucky Bourbon Trail The Ark Encounter in Williamstown KY Tourism has become an increasingly important part of the Kentucky economy In 2019 tourism grew to 7 6 billion in economic impact Key attractions include horse racing with events like the Kentucky Derby and the Keeneland Fall and Spring Meets bourbon distillery tours including along the Kentucky Bourbon Trail and Louisville Urban Bourbon Trail 129 and natural attractions such as the state s many lakes and parks to include Mammoth Cave Lake Cumberland and Red River Gorge 130 The state also has several religious destinations such as the Creation Museum and Ark Encounter of Answers in Genesis 131 132 Horse industry Edit See also Horse racing in the United States Spring running of Keeneland in Lexington KY Horse Racing has long been associated with Kentucky Churchill Downs the home of the Derby is a large venue with a capacity exceeding 165 000 133 The track hosts multiple events throughout the year and is a significant draw to the city of Louisville Keeneland Race Course in Lexington hosts two major meets the Spring and Fall running Beyond hosting races Keeneland also hosts a significant horse auction drawing buyers from around the world In 2019 360 million was spent on the September Yearling sale 134 The Kentucky Horse Park in Georgetown hosts multiple events throughout the year including international equestrian competitions and also offers horseback riding from April to October 135 Education EditMain article Education in Kentucky See also Education Reform in Kentucky List of colleges and universities in Kentucky List of high schools in Kentucky and List of school districts in Kentucky William T Young Library at the University of Kentucky Kentucky s flagship university The J B Speed School of Engineering at the University of Louisville Kentucky s urban research university Kentucky maintains eight public four year universities There are two general tiers major research institutions the University of Kentucky and the University of Louisville and regional universities which encompass the remaining six schools The regional schools have specific target counties that many of their programs are targeted towards such as Forestry at Eastern Kentucky University or Cave Management at Western Kentucky University however most of their curriculum varies little from any other public university The University of Kentucky UK and the University of Louisville UofL have the highest academic rankings and admissions standards although the regional schools aren t without their national recognized departments examples being Western Kentucky University s nationally ranked Journalism Department or Morehead State University offering one of the nation s only Space Science degrees UK is the flagship and land grant of the system and has agriculture extension services in every county The two research schools split duties related to the medical field UK handles all medical outreach programs in the eastern half of the state while UofL does all medical outreach in the state s western half The state s sixteen public two year colleges have been governed by the Kentucky Community and Technical College System since the passage of the Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 commonly referred to as House Bill 1 136 Before the passage of House Bill 1 most of these colleges were under the control of the University of Kentucky Transylvania University a liberal arts university located in Lexington was founded in 1780 as the oldest university west of the Allegheny Mountains Berea College located at the extreme southern edge of the Bluegrass below the Cumberland Plateau was the first coeducational college in the South to admit both black and white students doing so from its very establishment in 1855 137 This policy was successfully challenged in the United States Supreme Court in the case of Berea College v Kentucky in 1908 138 This decision effectively segregated Berea until the landmark Brown v Board of Education in 1954 There are 173 school districts and 1 233 public schools in Kentucky 139 For the 2010 to 2011 school year there were approximately 647 827 students enrolled in public school 140 Kentucky has been the site of much educational reform over the past two decades In 1989 the Kentucky Supreme Court ruled the state s education system was unconstitutional 141 The response of the General Assembly was passage of the Kentucky Education Reform Act KERA the following year Years later Kentucky has shown progress but most agree that further reform is needed 142 The West Virginia teachers strike in 2018 inspired teachers in other states including Kentucky to take similar action 143 Transportation EditMain article Transportation in Kentucky At 484 miles 779 km long Kentucky Route 80 is the longest route in Kentucky pictured here west of Somerset Roads Edit See also List of Kentucky State Highways Kentucky is served by six major Interstate highways I 24 I 64 I 65 I 69 I 71 and I 75 seven parkways and six bypasses and spurs I 165 I 169 I 264 I 265 I 275 and I 471 The parkways were originally toll roads but on November 22 2006 Governor Ernie Fletcher ended the toll charges on the William H Natcher Parkway and the Audubon Parkway the last two parkways in Kentucky to charge tolls for access 144 The related toll booths have been demolished 145 Ending the tolls some seven months ahead of schedule was generally agreed to have been a positive economic development for transportation in Kentucky In June 2007 a law went into effect raising the speed limit on rural portions of Kentucky Interstates and parkways from 65 to 70 miles per hour 105 to 113 km h 146 Road tunnels include the interstate Cumberland Gap Tunnel and the rural Nada Tunnel Rails Edit See also List of Kentucky railroads High Bridge over the Kentucky River was the tallest rail bridge in the world when it was completed in 1877 Amtrak the national passenger rail system provides service to Ashland South Portsmouth Maysville and Fulton The Cardinal trains 50 and 51 is the line that offers Amtrak service to Ashland South Shore Maysville and South Portsmouth The City of New Orleans trains 58 and 59 serve Fulton The Northern Kentucky area is served by the Cardinal at Cincinnati Union Terminal The terminal is just across the Ohio River in Cincinnati Norfolk Southern Railway passes through the Central and Southern parts of the Commonwealth via its Cincinnati New Orleans and Texas Pacific CNO amp TP subsidiary The line originates in Cincinnati and terminates 338 miles south in Chattanooga Tennessee As of 2004 update there were approximately 2 640 miles 4 250 km of railways in Kentucky with about 65 of those being operated by CSX Transportation Coal was by far the most common cargo accounting for 76 of cargo loaded and 61 of cargo delivered 147 Bardstown features a tourist attraction known as My Old Kentucky Dinner Train Run along a 20 mile 30 km stretch of rail purchased from CSX in 1987 guests are served a four course meal as they make a two and a half hour round trip between Bardstown and Limestone Springs 148 The Kentucky Railway Museum is located in nearby New Haven 149 Other areas in Kentucky are reclaiming old railways in rail trail projects One such project is Louisville s Big Four Bridge When the bridge s Indiana approach ramps opened in 2014 completing the pedestrian connection across the Ohio River the Big Four Bridge rail trail became the second longest pedestrian only bridge in the world 150 The longest pedestrian only bridge is also found in Kentucky the Newport Southbank Bridge popularly known as the Purple People Bridge connecting Newport to Cincinnati Ohio 151 Air Edit See also List of airports in Kentucky Kentucky s primary airports include Louisville International Airport Standiford Field SDF of Louisville Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport CVG of Cincinnati Covington and Blue Grass Airport LEX in Lexington Louisville International Airport is home to UPS s Worldport its international air sorting hub 152 Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport is the largest airport in the state and is a focus city for passenger airline Delta Air Lines and headquarters of its Delta Private Jets The airport is one of DHL Aviation s three super hubs serving destinations throughout the Americas Europe Africa and Asia making it the 7th busiest airport in the U S and 36th in the world based on passenger and cargo operations citation needed CVG is also a focus city for Frontier Airlines and is the largest O amp D airport and base for Allegiant Air along with home to a maintenance for American Airlines subsidiary PSA Airlines and Delta Air Lines subsidiary Endeavor Air There are also a number of regional airports scattered across the state On August 27 2006 Blue Grass Airport was the site of a crash that killed 47 passengers