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The Kentucky Portal

Kentucky (US: /kənˈtʌki/ ^ⓘ, UK: /kɛn-/), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked state in the Southeastern region of the United States. 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 most populous city is Louisville. As of 2024, the state's population was approximately 4.6 million.

Previously a part of colonial Virginia, Kentucky was admitted into the Union as the fifteenth state on June 1, 1792. It is known as the "Bluegrass State" in reference to Kentucky bluegrass, a species of grass introduced by European settlers, which has long supported the state's thoroughbred horse industry.

The fertile soil in the central and western parts of the state led to the development of large tobacco plantations similar to those in Virginia and North Carolina, which utilized slave labor prior to the passage of the Thirteenth Amendment. Kentucky ranks fifth nationally in goat farming, eighth in beef cattle production, and fourteenth in corn production. While Kentucky has been a long-standing center for the tobacco industry, its economy has diversified into non-agricultural sectors including auto manufacturing, energy production, and medicine. Kentucky ranks fourth among US states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled. It is one of several states considered part of the Upland South. (Full article...)

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John LaRue Helm (July 4, 1802 – September 8, 1867) was the 18th and 24th governor of Kentucky, although his service in that office totaled less than fourteen months. He also represented Hardin County in both houses of the Kentucky General Assembly and was chosen to be the Speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives four times. In 1838, his sole bid for federal office ended in defeat when his opponent, Willis Green, was elected to the U.S. House of Representatives.

Helm was first elected to the Kentucky House of Representatives in 1826; between 1826 and 1843 he served eleven one-year terms in the state house. In 1844, he was elected to the state senate, where he served continuously until he was chosen as the Whig Party nominee for lieutenant governor on a ticket with John J. Crittenden, famous for the Crittenden Compromise. The Whigs won the general election and Helm was elevated to governor on July 31, 1850, when Crittenden resigned to accept an appointment as United States Attorney General in President Millard Fillmore's cabinet. After his service as governor Helm became president of the struggling Louisville and Nashville Railroad. He invested thousands of dollars of his own money in the project and convinced residents along the line's main route to buy stock in the company. In 1859, the line was completed, but the next year Helm resigned over differences with the board of directors regarding a proposed branch that would extend the line to Memphis, Tennessee. (Full article...)

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Location in Kentucky

Big Bone Lick State Park is located at Big Bone in Boone County, Kentucky. The name of the park comes from the Pleistocene megafauna fossils found there. Mammoths are believed to have been drawn to this location by a salt lick deposited around the sulfur springs. Other animals including forms of bison, caribou, deer, elk, horse, mastodon, musk ox, peccary, ground sloths, wolves, black bears, stag moose, saber-toothed cats, and possibly tapir also grazed the vegetation and salty earth around the springs that the animals relied on for their diet. The majority of fossils found in the area have been dated to the Wisconsin Glacial Period (c. 115,000 – c. 11,700 years ago). Human burials and other signs of human habitation have also been uncovered. (Full article...)

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The following are images from various Kentucky-related articles on Wikipedia.

Image 1A barge hauling coal in the Louisville and Portland Canal, the only manmade section of the Ohio River (from Transportation in Kentucky)
Image 2High Bridge over the Kentucky River was the tallest rail bridge in the world when it was completed in 1877. (from Transportation in Kentucky)
Image 3Mississippian culture pottery from the Wickliffe Mounds site in western Kentucky, including a human effigy pot. (from History of Kentucky)
Image 4Battle of Point Pleasant (from History of Kentucky)
Image 5Artist's conception of Annis Mound and Village, a Mississippian site in Butler County, c. 1250–1300 CE (from History of Kentucky)
Image 6Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap by George Caleb Bingham (from History of Kentucky)
Image 7James Pierce Barton's Kentucky Landscape (1832) (from History of Kentucky)
Image 8Old Louisville is the largest Victorian Historic neighborhood in the United States. (from Culture of Kentucky)
Image 9Map of the polity centered at the Angel Mounds site. (from History of Kentucky)
Image 10Mount Horeb Site 1, an Adena culture causewayed ring ditch and timber circle located in Fayette County (from History of Kentucky)
Image 11Biggs Site, also known as the Portsmouth Earthworks Group D, an Adena culture archaeological site located Greenup County (from History of Kentucky)
Image 12An 1800 Low's Encyclopaedia map of Kentucky and surrounding region did not include southwestern Kentucky and West Tennessee, which were held by the Chickasaw until 1818. (from History of Kentucky)
Image 13At 464 miles (747 km) long, Kentucky Route 80 is the longest route in Kentucky, pictured here west of Somerset. (from Transportation in Kentucky)
Image 14Map of Kentucky published in 1784 with John Filson's The Discovery, Settlement and Present State of Kentucke (from History of Kentucky)
Image 15The Native American Crab Orchard culture existed in western Kentucky and southern Indiana from c. 200 BCE to 500 CE. (from History of Kentucky)

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... that Joseph Bosworth was the last Republican speaker of the Kentucky House of Representatives until the election of Jeff Hoover in 2017?
... that Spencer Cobb was a Kentucky senator for three and a half hours?
... that a Kentucky TV station gained industry attention after it criticized the overuse of the term "breaking news"?
... that a British steam locomotive sat at a logistics center in Kentucky for more than a decade?
... that country music singer Waylon Jennings earned his GED by watching tapes of a Kentucky Educational Television series on his tour bus?
... that Holy Cross Church in Kentucky was built on land donated by the namesake of a brand of whiskey?

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National Register of Historic Places listings in Kentucky by county

Largest cities

See List of cities in Kentucky for a full list.

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