Lexington Real Estate
About the City
Known as the horse capitol of the world, Lexington, Kentucky, is the heart of the America’s Bluegrass region. The second largest city in the state, Lexington is the home to the Kentucky Horse Park, the Keeneland race course and the Red Mile race course.
The city was founded in June 1775 in Virginia 17 years before Kentucky became a state. A party of frontiersmen led by William McConnell camped on the Middle Fork of Elkhorn Creek at what is known today as McConnell Springs. Upon hearing of the colonists' victory in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775, they named their campsite Lexington after Lexington, Massachusetts, but the danger from Indian attacks kept the permanent settlement from being established for another four years. In 1779, Col. Robert Patterson and 25 companies from Fort Harrod erected a safe house; cabins and a stockade were built, which established the first fort in the area.
The town of Lexington was established in 1781. Kentucky was split from Virginia in 1792 to form a commonwealth, which became the 15th state in the union. Lexington was incorporated as a city in 1832. It was the center of activity for Kentucky and became the home of Kentucky's first newspaper, The Kentucky Gazette, in 1787.
Horse racing in downtown Lexington was a common until 1788 when town leaders prohibited the sport from the town's thoroughfares. In 1789, Lexington's first race course was established. Racing at the Red Mile began in 1875 and Keeneland opened in 1936.
By 1820, it was one of the largest and wealthiest towns west of the Allegany Mountains, with the name “Athens of the West” due to its culture and lifestyle.
Lexington was one of the leading manufacturing centers of the early West and was the center of the production of hemp goods, nails and gunpowder, and the site of cotton and furniture factories, breweries and distilleries.
An educational Mecca in the 1800's, Lexington developed a broad range of educational opportunities based on programs in liberal arts, medicine, law, education and agriculture. During the Civil War, it not only became a prized possession alternately held by both the North and South, but the presidents of the Union and the Confederacy both had close ties to Lexington.
Demographics
As of 2000, the estimated population of Lexington/Fayette County area was 260,512.
The median income for a household in the city is $39,813, and the median income for a family is $58,677.
Men have a median income of $36,166 versus $26,964 for women.