and 2 crew members aboard a Bombardier CRJ designated Comair Flight 191 or Delta Air Lines Flight 5191 sometimes mistakenly identified by the press as Comair Flight 5191 153 The lone survivor was the flight s first officer James Polehinke who doctors determined to be brain damaged and unable to recall the crash at all 154 A barge hauling coal in the Louisville and Portland Canal the only manmade section of the Ohio River Water Edit As the state is bounded by two of the largest rivers in North America water transportation has historically played a major role in Kentucky s economy Louisville was a major port for steamships in the nineteenth century Today most barge traffic on Kentucky waterways consists of coal that is shipped from both the Eastern and Western Coalfields about half of which is used locally to power many power plants located directly off the Ohio River with the rest being exported to other countries most notably Japan Many of the largest ports in the United States are located in or adjacent to Kentucky including Huntington Tristate includes Ashland Kentucky largest inland port and 7th largest overall Cincinnati Northern Kentucky 5th largest inland port and 43rd overall Louisville Southern Indiana 7th largest inland port and 55th overallAs a state Kentucky ranks 10th overall in port tonnage 155 156 The only natural obstacle along the entire length of the Ohio River is the Falls of the Ohio located just west of Downtown Louisville Law and government EditFurther information Government of Kentucky Kentucky is one of four U S states to officially use the term commonwealth The term was used for Kentucky as it had also been used by Virginia from which Kentucky was created The term has no particular significance in its meaning and was chosen to emphasize the distinction from the status of royal colonies as a place governed for the general welfare of the populace 157 Kentucky was originally styled as the State of Kentucky in the act admitting it to the union since that is how it was referred to in Kentucky s first constitution 158 The commonwealth term was used in citizen petitions submitted between 1786 and 1792 for the creation of the state 159 It was also used in the title of a history of the state that was published in 1834 and was used in various places within that book in references to Virginia and Kentucky 160 The other three states officially called commonwealths are Massachusetts Pennsylvania and Virginia Puerto Rico and the Northern Mariana Islands are also formally commonwealths Kentucky is one of only five states that elect their state officials in odd numbered years the others being Louisiana Mississippi New Jersey and Virginia Kentucky holds elections for these offices every four years in the years preceding Presidential election years Thus Kentucky held gubernatorial elections in 2011 2015 and 2019 Executive branch Edit The governor s mansion in Frankfort The executive branch is headed by the governor who serves as both head of state and head of government The lieutenant governor may or may not have executive authority depending on whether the person is a member of the Governor s cabinet Under the current Kentucky Constitution the lieutenant governor assumes the duties of the governor only if the governor is incapacitated Before 1992 the lieutenant governor assumed power any time the governor was out of the state The governor and lieutenant governor usually run on a single ticket also per a 1992 constitutional amendment and are elected to four year terms The current governor is Andy Beshear and the lieutenant governor is Jacqueline Coleman Both are Democrats 161 162 The executive branch is organized into the following cabinets each headed by a secretary who is also a member of the governor s cabinet 163 General Government Cabinet Transportation Cabinet Cabinet for Economic Development Finance and Administration Cabinet Tourism Arts and Heritage Cabinet Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Cabinet for Health and Family Services Justice and Public Safety Cabinet Personnel Cabinet Labor Cabinet Energy and Environment Cabinet Public Protection CabinetThe cabinet system was introduced in 1972 by Governor Wendell Ford to consolidate hundreds of government entities that reported directly to the governor s office 164 Other elected constitutional offices include the Secretary of State Attorney General Auditor of Public Accounts State Treasurer and Commissioner of Agriculture Currently Republican Michael G Adams serves as the Secretary of State The commonwealth s chief prosecutor law enforcement officer and law officer is the Attorney General currently Republican Daniel Cameron The Auditor of Public Accounts is Republican Mike Harmon Republican Allison Ball is the current Treasurer Republican Ryan Quarles is the current Commissioner of Agriculture Legislative branch Edit The Kentucky State Capitol building in Frankfort Kentucky s legislative branch consists of a bicameral body known as the Kentucky General Assembly The Senate is considered the upper house It has 38 members and is led by the President of the Senate currently Robert Stivers R The House of Representatives has 100 members and is led by the Speaker of the House currently David Osborne of the Republican Party 165 In November 2016 Republicans won control of the House for the first time since 1922 and currently have supermajorities in both the House and Senate 166 Judicial branch Edit The judicial branch of Kentucky is called the Kentucky Court of Justice 167 and comprises courts of limited jurisdiction called District Courts courts of general jurisdiction called Circuit Courts specialty courts such as Drug Court 168 and Family Court 169 an intermediate appellate court the Kentucky Court of Appeals and a court of last resort the Kentucky Supreme Court The Kentucky Court of Justice is headed by the Chief Justice of the Commonwealth The chief justice is appointed by and is an elected member of the Supreme Court of Kentucky The current chief justice is John D Minton Jr Unlike federal judges who are usually appointed justices serving on Kentucky state courts are chosen by the state s populace in non partisan elections Federal representation Edit A map showing Kentucky s six congressional districts Kentucky s two U S Senators are Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell and Rand Paul both Republicans The state is divided into six Congressional Districts represented by Republicans James Comer 1st Brett Guthrie 2nd Thomas Massie 4th Hal Rogers 5th and Andy Barr 6th and Democrat John Yarmuth 3rd In the federal judiciary Kentucky is served by two United States district courts the Eastern District of Kentucky with its primary seat in Lexington and the Western District of Kentucky with its primary seat in Louisville Appeals are heard in the Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit based in Cincinnati Ohio Law Edit State sign Interstate 65 Kentucky s body of laws known as the Kentucky Revised Statutes KRS were enacted in 1942 to better organize and clarify the whole of Kentucky law 170 The statutes are enforced by local police sheriffs and deputy sheriffs and constables and deputy constables Unless they have completed a police academy elsewhere these officers are required to complete Police Officer Professional Standards POPS training at the Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Training Center on the campus of Eastern Kentucky University in Richmond 171 Additionally in 1948 the Kentucky General Assembly established the Kentucky State Police making it the 38th state to create a force whose jurisdiction extends throughout the given state 172 Kentucky is one of the 32 states in the United States that sanctions the death penalty for certain murders defined as heinous Those convicted of capital crimes after March 31 1998 are always executed by lethal injection those convicted on or before this date may opt for the electric chair 173 Only three people have been executed in Kentucky since the U S Supreme Court re instituted the practice in 1976 The most notable execution in Kentucky was that of Rainey Bethea on August 14 1936 Bethea was publicly hanged in Owensboro for the rape and murder of Lischia Edwards 174 Irregularities with the execution led to this becoming the last public execution in the United States 175 Kentucky has been on the front lines of the debate over displaying the Ten Commandments on public property In the 2005 case of McCreary County v ACLU of Kentucky the U S Supreme Court upheld the decision of the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals that a display of the Ten Commandments in the Whitley City courthouse of McCreary County was unconstitutional 176 Later that year Judge Richard Fred Suhrheinrich writing for the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals in the