KY:Historical Society - Historical Marker Database

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Bethlehem Academy
(Marker Number: 1740)

County: Hardin
Location: In front of Bethlehem Academy, KY 1357

Description: Sisters of Loretto began girls' school here in 1830; the official contract made, 1831. John L. Helm, twice gov. of Ky., sold 580 acres for $2,240 to Rev. Chas. J. Cecil. Sisters used Helm mansion as main building; wings added ca. 1848. With facilities for 75 boarding and 25 day students, Academy had grade through high school levels. Closed 1959; mansion restored in 1981.

(Subjects: Catholic Church | Schools)

Bond-Washington School
(Marker Number: 2049)

County: Hardin
Location: 1/2 mi. SE of Elizabethtown, Cemetery Park

Description: This site purchased in 1869 by the trustees of the African School of Elizabethtown. It was the location of District A School from 1888-1923, when East Side High School was built with aid from the local African American community and the Rosenwald fund. Renamed Bond-Washington Graded and High School, 1928. Served as high school until 1956; elementary school until 1959.

(Reverse) Julius Rosenwald Fund - Funded in 1917 by Booker T. Washington's Tuskegee Institute and Julius Rosenwald, a Jewish businessman, philanthropist, and president of Sears, Roebuck and Co. Fund provided for construction of 158 schools in Ky. between 1917 and 1932 to offer quality education to African Americans. This led to education of over 500,000 students. Presented by City of Elizabethtown and the Ky. African American Heritage Commission.

(Subjects: African American | Schools)

Brown-Pusey House
(Marker Number: 1505)

County: Hardin
Location: 128 N. Main St., Elizabethtown, KY 61

Description: This Georgian mansion was built in 1825 by John Y. Hill. It is known as "Hill House" and as "Aunt Beck Hill's Boarding House." Jenny Lind sang here in 1851 and General George Armstrong Custer and wife boarded here, 1871-73. Doctors William Allen and Robert Brown Pusey gave the house to Elizabethtown in 1923 for a Community House and library.

Camp Knox
(Marker Number: 1869)

County: Hardin
Location: Chaffee Ave., near Main Gate, Fort Knox

Description: Established in 1918 as artillery range and named for Major General Henry Knox, who organized artillery during the Revolutionary War. Mechanized cavalry training began in 1931. Redesignated Fort Knox in January 1932. Armored Force established in 1940. Millions have trained here in cavalry and armor, serving in World War II, the Cold War, Korea, and Vietnam.

(Subjects: Camps | Fort Knox | Korean War | Revolutionary War | Vietnam War | World War II)

Captured and Burned
(Marker Number: 748)

County: Hardin
Location: 9 mi. S. of Elizabethtown, US 31-W

Description: On second Kentucky raid CSA Gen. J. H. Morgan's cavalry came from Glasgow to Hammonville, Dec. 25, 1862. Next day sent some to Bacon Creek and others to Nolin to take stockades and burn trestles, both places. At Nolin, two miles west, 76 Union men taken prisoners and paroled. Stockades and trestles burned both places. Railroad out of use for critical time. See map.

(Subjects: Civil War | Morgan, John Hunt)

Commodore Joshua Barney
(Marker Number: 1534)

County: Hardin
Location: 201 N. Main St., Elizabethtown, KY 61

Description: Famous American privateer and naval hero in War of 1812. Barney owned many acres of land in Hardin Co. A friend of George Washington, John Paul Jones and Napoleon Bonaparte. His greatest desire was to bring his family to Elizabethtown but he died en route, December 1, 1818. Buried, Pittsburgh. His wife came on to Elizabethtown and lived in this house a few years.

(Reverse) First Brick House - Site of Elizabethtown's first brick house, built 1801-1803 for Major Benjamin Helm. He was a prominent court clerk and town's first bank president. Helm rode horseback to Lexington, 90 miles, for nails. Sold the house and two acres of land to Joshua Barney, who wanted to end his days here. Later, home of Elizabethtown's historian, Samuel Haycraft.

(Subjects: War of 1812 | Washington, George)

Elizabethtown Battle
(Marker Number: 1116)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, at Cemetery, US 31-W, 62

Description: Confederate Gen. John Hunt Morgan on his second raid into Kentucky, with 3,900 men, was met by 652 Union troops under Lt. Col. H. S. Smith, Dec. 27, 1862. Object of raid was destruction of L&N R.R., main artery for USA troop movement south. Morgan surrounded town and placed artillery on the cemetery hill. Elizabethtown garrison was destroyed. Federals surrendered.

