Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition/Frankfort (1.)

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1827902Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition — Frankfort (1.)

FRANKFORT, a city of the United States, capital of Franklin county and of the State of Kentucky, is picturesquely situated on both sides of the Kentucky river, on a space of elevated ground bounded by a bluff 150 feet high. It is distant 29 miles W.N.W. from Lexington, and 65 miles E. from Louisville, by rail. The river is crossed at Frankfort by two bridges, and that portion of the town lying on the south side of the river is known as South Frankfort. The principal buildings are the State house, a marble building with a handsome portico supported by Ionic columns, the institution for imbecile children, the State penitentiary, the county court-house, and the public hall. The beautiful cemetery contains the remains of Daniel Boone, the pioneer of Kentucky, who died September 20, 1820. Frankfort has distilleries and flour and cotton mills, and a considerable trade in lumber. The river is navigable for steamers 40 miles above the city. Frankfort was laid out in 1787, and became the capital of the State in 1792. In 1862 it was occupied for a short time by the Confederates. The population in 1860 was 3702, and in 1870, 5396, of whom 2335 were coloured.