case of ACLU of Kentucky v Mercer County wrote that a display including the Mayflower Compact the Declaration of Independence the Ten Commandments the Magna Carta The Star Spangled Banner and the national motto could be erected in the Mercer County courthouse 177 Kentucky has also been known to have unusually high political candidacy age laws especially compared to surrounding states The origin of this is unknown but it has been suggested by whom it has to do with the commonwealth tradition A 2008 study found that Kentucky s Supreme Court to be the least influential high court in the nation with its decisions rarely being followed by other states 178 Politics Edit Further information Political party strength in Kentucky United States presidential election results for Kentucky 179 Year Republican Whig Democratic Third partyNo No No 2020 1 326 646 62 05 772 474 36 13 38 889 1 82 2016 1 202 971 62 52 628 854 32 68 92 325 4 80 2012 1 087 190 60 47 679 370 37 78 31 488 1 75 2008 1 048 462 57 37 751 985 41 15 27 140 1 49 2004 1 069 439 59 54 712 733 39 68 13 907 0 77 2000 872 492 56 50 638 898 41 37 32 797 2 12 1996 623 283 44 88 636 614 45 84 128 811 9 28 1992 617 178 41 34 665 104 44 55 210 618 14 11 1988 734 281 55 52 580 368 43 88 7 868 0 59 1984 822 782 60 04 539 589 39 37 8 090 0 59 1980 635 274 49 07 616 417 47 61 42 936 3 32 1976 531 852 45 57 615 717 52 75 19 573 1 68 1972 676 446 63 37 371 159 34 77 19 894 1 86 1968 462 411 43 79 397 541 37 65 195 941 18 56 1964 372 977 35 65 669 659 64 01 3 469 0 33 1960 602 607 53 59 521 855 46 41 0 0 00 1956 572 192 54 30 476 453 45 21 5 160 0 49 1952 495 029 49 84 495 729 49 91 2 390 0 24 1948 341 210 41 48 466 756 56 74 14 692 1 79 1944 392 448 45 22 472 589 54 45 2 884 0 33 1940 410 384 42 30 557 322 57 45 2 457 0 25 1936 369 702 39 92 541 944 58 51 14 560 1 57 1932 394 716 40 15 580 574 59 06 7 773 0 79 1928 558 734 59 36 381 070 40 48 1 470 0 16 1924 398 966 48 93 374 855 45 98 41 511 5 09 1920 452 480 49 26 456 497 49 69 9 659 1 05 1916 241 854 46 50 269 990 51 91 8 225 1 58 1912 115 512 25 46 219 584 48 40 118 602 26 14 1908 235 711 48 03 244 092 49 74 10 916 2 22 1904 205 457 47 13 217 170 49 82 13 319 3 06 1900 227 132 48 51 235 126 50 21 6 007 1 28 1896 218 171 48 93 217 894 48 86 9 863 2 21 1892 135 462 39 74 175 461 51 48 29 941 8 78 1888 155 138 44 98 183 830 53 30 5 900 1 71 1884 118 690 42 93 152 961 55 32 4 830 1 75 1880 106 490 39 87 148 875 55 74 11 739 4 39 1876 97 568 37 44 160 060 61 41 2 998 1 15 1872 88 766 46 44 99 995 52 32 2 374 1 24 1868 39 566 25 45 115 889 74 55 0 0 00 1864 27 787 30 17 64 301 69 83 0 0 00 1860 1 364 0 93 25 651 17 54 119 201 81 52 1856 0 0 00 74 642 52 54 67 416 47 46 1852 57 428 51 44 53 949 48 32 266 0 24 1848 67 145 57 46 49 720 42 54 0 0 00 1844 61 249 54 09 51 988 45 91 0 0 00 1840 58 488 64 20 32 616 35 80 0 0 00 1836 36 861 52 59 33 229 47 41 0 0 00 Treemap of the popular vote by county 2016 presidential election Since the late 1990s Kentucky has supported Republican candidates for most federal political offices and more recently for state level office as well The state leaned toward the Democratic Party from 1860 when the Whig Party dissolved to the 1990s and was considered a swing state at the presidential level for most of the latter half of the 20th century The southeastern region of the state aligned with the Union during the war and has consistently supported Republican candidates The central and western portions of the state were heavily Democratic in the years leading to the Civil War were pro secessionist and pro Confederate during the Civil War and in the decades following the war Kentucky was part of the Democratic Solid South in the second half of the nineteenth century and through the majority of the twentieth century Mirroring a broader national reversal of party composition the Kentucky Democratic Party of the twenty first century primarily consists of liberal whites African Americans and other minorities Although most of the state s voters have reliably elected Republican candidates for federal office since the late 1990s Democrats held an advantage in party registration until 2022 On July 15 2022 the Kentucky Secretary of State s office announced that for the first time in its history the commonwealth had more registered Republicans than registered Democrats with 45 19 of the state s voters registered as Republicans 45 12 registered as Democrats and 9 69 registered with another political party or as independents 180 From 1964 through 2004 Kentucky voted for the eventual winner of the election for President of the United States however in the 2008 election the state lost its bellwether status Republican John McCain won Kentucky but he lost the national popular and electoral vote to Democrat Barack Obama McCain carried Kentucky 57 to 41 116 of Kentucky s 120 counties supported former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney in the 2012 election while he lost to Barack Obama nationwide 181 182 Voters in the Commonwealth have supported the previous three Democratic candidates elected to the White House in the late 20th century all from Southern states Lyndon B Johnson Texas in 1964 Jimmy Carter Georgia in 1976 and Bill Clinton Arkansas in 1992 and 1996 In the twenty first century presidential elections the state has become a Republican stronghold supporting that party s presidential candidates by double digit margins from 2000 through 2020 At the same time voters have continued to elect Democratic candidates to state and local offices in many jurisdictions Elliott County Kentucky is notable for having held the longest streak of any county in the United States voting Democratic Founded in 1869 Elliott County supported the Democratic nominee in every presidential election from 1872 the first in which it participated until 2012 In 2016 Donald Trump became the first Republican to ever carry the county and he did so in a 44 point landslide highlighting the modern Republican Party s dominance among rural whites and many ancestrally Democratic socially conservative voters Kentucky is one of the most anti abortion states in the United States A 2014 poll conducted by Pew Research Center found that 57 of Kentucky s population thought that abortion should be illegal in all most cases while only 36 thought that abortion should be legal in all most cases 183 In a 2020 study Kentucky was ranked as the 8th hardest state for citizens to vote in 184 Voter registration and party enrollment as of July 15 2022 185 Party Number of voters PercentageRepublican 1 612 060 45 19 Democratic 1 609 569 45 12 Other 208 558 5 85 Independent 137 116 3 84 Total 3 567 303 100 00 Culture EditMain article Culture of Kentucky See also Theater in Kentucky Performing arts in Louisville Kentucky and List of attractions and events in the Louisville metropolitan area The Buffalo Trace Distillery Kentucky culture is considered to be firmly Southern it is unique in that it is also influenced by the Midwest and Southern Appalachia blending with the native upper Southern culture in certain areas of the state The state is known for bourbon and whiskey distilling tobacco horse racing and college basketball Kentucky is more similar to the Upland South in terms of ancestry that is predominantly American 186 Nevertheless during the 19th century Kentucky did receive a substantial number of German immigrants who settled mostly in the Midwest and parts of the Upper South along the Ohio River primarily in Louisville Covington and Newport 187 Only Maryland Delaware and West Virginia have higher German ancestry percentages than Kentucky among Census defined Southern states although Kentucky s percentage is closer to Arkansas and Virginia s than the previously named state s percentages Scottish Americans English Americans and Scotch Irish Americans have heavily influenced Kentucky culture and are present in every part of the state 188 As of the 1980s the only counties in the United States where more than half the population cited English as their only ancestry group were all in the hills of eastern Kentucky and made up virtually every county in this region 98 Kentucky was a slave state and black people once comprised over one quarter of its population however it lacked the cotton plantation system though it did support significant and large scale tobacco plantation systems in the western and central parts of the state more similar to the plantations developed in Virginia and North Carolina than those in the Deep South and never had the same high percentage of African Americans as most other slave states While less than 8 of the total population is black Kentucky has a relatively significant rural African American population in the Central and Western areas of the state 189 190 191 Kentucky adopted the Jim Crow system of racial segregation in most public spheres