(Subjects: Civil War | Louisville and Nashville Railroad | Morgan, John Hunt)

Gallantry in Action
(Marker Number: 1727)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, Courthouse lawn, US 31-W & 62

Description: Sergeant George E. Larkin, Jr., a native of Colesburg, Hardin Co., took part in Doolittle's raid on Japanese mainland, April 18, 1942. He was awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross and decorated by the Chinese government; won award for being first Kentuckian to bomb enemy capital. Famous raid boosted American morale. Six months later, the 23-year-old was killed in Asia.

(Subjects: World War II)

General Custer Here
(Marker Number: 606)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, Courthouse lawn, US 31-W, 62

Description: Cavalry and infantry battalions under Gen. George Custer assigned here, 1871 to 1873, to suppress Ku Klux Klan and carpetbaggers, to break up illicit distilleries. Those gangs becoming inactive, he was sent to Chicago to maintain order after big fire. Returning, he led an active social life. In 1873 ordered to Dakota, ending in "Custer's Last Stand," June, 1876.

Godman Field
(Marker Number: 1731)

County: Hardin
Location: Park Rd. and Pilot St., Ft. Knox

Description: First airfield in Kentucky, used since October 1918 when built for 29th Aero Sqdn. Operated by 31st Balloon Co. 1920-21. Largely inactive until 1937, when 12th Observation Sqdn. assigned here through early 1942. World War II units included the 73rd Reconnaissance Group and the 387th, 391st, 477th Bombardment Groups with Martin B-26 aircraft. See other side. Presented by Kentucky Aviation Assn. and Kentucky Historical Society.

(Reverse) Godman Field - Named for Lt. Louis K. Godman who was killed in airplane crash at Columbia, S.C., 28 September 1918. Original 4 hangars were located 1/2 mile N.E. of this site. Two moved ca. 1922 to Louisville's Bowman Field; one is now Bldg. 1338 on Angel Alley, and one is Bldg. 1328 on Briggs St. Present main hangar and runways constructed in 1941. Presented by Kentucky Aviation Assn. and Ky. Historical Society.

(Subjects: Airports | Aviation | World War II)

Hardin County
(Marker Number: 960)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, Courthouse lawn, US 31-W, 62

Description: Formed from Nelson County by first Legislature, 1792. Named for Col. John Hardin, veteran of Dunmore's War, 1774, Am. Rev., Gen. Clark's Wabash Exped., 1787, and Maumee Indian campaign, 1790. Murdered by Ohio Indians while U.S. peace envoy to them in 1792. In 1780 Elizabethtown settled by Samuel Haycraft, Thomas Helm and Andrew Hynes, for whose wife town named.

(Subjects: Clark, George Rogers | Dunmore, John Murray | Revolutionary War)

Helm Cemetery
(Marker Number: 833)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, Jct. US 31-W & KY 447

Description: This pioneer cemetery includes the graves of John LaRue Helm, who served two incomplete terms as Governor of Kentucky, and his son, Confederate Gen. Ben Hardin Helm, who fell at battle of Chickamauga, September 20, 1863. Gen. Helm and Abraham Lincoln married half-sisters, Emilie and Mary Todd, the daughters of Robert S. Todd of Lexington, Kentucky.

(Subjects: Cemeteries | Governors | Lincoln, Abraham | Lincoln, Mary Todd)

John Larue Helm, 1802-1867
(Marker Number: 1912)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, Jct. US 31-W & KY 447

Description: This Hardin Co. native was one of Kentucky's most celebrated lawyers. In legislature 17 yrs.; rose to House Speaker. Elected lt. gov., he became gov. when John J. Crittenden resigned, 1850. Pres. of L&N R.R., 1854-60, when railroad completed. A harsh critic of Pres. Lincoln, Helm favored neutrality for Ky. in the Civil War. Elected gov., 1867. Died after five days in office.

(Subjects: Civil War | Crittenden, John J. | Lincoln, Abraham | Louisville and Nashville Railroad)

John Young Brown (1835-1904)
(Marker Number: 1650)

County: Hardin
Location: E. side of US 31-W, just S. of KY 1357

Description: Born at Elizabethtown (Claysville section), this Ky. statesman and orator was admitted to bar, 1857, and began law practice here. Brown was a state elector on Douglas ticket, 1860. He was elected to Congress four times and governor, 1891-95; helped state comply with Constitution of 1890. He ran for governor in 1899, unsuccessfully, against Goebel and Taylor.

Lewis and Clark in Kentucky - John Shields (1769-1809)
(Marker Number: 2123)

County: Hardin
Location: West Point, 3rd & Elm Sts.

