State to only 115 days (1900). In 1900-01 there were 4071 male and 3829 female white teachers, and 451 male and 706 female colored teachers in the State. The average salary received by white teachers is $34.10, and that of colored teachers $29.95. The State laws make it possible, by the passing of certain examinations, to secure a diploma permitting the holder to teach for life, or to secure a certificate which holds for eight years. Three grades of county certificates are also granted. The State maintains a normal training school at Corinth, and there are also a number of private normal schools. An agricultural and mechanical college is supported by the State at Lexington. Higher education is also afforded through the agency of a large number of private and denominational colleges and universities. There is a State normal and industrial institution for colored pupils at Frankfort. For the year ending in June, 1901, the total receipts of the State for educational purposes amounted to $1,991,754, of which $1,483,240 came from the State treasury. The disbursements for the same year amounted to $1,878,954. The per capita cost, based upon average attendance, was $6.49 for white and $7.44 for colored pupils.
Charitable and Penal Institutions. The State maintains an institution for the education of the blind at Louisville, but only about 30 per cent. (150) of the blind children of the State between the ages of six and sixteen are in attendance. There is a State school for deaf mutes at Danville, with an attendance in 1901 of 356. An institution for the education and training of feeble-minded children is maintained at Frankfort; but the services rendered by this institution are seriously curtailed by the limitation of the age period of those in attendance to six to eighteen, and the requirement that the child must have sufficient strength of body and mind to receive a degree of education. There are State insane asylums at Lexington, Hopkinsville, and Anchorage. The State prisons are located at Frankfort and Eddyville.
History. Kentucky was originally a portion of Fincastle County, Va., and was first visited by Dr. Thomas Walker in 1750. Frequent visits followed after 1765, a notable one of these being an exploring expedition made by John Finley and a few companions from North Carolina in 1767. Two years later Daniel Boone and five companions from the Yadkin settlements came to eastern Kentucky, but it was not until 1774 that the first effort to plant a colony was undertaken. In June of that year James Harrod and forty associates from the Monongahela country made the first permanent settlement in Kentucky. It was located in what is now Mercer County, and was given the name of Harrodsburg. In 1775 Daniel Boone planted a settlement to which he gave the name of Boonesborough. The favorable land policy of Virginia encouraged immigration to the new country, but the settlers soon found themselves in a life and death struggle with the Indians, who claimed the land. In 1774 a Virginian force administered a crushing defeat to the Northwestern Indians at Point Pleasant (q.v.), and forced them to cede their claims to their Kentucky lands, and to retire beyond the Ohio. In the same year Daniel Boone concluded a treaty with the Cherokees at Wataga by which they sold for 10,000 pounds sterling their flimsy claim to the lands between the Ohio and Cumberland rivers, and west and south of the Kentucky river (amounting to 17,000,000 acres, or about one-half the present area of the State) to Richard Henderson and his associates, who styled themselves the ‘Transylvania Company.’ Virginia claimed the territory in question and refused to recognize the validity of the sale, but the Legislature consented in 1778 to give the company a title to 200,000 acres, and to confirm the sales already made to innocent purchasers.
In May, 1775, the first effort at State building was begun. At the call of Colonel Henderson a convention met at Boonesborough and adopted a code of nine laws for the government of the self-constituted Commonwealth, but its work was disallowed by the Legislature of Virginia. The following year, by act of the Legislature, the new country was separated from Fincastle County, and organized under the name of Kentucky County with Harrodsburg as the county-seat, and with separate representatives in the Virginia Legislature. Meantime struggles with the Indians were almost constantly occurring. In 1782 a desperate battle was fought at the Blue Lick Springs, resulting in the defeat of the whites and the death of over sixty of their men (about one-tenth of the fighting population), among the number being some of the most prominent leaders in Kentucky. By this time agitation for separation from Virginia and independent State government was well under way. There were now three counties in Kentucky, and an estimated population of 30,000 inhabitants. In 1784 an informal convention was held at Danville to discuss the question of separation. It was followed by a more regular convention in May, 1785, and a third in August of the same year, both being held at Danville. A petition for separation was sent to the Virginia Legislature, and it was promptly and favorably acted upon, the only condition being ratification by a fourth convention, and the consent of the Congress of the Confederation. In 1787 the fourth convention met to accept the conditions, when the information came that the Legislature had repealed its act to allow separation. This action caused great chagrin among the settlers, and led to threats of secession. The discontent was increased by a rumor that the United States had agreed to surrender to Spain the right of navigating the Mississippi River in return for other advantages in which Kentucky would have no share. The intrigues of Spain through the promise of special commercial advantages to induce Kentucky to set up an independent government caused but a trifling flurry. The inhabitants in general stood firmly by the American Union. In November, 1787, a fifth convention met at Danville to discuss the situation. Meantime a third act of separation was passed. The conditions of this act were such that they were rejected by a sixth convention. Finally a fourth act was passed and a seventh convention met at Danville in July, 1790, and accepted the conditions. By an act of February 1, 1791, Congress agreed to admit Kentucky to the Union June 1, 1792.
In April, 1792, a ninth convention met at Danville and adopted a constitution of government; Isaac Shelby was chosen as the first Governor; and, after a spirited struggle, Frankfort was chosen as the capital. In July, 1790, a new constitution was adopted which made the Governor