after the Civil War Louisville s 1914 ordinance for residential racial segregation was struck down by the US Supreme Court in 1917 However in 1908 Kentucky enacted the Day Law An Act to Prohibit White and Colored Persons from Attending the Same School which Berea College unsuccessfully challenged at the US Supreme Court in 1908 in 1948 Lyman T Johnson filed suit for admission to the University of Kentucky as a result in the summer of 1949 nearly thirty African American students entered UK graduate and professional programs 192 Kentucky integrated its schools after the 1954 Brown v Board of Education verdict later adopting the first state civil rights act in the South in 1966 193 Old Louisville is the largest Victorian Historic neighborhood in the United States Kentucky celebrates Confederate Memorial Day as a state holiday on June 3 on the anniversary of Jefferson Davis s birthday The biggest day in American horse racing the Kentucky Derby is preceded by the two week Derby Festival 194 in Louisville The Derby Festival features many events including Thunder Over Louisville the Pegasus Parade the Great Steamboat Race Fest a Ville the Chow Wagon BalloonFest BourbonVille and many others leading up to the big race Louisville also plays host to the Kentucky State Fair 195 and the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival 196 Bowling Green the state s third largest city and home to the only assembly plant in the world that manufactures the Chevrolet Corvette 197 opened the National Corvette Museum in 1994 198 The fourth largest city Owensboro gives credence to its nickname of Barbecue Capital of the World by hosting the annual International Bar B Q Festival 199 Old Louisville the largest historic preservation district in the United States featuring Victorian architecture and the third largest overall 200 hosts the St James Court Art Show the largest outdoor art show in the United States 201 The neighborhood was also home to the Southern Exposition 1883 1887 which featured the first public display of Thomas Edison s light bulb 202 and was the setting of Alice Hegan Rice s novel Mrs Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch 203 Fairview was the birthplace of Jefferson Davis who would become President of the Confederate States of America and had the Jefferson Davis Memorial a 351 foot concrete obelisk built in 1917 Hodgenville the birthplace of Abraham Lincoln hosts the annual Lincoln Days Celebration and also hosted the kick off for the National Abraham Lincoln Bicentennial Celebration in February 2008 Bardstown celebrates its heritage as a major bourbon producing region with the Kentucky Bourbon Festival 204 Glasgow mimics Glasgow Scotland by hosting the Glasgow Highland Games its own version of the Highland Games 205 and Sturgis hosts Little Sturgis a mini version of Sturgis South Dakota s annual Sturgis Motorcycle Rally 206 Winchester celebrates an original Kentucky creation Beer Cheese with its Beer Cheese Festival held annually in June 207 Beer Cheese was developed in Clark County at some point in the 1940s along the Kentucky River 208 The residents of tiny Benton pay tribute to their favorite tuber the sweet potato by hosting Tater Day 209 Residents of Clarkson in Grayson County celebrate their city s ties to the honey industry by celebrating the Clarkson Honeyfest 210 The Clarkson Honeyfest is held the last Thursday Friday and Saturday in September and is the Official State Honey Festival of Kentucky Music Edit Main article Music of Kentucky See also Category Musicians from Kentucky Renfro Valley Kentucky is home to Renfro Valley Entertainment Center and the Kentucky Music Hall of Fame and is known as Kentucky s Country Music Capital a designation given it by the Kentucky State Legislature in the late 1980s The Renfro Valley Barn Dance was where Renfro Valley s musical heritage began in 1939 and influential country music luminaries like Red Foley Homer amp Jethro Lily May Ledford amp the Original Coon Creek Girls Martha Carson and many others have performed as regular members of the shows there over the years The Renfro Valley Gatherin is today America s second oldest continually broadcast radio program of any kind It is broadcast on local radio station WRVK and a syndicated network of nearly 200 other stations across the United States and Canada every week The U S 23 Country Music Highway Museum in Paintsville provides background on the country music artists from Eastern Kentucky Contemporary Christian music star Steven Curtis Chapman is a Paducah native and Rock and Roll Hall of Famers The Everly Brothers are closely connected with Muhlenberg County where older brother Don was born Merle Travis Country amp Western artist known for both his signature Travis picking guitar playing style as well as his hit song Sixteen Tons was also born in Muhlenberg County Kentucky was also home to Mildred and Patty Hill the Louisville sisters credited with composing the tune to the ditty Happy Birthday to You in 1893 Loretta Lynn Johnson County Brian Littrell and Kevin Richardson of the Backstreet Boys and Billy Ray Cyrus Flatwoods However its depth lies in its signature sound Bluegrass music Bill Monroe The Father of Bluegrass was born in the small Ohio County town of Rosine while Ricky Skaggs Keith Whitley David Stringbean Akeman Louis Marshall Grandpa Jones Sonny and Bobby Osborne and Sam Bush who has been compared to Monroe all hail from Kentucky The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame amp Museum is located in Owensboro 211 while the annual Festival of the Bluegrass is held in Lexington 212 Kentucky is also home to famed jazz musician and pioneer Lionel Hampton 213 Blues legend W C Handy and R amp B singer Wilson Pickett also spent considerable time in Kentucky The R amp B group Midnight Star and Hip Hop group Nappy Roots were both formed in Kentucky as were country acts The Kentucky Headhunters Montgomery Gentry and Halfway to Hazard The Judds as well as Dove Award winning Christian groups Audio Adrenaline rock and Bride metal Heavy Rock band Black Stone Cherry hails from rural Edmonton Rock band My Morning Jacket with lead singer and guitarist Jim James originated out of Louisville as well as bands Wax Fang White Reaper Tantric Rock bands Cage the Elephant Sleeper Agent and Morning Teleportation are also from Bowling Green The bluegrass groups Driftwood and Kentucky Rain along with Nick Lachey of the pop band 98 Degrees are also from Kentucky King Crimson guitarist Adrian Belew is from Covington Post rock band Slint also hails from Louisville Noted singer and actress Rosemary Clooney was a native of Maysville her legacy being celebrated at the annual music festival bearing her name Noted songwriter and actor Will Oldham is from Louisville 214 More recently in the limelight are country artists Chris Stapleton Sturgill Simpson Tyler Childers and Chris Knight In eastern Kentucky old time music carries on the tradition of ancient ballads and reels developed in historical Appalachia Literature Edit Main article Kentucky literature Kentucky has played a major role in Southern and American literature producing works that often celebrate the working class rural life nature and explore issues of class extractive economy and family Major works from the state include Uncle Tom s Cabin 1852 by Harriet Beecher Stowe widely seen as one of the impetuses for the American Civil War The Little Shepherd of Kingdom Come 1908 by John Fox Jr which was the first novel to sell a million copies in the United States All the King s Men by Robert Penn Warren 1946 rated as the 36th best English language novel of the 20th century The Dollmaker 1954 by Harriette Arnow Night Comes to the Cumberlands 1962 by Harry Caudill which contributed to initiating the U S Government s War on poverty and others Author Thomas Merton lived most of his life and wrote most of his books including The Seven Storey Mountain 1948 ranked on National Review s list of the 100 best non fiction books of the century during his time as a monk at the Abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani near Bardstown Kentucky Author Hunter S Thompson is also a native of the state Since the later part of the 20th century several writers from Kentucky have published widely read and critically acclaimed books including Wendell Berry fl 1960 Silas House fl 2001 Barbara Kingsolver fl 1988 poet Maurice Manning fl 2001 and Bobbie Ann Mason fl 1988 Well known playwrights from Kentucky include Marsha Norman works include night Mother 1983 and Naomi Wallace works include One Flea Spare 1995 The Hot Brown Cuisine Edit Main article Cuisine of Kentucky Kentucky s cuisine is generally similar to and is a part of traditional southern cooking although in some areas of the state it can blend elements of both the South and Midwest mixing Midwestern with the