Description: One of the "Nine Young Men From Ky." that accompanied Lewis and Clark on 1803-6 expedition to the Pacific Ocean. Shields was born in Va. and moved to Ky. in the 1790s. By 1803 he was married and living in West Point, Hardin Co. Over.

(Reverse) - John Shields (1769-1809) - Wm. Clark recruited Shields to be primary blacksmith and gunsmith on expedition. He was also one of the main hunters and cured a fellow explorer of a serious back ailment. After the expedition, Shields moved to Ind. where he died in Dec. 1809. Presented by Hardin Co.-West Point L & C Bicentennial Com.; Ohio River Chapter-L & C Trail Heritage Foundation; National Park Service; Ky. L & C Bicentennial Commission.

(Subjects: Clark, William | Lewis and Clark Expedition | West Point)

Lincoln Heritage House
(Marker Number: 1468)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown, 1/4 mi. E. of US 31-W

Description: Pioneer homes of the Hardin Thomas family. One-room log cabin built circa 1789. Thomas Lincoln, the father of 16th President, did the carpentry and cabinet work on the four-room log structure built ca. 1805. For several years Thomas Lincoln was a resident of Hardin County, which then included other present-day counties. Restoration was made possible by Hardin County Historical Society.

(Subjects: Lincoln, Thomas)

Lincoln-Haycraft Memorial Bridge, 1936
(Marker Number: 932)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown at bridge

Description: Here along Severn's Valley Creek Samuel Haycraft, Sr., built mill raceway in 1796. Thomas Lincoln, father of Pres. Lincoln, employed in building it, received his first monetary wages when about 21 years of age. Abraham Lincoln, age 7, with his family on way to Indiana in 1816, crossed this creek about here and went thru Elizabethtown.

(Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham | Lincoln, Thomas)

Morgan's Second Raid
(Marker Number: 525)

County: Hardin
Location: Elizabethtown at Cemetery, US 31-W

Description: North of here Morgan's Raiders destroyed two of the most important L&N R.R. trestles Dec. 28, 1862, rendering line impassable for two months. Circling this area, they returned to Tenn. on Jan. 2, 1863. In eleven days they destroyed $2,000,000 of U.S. property, wrecked L&N line from Munfordville to Shepherdsville, and captured, then paroled, 1,877 prisoners.

(Subjects: Civil War | Morgan, John Hunt)

Rineyville Named
(Marker Number: 1711)

County: Hardin
Location: KY 220, just west of KY 1600, Rineyville

Description: Sylvester Riney gave land for Illinois Central R.R., 1874, and town named for family. Zachariah, his father, was Abraham Lincoln's first teacher while living on Rolling Fork. Zachariah moved to Rineyville site, 1830; built this double log house, later enlarged and clapboarded. Lived here nearly 25 years with his son, Sylvester. His grandson, Mancil G., was first postmaster.

(Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham | Railroads)

Route of Lincolns
(Marker Number: 858)

County: Hardin
Location: Vine Grove, KY 144

Description: In the autumn of 1816, Abraham Lincoln's family traveled this old pioneer trail through Vine Grove, established in 1802, when migrating from Knob Hill farm, Larue County, Ky., to Spencer County, Ind.

(Subjects: Lincoln, Abraham | Lincoln, Thomas)

Severns Valley Baptist Church
(Marker Number: 1621)

County: Hardin
Location: 112 West Poplar St., Elizabethtown

Description: The oldest continuing Baptist congregation west of Allegheny Mts., organized June 17, 1781, near Hynes Station. Preceded by log structures, this edifice completed, 1834, by John Y. Hill. Sold to First Baptist Church, 1897, and services held until 1974, except when USA soldiers used building as hospital, 1865. Listed on National Register of Historic Places, 1974.

(Subjects: Baptist Church | Civil War | Forts and Stations | National Register of Historic Places)

Skirmish at Rolling Fork
(Marker Number: 2175)

County: Hardin
Location: US Hwy. 62

Description: Advancing Federals fired on Confederate troops led by Gen. John Hunt Morgan on December 29, 1862, during a rear-guard action. Acquaintances Col. John Harlan and Col. Basil Duke fought on opposing sides. Wounded during the clash, Duke recuperated at Bardstown.

(Reverse) After the Civil War, Col. Harlan became a U.S. Supreme Court Justice & was known as the “Great Dissenter” for his persistent judicial opposition, including that against the “separate but equal” principle of segregation. Duke recovered from his wounds and became a lawyer & lobbyist for the L&N Railroad that he helped destroy during the war.

