Elizabethtown Kentucky
Elizabethtown dates back to 1797 when Colonel Andrew Hynes, Colonel
Samuel Haycraft, and Captain Thomas Helm, settled the area between The
Ohio, and Green Rivers. The constructed block houses to defend against
Indian attack. Built one mile apart, the three forts formed a triangle
that is present day Elizabethtown. The protection of the forts brought
more settlers. Colonel John Hardin surveyed a 30 acre into lots, and
laid out streets to establish the town. The county seat of Hardin
County, Elizabethtown was named for Colonel Hynes wife Elizabeth. The
Elizabethtown Post Office opened for business in 1804.
Abraham Lincoln’s Father Thomas lived in Elizabethtown prior to the
future president being born, and resettled in the area, with his new
wife and his children returning from Indiana after his wife died in
1818.
The Louisville and Nashville Railroad laid tracks through Elizabethtown
in 1854, bringing growth and prosperity with it. The town was a
strategic stop along the rail line during the Civil War. Confederate
General John Morgan Hunt’s artillery attack on Union Troops was launched
from the high ground at Elizabethtown City Cemetery. The artillery fire
was directed into the downtown area. According to legend a cannon ball
from the battle is still embedded in the wall of a building on the
Public Square today.
General George Armstrong Custer’s Seventh Cavalry and a battalion of the
Fourth Infantry were stationed in Elizabethtown to break up illegal
distilleries and Ku Klux Klan suppress activities. Custer and his wife
Elizabeth lived in a cottage behind Aunt Beck Hill’s Boarding House, now
known as the Brown-Pusey House.
Today Elizabethtown has about 20,000 residents. The town has a very good
manufacturing base, providing good jobs in the area. Like many towns in
Kentucky, Elizabethtown aggressively pursues industry with incentives,
and low operating costs for industry.
Area attractions include Freeman Lake Park, The Brown-Pusey House, The
Schmidt museum of Coca Cola Memorabilia, summer walking tours of the
downtown area, and many festivals throughout the year such as the
Heartland Festival, Vine Grove Bluegrass Festival, and the Autumn Days
Festival and Parade.
Elizabethtown’s most recent claim to fame was the 2005 movie
Elizabethtown, written and directed by Cameron Crow. Elizabethtown
served as a backdrop for the romantic comedy that put the town on the
map, and gave some residents their fifteen minutes of fame.
Author Ron Stemple
Copyright 2006, Ron Dowell |