native Southern cuisine of the area 215 216 One original Kentucky dish is called the Hot Brown a dish normally layered in this order toasted bread turkey bacon tomatoes and topped with mornay sauce It was developed at the Brown Hotel in Louisville 217 The Pendennis Club in Louisville is the birthplace of the Old Fashioned cocktail Also Western Kentucky is known for its own regional style of Southern barbecue Central Kentucky is the birthplace of Beer Cheese Harland Sanders a Kentucky colonel originated Kentucky Fried Chicken at his service station in North Corbin though the first franchised KFC was located in South Salt Lake Utah 218 Sports Edit Main article Sports in Kentucky This section needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed August 2014 Learn how and when to remove this template message Kentucky s Churchill Downs hosts the Kentucky Derby Kentucky is the home of several sports teams such as Minor League Baseball s Triple A Louisville Bats and High A Bowling Green Hot Rods It is also home to the independent Atlantic League of Professional Baseball s Lexington Legends and the Frontier League s Florence Y alls The Lexington Horsemen and Louisville Fire of the now defunct af2 had been interested in making a move up to the major league Arena Football League but nothing has come of those plans The northern part of the state lies across the Ohio River from Cincinnati which is home to the National Football League s Cincinnati Bengals Major League Baseball s Cincinnati Reds It is not uncommon for fans to park in the city of Newport and use the Newport Southbank Pedestrian Bridge locally known as the Purple People Bridge to walk to these games in Cincinnati Also Georgetown College in Georgetown was the location for the Bengals summer training camp until it was announced in 2012 that the Bengals would no longer use the facilities 219 As in many states especially those without major league professional sports teams college athletics are prominent This is especially true of the state s three Division I Football Bowl Subdivision FBS programs including the Kentucky Wildcats the Western Kentucky Hilltoppers and the Louisville Cardinals The Wildcats Hilltoppers and Cardinals are among the most tradition rich college men s basketball teams in the United States combining for 11 National Championships and 24 NCAA Final Fours citation needed all three are high on the lists of total all time wins wins per season and average wins per season citation needed The Kentucky Wildcats are particularly notable leading all Division I programs in all time wins win percentage NCAA tournament appearances and being second only to UCLA in NCAA championships 220 Louisville has also stepped onto the football scene in recent years including winning the 2007 Orange Bowl as well as the 2013 Sugar Bowl and also producing 2016 Heisman Trophy winner Lamar Jackson Western Kentucky the 2002 national champion in Division I AA football now Football Championship Subdivision FCS completed its transition to Division I FBS football in 2009 The Kentucky Derby is a horse race held annually in Louisville on the first Saturday in May The Valhalla Golf Club in Louisville has hosted several editions of the PGA Championship Senior PGA Championship and Ryder Cup since the 1990s The NASCAR Cup Series held a race at the Kentucky Speedway in Sparta Kentucky from 2011 to 2020 The NASCAR Nationwide Series and the Camping World Truck Series also raced there through 2020 The IndyCar Series previously raced there as well Ohio Valley Wrestling in Louisville was the primary location for training and rehab for WWE professional wrestlers from 2000 until 2008 when WWE moved its contracted talent to Florida Championship Wrestling OVW later became the primary developmental territory for Total Nonstop Action Wrestling TNA from 2011 to 2013 In 2014 Louisville City FC a professional soccer team in the league then known as USL Pro and now as the United Soccer League was announced The team made its debut in 2015 playing home games at Louisville Slugger Field In its first season Louisville City was the official reserve side for Orlando City SC who made its debut in Major League Soccer at the same time That arrangement ended in 2016 when Orlando City established a directly controlled reserve side in the USL Kentucky colonel Edit Main article Kentucky colonel The distinction of being named a Kentucky colonel is the highest title of honor bestowed by the Commonwealth of Kentucky Commissions for Kentucky colonels are given by the Governor and the Secretary of State to individuals in recognition of noteworthy accomplishments and outstanding service to a community state or the nation The sitting governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky bestows the honor of a colonel s commission by issuance of letters patent Kentucky colonels are commissioned for life and act officially as the state s goodwill ambassadors 221 See also Edit Kentucky portalIndex of Kentucky related articles Outline of KentuckyNotes Edit a b Elevation adjusted to North American Vertical Datum of 1988 Kentucky is one of only four U S states to use the term Commonwealth in its official name along with Massachusetts Virginia and Pennsylvania Persons of Hispanic or Latino origin are not distinguished between total and partial ancestry References Edit a b Elevations and Distances in the United States United States Geological Survey 2001 Archived from the original on October 15 2011 Retrieved October 21 2011 2020 Census Apportionment Results census gov United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on April 26 2021 Retrieved April 26 2021 Median Annual Household Income The Henry J Kaiser Family Foundation Retrieved May 14 2019 Kentucky State Symbols Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives Archived from the original on July 3 2007 Retrieved November 29 2006 Wells John C 2008 Longman Pronunciation Dictionary 3rd ed Longman ISBN 978 1 4058 8118 0 How Kentucky Became a State Puerto Rico 51st August 8 2014 Retrieved February 21 2020 The Bluegrass State State Symbols USA statesymbolsusa org Retrieved March 19 2020 2007 Rankings of States and Counties bamabeef org Archived from the original on May 4 2006 Retrieved May 1 2007 a b Corn Production Detective PDF National Council on Economic Education Archived from the original PDF on June 5 2007 Retrieved May 3 2007 a b Hunt Matthew 2019 Are Kentucky Farmers Prepared for Farm Related Emergencies Journal of Agromedicine 24 1 9 14 doi 10 1080 1059924x 2018 1536571 PMID 30317936 S2CID 52977999 a b Kentucky Trade and Industry Development Tradeandindustrydev com Retrieved November 28 2012 About Kentucky Ezilon Search Archived from the original on November 10 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Johnson and Parrish Kentucky River Development The Commonwealth s Waterways PDF Harper Douglas Kentucky Online Etymology Dictionary Retrieved February 25 2007 Kentucky Oxford English Dictionary Archived from the original on August 2 2007 Retrieved February 25 2007 Mithun Marianne 1999 Languages of Native North America Cambridge Cambridge University Press pg 312 Kentucky Microsoft Encarta Online Encyclopedia 2006 Archived from the original on October 30 2009 Retrieved February 25 2007 McCafferty Michael 2008 Native American Place Names of Indiana University of Illinois Press p 250 ISBN 9780252032684 Nichols John amp Nyholm Earl Concise Dictionary of Minnesota Ojibwe 1994 Pollack David Stottman M May August 2005 Archaeological Investigation of the State Monument Frankfort Kentucky PDF Report Vol KAS Report No 104 Kentucky Archaeological Survey Archived from the original PDF on April 13 2015 Louis Franquelin Jean Baptiste Franquelin s map of Louisiana LOC gov Retrieved August 17 2017 Early Indian Migration in Ohio GenealogyTrails com Retrieved August 17 2017 Murphree Daniel S 2012 Native America A State by State Historical Encyclopedia Santa Barbara CA ABC CLIO p 394 ISBN 9780313381270 Murphree Daniel S 2012 Native America A State by State Historical Encyclopedia Santa Barbara CA ABC CLIO p 395 ISBN 9780313381270 Kesavan Vasan December 1 2002 When Did the Articles of Confederation Cease to Be Law Notre Dame Law Review 78 1 70 71 Retrieved October 31 2015 1 Stat 189 1 Stat 191 Constitution Square State Historic Site Danville Boyle County Convention and Visitors Bureau Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved November 29 2006 James James Alton 1928 The Life of George Rogers Clark Chicago University of Chicago Press ISBN 978 0 404 03549 5 The Presence History of Native Americans in Central Kentucky Mercer County Online Archived from the original on December 12 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Sleeper Smith Susan 2018 Indigenous Prosperity and American Conquest Indian Women of the Ohio River Valley 1690 1792 