(Subjects: Civil War | Confederate Army | Morgan, John Hunt)

The Haycraft Inn
(Marker Number: 1904)

County: Hardin
Location: 2315 S. Wilson Ave., Radcliff

Description: Oldest portion of inn constructed ca. 1814. Building enlarged to its present size when purchased by Daniel Haycraft, ca. 1820. On the Louisville-Nashville Turnpike, the inn was popular stopping place for stagecoaches. In spite of railroads and resulting declines in stagecoach travel, inn was still operating in 1884. Private home by 1917. On Natl. Register of Historic Places.

(Subjects: Forts and Stations | Inns | National Register of Historic Places | Roads)

Thomas Lincoln's Flatboat Trip
(Marker Number: 1591)

County: Hardin
Location: Elm St., West Point

Description: In early spring of 1806, Thomas Lincoln, who was to become the father of Abraham Lincoln, took a flatboat loaded with produce from the West Point boat landing to New Orleans. The trip, requiring about sixty days, was a profitable one and enabled Thomas to make final plans for his marriage to Nancy Hanks, June 12 of that year.

(Subjects: Hanks, Nancy | Lincoln, Abraham | Lincoln, Nancy Hanks | Lincoln, Thomas)

Three Forts
(Marker Number: 1651)

County: Hardin
Location: Adjacent to Elizabethtown City Cem., Elizabethtown, US 31-W

Description: Elizabethtown began in 1780 when three forts were built by Samuel Haycraft, Sr., Col. Andrew Hynes and Capt. Thomas Helm for common defense against Indians. The forts were one mile apart, the only settlements between falls of Ohio and Green River. Hynes laid out 30 acres for public buildings, 1793. In 1797 County Court established the town named for Hynes' wife.

(Subjects: Forts and Stations | Indians)

U.S Bullion Depository
(Marker Number: 1857)

County: Hardin
Location: 3 mi. N. of Radcliff at Gold Vault entrance, Bullion Blvd.

Description: In 1935, portions of property in Fort Knox military reservation were set aside for use as U.S. Bullion Depository. Constructed in 1936, it was placed under supervision of Dir. of the Mint, a U.S. Treasury official. First gold brought here by railroad in 1937, and depository continues to be storage site for most of the nation's gold. By law, not open to public visits or tours.

(Subjects: Fort Knox | Forts and Stations)

Van Meter Fort
(Marker Number: 1494)

County: Hardin
Location: 1/2 mi. W. of Elizabethtown, US 62

Description: Site of fort, erected 1780, by Jacob Van Meter, Sr., who led a party of 100 settlers from Va. to "the Falls of the Ohio." They made their journey on 27 flatboats and suffered many hardships during their trip. One member of group, John Swan, was killed by Indians. Van Meter built his fort by the spring which supplied water for Elizabethtown for many years. Over.

(Reverse) Van Meter Fort - Van Meter brought seed wheat from Virginia; built a grist mill. The fort, October, 1790, was scene of an Indian skirmish. Van Meter was a founder of Elizabethtown and Hardin County. Helped organize Severn's Valley Baptist Church, 1781; served in Revolutionary War as Captain in Clark's Northwest expedition. Buried at fort; remains later moved to Elizabethtown Cemetery.

(Subjects: Baptist Church | Cemeteries | Clark, George Rogers | Falls of the Ohio | Forts and Stations | Indians | Mills | Revolutionary War)

Warren Cash (1760-1850)
(Marker Number: 1683)

County: Hardin
Location: SE corner of Jct. of KY 1136 & 1868, near Gilead Baptist Church

Description: With Va. Militia from 1776-1780, Cash took part in the battles of Brandywine and Monmouth, several skirmishes, and was with Washington at Valley Forge. Married Susannah Baskett, who taught him to read. They came to Ky., joined Baptist Church, and Cash became a minister. Moved to Hardin Co. in 1806. Among churches he organized was Gilead, 1824. Both he and wife buried here.

(Subjects: Baptist Church | Brandywine, Battle of | Revolutionary War | Washington, George)

Young's Inn
(Marker Number: 1763)

County: Hardin
Location: West Point, Second & Elm Sts.

Description: This famous stagecoach stop on the old Louisville & Nashville Turnpike was built ca. 1797 by James Young, founder of West Point, Ky. At this inn John James Audubon wrote about seeing large flocks of passenger pigeons. Jenny Lind stopped here briefly in 1851 and sang from inn steps. Other guests have been Henry Clay, Andrew Jackson, James Buchanan, and Wendell Willkie.

(Subjects: Clay, Henry | Inns | Jackson, Andrew)