Omohundro Institute of Early American History and Culture University of North Carolina Press ISBN 978 1 4696 4058 7 Border States in the Civil War CivilWarHome com February 15 2002 Retrieved November 29 2006 Ordinances of Secession Historical Text Archive Archived from the original on November 23 2010 Retrieved November 29 2006 Civil War Sites Bowling Green KY WMTH Corporation Retrieved November 29 2006 KRS 2 110 Public Holidays PDF Kentucky General Assembly Retrieved November 29 2006 Tony Hiss Confederates in the Attic The Old State Capitol Kentucky Historical Society Archived from the original on August 27 2007 Retrieved September 9 2007 Lochte Kate Markgraf Matt September 22 2014 Understanding the Black Patch Tobacco War of West Kentucky and Tennessee WKMS Retrieved May 6 2016 Listing of B 52 crashes since 1957 KSLA News Channel 12 Frederick C Mish 2003 Merriam Webster s Collegiate Dictionary 11th ed Merriam Webster p 1562 ISBN 978 0 87779 809 5 Retrieved January 17 2013 The North American Midwest A Regional Geography New York Wiley Publishers 1955 Map of 1494 1557 Waterworks Rd Evansville IN Retrieved January 1 2009 Exclaves Virginia Quarterly Review 89 4 22 23 October 1 2013 ISSN 0042 675X Life on the Mississippi Kentucky Educational Television January 28 2002 Archived from the original on February 13 2007 Retrieved November 29 2006 Peterson Adam August 18 2016 English Koppen climate types of the United States retrieved March 4 2019 The Geography of Kentucky Climate NetState com June 15 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Geographical Configuration Encyclopedia of Kentucky New York Somerset Publishers 1987 ISBN 978 0 403 09981 8 Klotter James C and Freda C 2015 Faces of Kentucky University Press of Kentucky Page 53 ISBN 9780813160528 AV2 by Weigl 2008 Discover America Kentucky The Bluegrass State Encyclopaedia Britannica Inc Page 8 ISBN 9781593397630 Jones Ronald 2005 Plant Life of Kentucky An Illustrated Guide to the Vascular Flora University Press of Kentucky Page 11 ISBN 9780813123318 Lexington KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group Louisville KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group Owensboro KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group Paducah KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group Pikeville KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group Ashland KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group Bowling Green KY Detailed climate information and monthly weather forecast Weather Atlas Yu Media Group John Denman 2004 in Review for Central Kentucky and South Central Indiana PDF weather gov Retrieved July 16 2018 US Dept of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service December 22 2004 Snow Storm weather gov Retrieved July 16 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link US Dept of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service September 2006 was the wettest September on record at some locations PDF weather gov Retrieved July 16 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link US Dept of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service Ice and Snow Storm of January 28 29 2009 weather gov Retrieved July 16 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link US Dept of Commerce National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration National Weather Service Flash Flood of August 4 2009 weather gov Retrieved July 16 2018 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Corbin Kentucky A Fisherman s Paradise Corbin Kentucky Economic Development Archived from the original on June 26 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Kleber John E ed 1992 Rivers The Kentucky Encyclopedia Associate editors Thomas D Clark Lowell H Harrison and James C Klotter Lexington Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky p 774 ISBN 978 0 8131 1772 0 Retrieved February 18 2015 Kleber John E ed 1992 Lakes The Kentucky Encyclopedia Associate editors Thomas D Clark Lowell H Harrison and James C Klotter Lexington Kentucky The University Press of Kentucky p 531 ISBN 978 0 8131 1772 0 Retrieved February 18 2015 Tennessee Valley Authority The Kentucky Project A Comprehensive Report on the Planning Design Construction and Initial Operations of the Kentucky Project Technical Report No 13 Washington D C U S Government Printing Office 1951 pp 1 12 68 115 116 509 Thompson George E 2009 You Live Where Interesting and Unusual Facts about where We Live iUniverse p 39 ISBN 9781440134210 Elk Restoration Update and Hunting Information Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources Archived from the original on September 26 2006 Retrieved December 9 2006 Pearce Tom March 27 1994 Once nearly extinct turkeys gobbling throughout state Bowling Green Daily News Retrieved May 15 2016 Hunters Take Record Number of Spring Turkey Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Service Archived from the original on January 17 2013 Retrieved January 17 2013 Wolf Week Spotlight The Endangered Red Wolf Land Between the Lakes October 6 2015 Retrieved November 30 2020 Cumberland Falls State Resort Park Kentucky Department of Parks October 19 2005 Archived from the original on October 5 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Mammoth Cave National Park National Park Service October 12 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Science in Your Backyard Kentucky United States Geological Survey Retrieved November 29 2006 Bad Branch State Nature Preserve Kentucky State Nature Preserves Commission Archived from the original on October 24 2006 Retrieved November 29 2006 Jefferson Memorial Forest Retrieved November 29 2006 The Grand Canyon of the South Is Right Here in Virginia And It s Breathtaking OnlyInYourState Retrieved February 16 2017 Kentucky Counties University of Kentucky Biggest US Cities By Population Kentucky 2017 Populations City Population February 21 2019 Retrieved February 21 2019 Kentucky State Data Center Ksdc louisville edu Archived from the original on August 28 2008 Retrieved August 4 2009 Kentucky population Archived from the original on January 22 2012 Historical Population Change Data 1910 2020 Census gov United States Census Bureau Archived from the original on April 29 2021 Retrieved May 1 2021 a b QuickFacts Kentucky UNITED STATES 2018 Population Estimates United States Census Bureau Population Division February 21 2019 Retrieved February 21 2019 Price Michael Migration in Kentucky Will the Circle Be Unbroken Exploring the Frontier of the Future How Kentucky Will Live Learn and Work University of Louisville pp 5 10 Archived from the original on March 27 2009 Retrieved April 30 2007 Population and Population Centers by State 2000 U S Census Bureau Archived from the original TXT on February 23 2010 Retrieved December 27 2006 Race and Ethnicity in the United States 2010 Census and 2020 Census census gov United States Census Bureau August 12 2021 Retrieved September 26 2021 Campbell Gibson and Kay Jung September 2002 Historical Census Statistics on Population Totals By Race 1790 to 1990 and By Hispanic Origin 1970 to 1990 For The United States Regions Divisions and States census gov Archived from the original on December 24 2014 Office US Census Bureau Public Information Census 2000 data for Kentucky www census gov Archived from the original on January 18 2017 Retrieved January 14 2017 2010 Census Data Census gov Retrieved February 24 2015 Population estimates July 1 2015 V2015 www census gov Retrieved June 25 2016 Data Access and Dissemination Systems DADS U S Census website census gov Ancestry of the Population by State 1980 Table 3 PDF Census gov Retrieved July 25 2015 Sharing the Dream White Males in a Multicultural America By Dominic J Pulera Reynolds Farley The New Census Question about Ancestry What Did It Tell Us Demography Vol 28 No 3 August 1991 pp 414 421 Stanley Lieberson and Lawrence Santi The Use of Nativity Data to Estimate Ethnic Characteristics and Patterns Social Science Research Vol 14 No 1 1985 pp 44 6 Lieberson Stanley amp Waters Mary C 1986 Ethnic Groups in Flux The Changing Ethnic Responses of American Whites Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science 487 79 82 86 doi 10 1177 0002716286487001004 S2CID 60711423 American FactFinder U S Census Archived from the original on February 12 2020 Retrieved August 7 2014 American FactFinder U S Census Archived from the original on February 12 2020 Retrieved August 7 2014 a b James Paul Allen and Eugene James Turner We the People An Atlas of America s Ethnic Diversity Macmillan 1988 41 State Recognized Tribes National Conference of State Legislatures Archived from the original on January 6 2022 Retrieved April 6 2017 Bureau US Census Race and Ethnicity in the United States 2010 Census and 2020 Census Census gov U S Census Bureau Retrieved September 23 2022 a b c d Kentucky Languages city data com Retrieved February 24 2015 Religion in America U S Religious Data Demographics and Statistics Pew Research Center The Association of Religion Data Archives State Membership Report www thearda com Archived from the original on January 13 2014 Retrieved November 15 2013 Muslims in Louisville Irfi org Retrieved December 7 2011 Scanlon Leslie Festival to Showcase Religious Diversity The Courier Journal November 14 1996 p 1 2007 Rankings of States and Counties bamabeef org Archived from the original on May 4 2006 Retrieved May 1 2007 a b c d e f g Eblin Tom December 27 2015 Year in Kentucky business saw Toyota expand bourbon boom coal decline Lexington Herald Leader Retrieved January 3 2016 Utah Geological Survey U S Coal Production by State 1994 2009 PDF Archived from the original PDF on November 3 2010 Retrieved December 7 2011 Associated Press Bourbon Tennessee Whiskey Sales Up in US Exports Top 1B February 3 2015 Best Driving Vacations Kentucky Bourbon Trail March 19 2019 Snchez Francisco J March 15 2013 Ky one of fastest growing states in exporting products Op Ed Kentucky com Retrieved July 10 2013 Maker of hair care products to expand in Kentucky Businessweek Archived from the original on June 3 2013 Retrieved July 10 2013 Business First May 27 2010 Human resource center opens at Fort Knox Louisville bizjournals com Retrieved November 28 2012 a href Template Cite news html title Template Cite news cite news a author has generic name help Gross Domestic Product All Industry Total in Kentucky KYNGSP FRED St Louis Fed Fred stlouisfed org Retrieved January 27 2022 QuickFacts Kentucky Retrieved September 22 2019 State Data Lab Snapshot by the Numbers Kentucky January 2013 Retrieved April 3 2013 Education and Workforce Development Cabinet Releases November 2022 Unemployment Report Retrieved January 6 2023 CNBC America s cheapest states to live in 2014 CNBC com Retrieved November 19 2015 Welcome Department of Revenue revenue ky gov Kentucky Income Tax Rates salary com Archived from the original on June 10 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 Sales amp Use Tax Kentucky Department of Revenue Archived from the original on April 20 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 Property Tax Kentucky Department of Revenue Archived from the original on April 3 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 State Taxes Kentucky Overview bankrate com Archived from the original on April 8 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 Text of the House Bill 272 State of Kentucky Retrieved August 10 2007 a b Kentucky frowns on smiley license plates NBC News July 16 2005 Retrieved July 10 2013 Unbridled Spirit Information State of Kentucky Archived from the original on June 1 2008 Retrieved May 1 2007 Branding campaign puts Kentucky in step with national trend Louisville Louisville Business First Louisville Business First Retrieved November 27 2015 Unbridled Spirit Wins Kentucky Slogan Vote The New York Times December 2 2004 Louisville KY s Urban Bourbon Trail UBT BourbonCounty com Archived from the original on February 19 2015 Retrieved July 2 2022 Kentucky Tourism says visitor spending rose to 7 6 billion in 2018 Itinerary Northern Kentucky Biblical Wonders Retrieved September 20 2020 Answers in Genesis Retrieved September 20 2020 Second Highest Derby Attendance Handle bloodhorse com May 7 2016 Retrieved August 9 2021 Warren Katie What it s like going to the Super Bowl of horse sales where royals and millionaires bid on horses they hope might be the next Kentucky Derby winner Business Insider Home Kentucky Horse Park Postsecondary Education Improvement Act of 1997 State of Kentucky Retrieved May 1 2007 Berea College Learning Labor and Service Diversity Web Archived from the original on July 5 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 Berea College v Kentucky Brownat50 org Archived from the original on December 27 2011 Retrieved December 7 2011 Kentucky s Schools and Districts Kentucky Department of Education Archived from the original on March 2 2007 Retrieved June 6 2012 Kentucky Education Facts Kentucky Department of Education Archived from the original on April 20 2012 Retrieved June 15 2012 A Guide to the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 Education Resources Information Center Archived from the original on October 11 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 Abstract of A Guide to the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 provided by Education Resources Information Center ERIC Roeder Phillip Education Reform and Equitable Excellence The Kentucky Experiment Archived from the original on December 7 2008 Retrieved May 1 2007 At least 4 Kentucky school districts close amid protests Associated Press March 7 2019 Stinnett Chuck Fletcher Tolls to end November 22 Archived from the original on October 8 2006 Retrieved May 1 2007 Stinnett Chuck November 22 2006 Onlookers Cheer Booth Destruction at Ceremony Courier Press Retrieved August 10 2007 Steitzer Stephanie June 26 2007 Many new laws go on books today Courier Journal Railroad Service in Kentucky Association of American Railroads Archived from the original PDF on January 17 2013 Retrieved May 1 2007 Also Norfolk Southern s main north south line runs through central and southern Kentucky starting in Cincinnati Formerly the CNO amp TP subsidiary of Southern Railway it is NS s most profitable line Knight Andy On the Right Track Kentucky Dinner Train serves up railroad nostalgia Cincinnati com Archived from the original on April 10 2007 Retrieved May 1 2007 Kentucky Railway Museum Retrieved May 1 2007 Shafer Sheldon March 5 2007 Bridges money may be shifted Courier Journal Crowley Patrick April 23 2003 Meet the Purple People Bridge Cincinnati Enquirer Retrieved May 1 2007 Fast Facts Louisville International Airport Archived from the original on September 20 2012 Retrieved September 11 2007 Crash Kills 49 November 5 2006 Archived from the original on November 5 2006 Retrieved December 7 2011 Comair Crash Survivor Leaves Hospital CBS October 3 2006 Retrieved May 1 2007 Top 20 Inland U S Ports for 2003 PDF Archived from the original PDF on August 25 2009 Retrieved December 7 2011 CY 2001 Tonnage for Selected U S Ports by Port Tons May 2 2010 Archived from the original on May 2 2010 Retrieved December 7 2011 The Commonwealth of Kentucky Kentucky Atlas amp Gazetteer University of Kentucky website United States Congress September 2014 Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America Statutes at Large 1st Congress p 189 Retrieved June 4 2017 Kentucky HISTORY Retrieved June 23 2021 Butler Mann A History of the Commonwealth of Kentucky Wilcox Dickerman amp Co 1834 Beshear set for next chapter as Bevin concedes in Kentucky AP NEWS November 14 2019 Matt Bevin concedes defeat in Kentucky governor s race The Washington Post Organizational Charts Kentucky Personnel Kentucky Personnel Cabinet Retrieved December 23 2020 Clinger James C Hail Michael W eds October 8 2013 Kentucky Government Politics and Public Policy Lexington Kentucky University Press of Kentucky p 70 ISBN 978 0 8131 4315 6 By 1972 Governor Wendell Ford found himself in a situation similar to that of Governor Chandler thirty six years earlier At this time the executive branch had grown to over 60 departments and agencies and 210 boards and commissions falling under the jurisdiction of the governor Governor Ford issued a reorganization report creating six cabinet departments and a framework for an executive branch that would be more manageable and accountable As of 2012 this has grown to eleven cabinet departments with three additional cabinet rank members under the office of Governor Beshear Each cabinet agency is headed by a secretary who serves at the will of the governor Shaw Courtney November 6 2017 Representative Jeff Hoover resigns as Speaker of the House WLKY Retrieved September 22 2018 Boyd Gordon January 3 2017 Jeff Hoover becomes Kentucky s first Republican House Speaker in 96 years WAVE Retrieved January 21 2017 Kentucky Court of Justice Home Retrieved January 21 2017 Adult Drug Court Kentucky Drug Court Saving Costs Saving Lives Retrieved January 21 2017 Family Court Retrieved January 21 2017 Reviser of Statutes Office History and Functions Kentucky Legislative Research Commission Retrieved December 27 2006 History of the DOCJT Kentucky Department of Criminal Justice Archived from the original on March 23 2006 Retrieved December 27 2006 History of the Kentucky State Police Kentucky State Police Archived from the original on December 6 2006 Retrieved December 27 2006 Authorized Methods of Execution by State Death Penalty Information Center Retrieved December 28 2006 Long Paul A June 11 2001 The Last Public Execution in America The Kentucky Post Archived from the original on January 17 2006 Retrieved December 27 2006 Montagne Renee May 1 2001 The Last Public Execution in America NPR Retrieved December 27 2006 McCreary County v ACLU of Kentucky Cornell University Law School Archived from the original on June 16 2009 Retrieved December 27 2006 Text of decision in ACLU of Kentucky v Mercer County PDF Retrieved December 27 2006 Liptak Adam March 11 2008 Around the U S High Courts Follow California s Lead The New York Times Leip David Presidential General Election Results Comparison Kentucky US Election Atlas Retrieved December 31 2009 Election Statistics Registration Statistics PDF elect ky gov Retrieved January 19 2022 2012 Kentucky Presidential Results POLITICO Retrieved June 25 2016 POLITICO 2012 Election Results Map by State Live Voting Updates POLITICO Retrieved June 25 2016 Religion in America U S Religious Data Demographics and Statistics Pew Research Center s Religion amp Public Life Project Retrieved April 17 2021 J Pomante II Michael Li Quan December 15 2020 Cost of Voting in the American States 2020 Election Law Journal Rules Politics and Policy 19 4 503 509 doi 10 1089 elj 2020 0666 S2CID 225139517 Retrieved January 14 2022 Registration Statistics Kentucky State Board of Elections January 2022 Brittingham Angela amp de la Cruz G Patricia June 2004 Ancestry 2000 Census 2000 Brief PDF United States Census Bureau Archived from the original PDF on September 20 2004 Retrieved June 28 2007 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint multiple names authors list link Kentucky s German Americans in the Civil War Kygermanscw yolasite com Retrieved July 2 2010 2000 Census Percent Reporting Any German Ancestry Archived from the original on September 26 2007 Retrieved July 20 2007 Beale Calvin July 21 2004 High Poverty in the Rural U S and South Progress and Persistence in the 1990s Archived from the original PowerPoint on June 26 2007 Retrieved June 28 2007 Womack Veronica L July 23 2004 The American Black Belt Region A Forgotten Place Archived from the original PowerPoint on June 26 2007 Retrieved June 28 2007 Unknown Identifying the Black Belt of Cash Crop Production Bowdoin College Archived from the original JPEG Image on June 28 2007 Retrieved June 28 2007 Desegregation of UK ExploreKYHistory ExploreKYHistory Chicago Tribune January 26 1966 Kentucky OK s Rights Bill 1st in South Kentucky yesterday became the first state south of the Mason Dixon line to adopt a civil rights measure With only one dissenting vote the state Senate approval a bill outlawing racial discrimination in public accommodations and employment that is stronger than the federal act of 1964 It sailed through the House 76 to 12 last week A milder bill had failed to get out of committee in 1964 Governor Edward T Breathitt said he would sign the measure tomorrow at the base of Abraham Lincoln s status in the capitol rotunda Derby Festival Home Page Retrieved May 13 2011 Kentucky State Fair Retrieved December 25 2006 Kentucky Shakespeare Festival Home Page Retrieved December 25 2006 National Corvette Museum press release Archived from the original on December 27 2007 Retrieved December 25 2006 National Corvette Museum Home Page Retrieved December 25 2006 Home Page of the International Barbecue Festival Retrieved December 25 2006 Stately Mansions Grace Old Louisville The Atlanta Journal Constitution Archived from the original on April 22 2006 Retrieved December 25 2006 St James Court Art Show Home Page Retrieved December 25 2006 The Heart Line PDF Kentucky Commission on Community Volunteerism and Service Archived from the original PDF on September 26 2006 Retrieved December 25 2006 Old Louisville and Literature Archived from the original on December 24 2006 Retrieved December 25 2006 Kentucky Bourbon Festival Home Page Retrieved December 25 2006 Glasgow Kentucky Highland Games Home Page Retrieved December 25 2006 Little Sturgis Rally Home Page Archived from the original on December 23 2006 Retrieved December 25 2006 HOME Beer Cheese Festival Young Brown Fiona April 1 2014 A Culinary History of Kentucky Burgoo Beer Cheese and Goetta ISBN 9781625847478 Tater Day Festival A Local Legacy Archived from the original on December 27 2006 Retrieved December 25 2006 Clarkson Honeyfest home page Archived from the original on May 13 2008 Retrieved May 12 2007 Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame amp Museum Archived from the original on May 2 2009 Retrieved November 30 2006 Festival of the Bluegrass Home Page Retrieved November 30 2006 Voce Steve September 2 2002 Obituary Lionel Hampton The Independent Archived from the original on July 30 2013 Retrieved June 3 2007 Shteamer Hank September 27 2018 Will Oldham My Life in 15 Songs Rolling Stone Retrieved June 2 2020 Southern Recipes Southern Food and Recipes Southernfood about com June 17 2009 Retrieved August 4 2009 International Institute of Culinary Arts Archived from the original on January 6 2008 Hot Brown Recipe Brown Hotel Archived from the original on August 23 2007 Retrieved December 18 2006 Henetz Patty Nii Jenifer K April 21 2004 Colonel s landmark KFC is mashed Deseret News Retrieved January 14 2017 About the camp Georgetown College Archived from the original on December 5 2006 Retrieved December 18 2006 The college basketball teams with the most national championships NCAA com www ncaa com Retrieved August 21 2020 Grundhauser Eric November 8 2017 You Can t Be Knighted in the U S But You Can Be Named a Sagamore of the Wabash Atlas Obscura Retrieved January 20 2020 Bibliography EditPolitics Edit Miller Penny M Kentucky Politics amp Government Do We Stand United 1994 Jewell Malcolm E and Everett W Cunningham Kentucky Politics 1968 History Edit Surveys and reference Edit Bodley Temple and Samuel M Wilson History of Kentucky 4 vols 1928 Caudill Harry M Night Comes to the Cumberlands 1963 ISBN 0 316 13212 8 Channing Steven Kentucky A Bicentennial History 1977 Clark Thomas Dionysius A History of Kentucky many editions 1937 1992 Collins Lewis History of Kentucky 1880 Gunther John 1947 Romance and Reality in Kentucky Inside U S A New York London Harper amp Brothers pp 640 652 Harrison Lowell H and James C Klotter A New History of Kentucky 1997 Kleber John E et al The Kentucky Encyclopedia 1992 standard reference history ISBN 0 8131 1772 0 Klotter James C Our Kentucky A Study of the Bluegrass State 2000 high school text Lucas Marion Brunson and Wright George C A History of Blacks in Kentucky 2 vols 1992 World Wide Web Resources Notable Kentucky African Americans Share Allen J Cities in the Commonwealth Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky 1982 Wallis Frederick A and Hambleton Tapp A Sesqui Centennial History of Kentucky 4 vols 1945 Ward William S A Literary History of Kentucky 1988 ISBN 0 87049 578 X WPA Kentucky A Guide to the Bluegrass State 1939 classic guide Yater George H 1987 Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio A History of Louisville and Jefferson County 2nd ed Filson Club Incorporated ISBN 978 0 9601072 3 0 Specialized scholarly studies Edit Bakeless John Daniel Boone Master of the Wilderness 1989 Blakey George T Hard Times and New Deal in Kentucky 1929 1939 1986 Coulter E Merton The Civil War and Readjustment in Kentucky 1926 Davis Alice Heroes Kentucky s Artists from Statehood to the New Millennium 2004 Ellis William E The Kentucky River 2000 Faragher John Mack Daniel Boone 1993 Fenton John H Politics in the Border States A Study of the Patterns of Political Organization and Political Change Common to the Border States Maryland West Virginia Kentucky and Missouri 1957 Harlow Luke E Religion Race and the Making of Confederate Kentucky 1830 1880 New York Cambridge University Press 2014 Ireland Robert M The County in Kentucky History 1976 Klotter James C Harrison Lowell Ramage James Roland Charles Taylor Richard Bush Bryan S Fugate Tom Hibbs Dixie Matthews Lisa Moody Robert C Myers Marshall Sanders Stuart McBride Stephen 2005 Rose Jerlene ed Kentucky s Civil War 1861 1865 Clay City Kentucky Back Home in Kentucky Inc ISBN 978 0 9769231 1 4 Kelly Andrew Ed Kentucky by Design The Decorative Arts and American Culture Lexington University Press of Kentucky 2015 ISBN 978 0 8131 5567 8 Klotter James C Kentucky Portrait in Paradox 1900 1950 1992 Pearce John Ed Divide and Dissent Kentucky Politics 1930 1963 1987 Remini Robert V Henry Clay Statesman for the Union 1991 Sonne Niels Henry Liberal Kentucky 1780 1828 1939 Tapp Hambleton and James C Klotter Kentucky Decades of Discord 1865 1900 1977 Townsend William H Lincoln and the Bluegrass Slavery and Civil War in Kentucky 1955 Waldrep Christopher Night Riders Defending Community in the Black Patch 1890 1915 1993 tobacco warsExternal links EditKentucky at Wikipedia s sister projects Definitions from Wiktionary span, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
