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From the BluegrassReport.org:
Some History
A little past midnight early this morning, on the "fifth Tuesday succeding his election," in accordance with Section 73 of Kentucky's Constitution, Steven L. Beshear took the Oath of Office in a private ceremony. The events to be celebrated today are for the public swearing-in to take place at 2:00 pm this afternoon on the steps of Kentucky's "New Capitol," as some of the people of Frankfort still refer to the building on which construction began in 1906 and was completed some three years later.
That building, at the top of Capital Avenue in "South Frankfort" is Kentucky's fourth permanent building serving as the seat of government. The first one, facing Lewis Street at what is now Broadway (then Market Street) was built in 1793 and destroyed by fire on November 25, 1813. The same fate fell upon the second one, erected on the same corner, but now facing Broadway. It was built in 1814 and burned just a decade later on November 4, 1824. These were structures of wood and for its next capitol, Kentucky's leaders chose limestone as a building material and 27 year old Gideon Shryock as designer. The building he designed, in the Greek Revival fashion, remains where it was constructed in 1827. That building served as capitol until the present New Capitol was built at the beginning of the last century.
But, even before these structures were erected, Frankfort the city had been chosen as the site of Kentucky's seat of government. And this choosing was after a long drawn out process of conventions attempting to separate the "transmontane" or "transylvania" (words meaning across the mountain and across the woods, respectively) district of Kentucky from her parent state of Virginia, covering lands Virginia had claimed since George Rogers Clark's capture of the Northwest Territory from the English. In 1781, Virginia ceded to the new Republic those lands beyond the northern and northwestern shores of the Ohio River, creating the Territory of Illinois, from which all or parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan were formed. Virginia held title to what would become Kentucky and West Virginia.
Conventions were held in Danville as early as December 27, 1784. There were ten of them, the last one held April 2 - 19, 1792. Virginia's legislature began passing enabling acts for the creation of a separate state, the first of which was ratified on January 10, 1786, the final one, called the Virginia Compact on December 18, 1789. But it would not be until Congress acted, during its Third Session, on February 4, 1791 that a law passed both houses creating Kentucky from Virginia. Signing the bill in the United States House was Speaker Frederick A. Muhlenberg. Signing for the United States Senate was Vice President John Adams in his role as President of the Senate. The bill went on to President George Washington's desk, where he signed it into law. Due to a number of unavoidable delays, the new state did not effectively separate and enter the Union until June 1, 1792, becoming the second new state formed after the original Thirteen Colonies, and the first in the new west, across the Appalachian Mountains.
Having achieved statehood, the first legislature met temporarily in Lexington in a two-story log building on Main Street, between Mill Street and Broadway. There they commissioned Robert Todd, John Edwards, John Allen, Henry Lee, and Thomas Kennedy to seek out a site for the permanent location of a capital city. In the running were Legerswood Bend, Delaney's Ferry, Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Leestown, and Petersburg. If anyone knows where Legerwood's Bend is, please let me know. Their ultimate choice was Frankfort and the legislature first met there in the home of Major James Love on November 1, 1793. Love's home stood on the southwest corner of Wapping and Main streets.
The choice of Frankfort, located where Benson Creek empties into the Kentucky River, is an interesting one in that this intersection is where the three counties originally created out of the Kentucky District (County) of Virginia met. Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln counties, formed by Virginia's legislature in 1780, came together at the intersection of Benson Creek with the Kentucky River. The first three capitol buildings were in what was a part of Fayette County; the present building is in what was a part of Lincoln County. Then, as now, Kentuckians seemed not to want Jefferson County in control of their government.
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http://share.shutterfly.com/action/w...=8Qct27Vy4aNLc
From the BluegrassReport.org:
Some History
A little past midnight early this morning, on the "fifth Tuesday succeding his election," in accordance with Section 73 of Kentucky's Constitution, Steven L. Beshear took the Oath of Office in a private ceremony. The events to be celebrated today are for the public swearing-in to take place at 2:00 pm this afternoon on the steps of Kentucky's "New Capitol," as some of the people of Frankfort still refer to the building on which construction began in 1906 and was completed some three years later.
That building, at the top of Capital Avenue in "South Frankfort" is Kentucky's fourth permanent building serving as the seat of government. The first one, facing Lewis Street at what is now Broadway (then Market Street) was built in 1793 and destroyed by fire on November 25, 1813. The same fate fell upon the second one, erected on the same corner, but now facing Broadway. It was built in 1814 and burned just a decade later on November 4, 1824. These were structures of wood and for its next capitol, Kentucky's leaders chose limestone as a building material and 27 year old Gideon Shryock as designer. The building he designed, in the Greek Revival fashion, remains where it was constructed in 1827. That building served as capitol until the present New Capitol was built at the beginning of the last century.
But, even before these structures were erected, Frankfort the city had been chosen as the site of Kentucky's seat of government. And this choosing was after a long drawn out process of conventions attempting to separate the "transmontane" or "transylvania" (words meaning across the mountain and across the woods, respectively) district of Kentucky from her parent state of Virginia, covering lands Virginia had claimed since George Rogers Clark's capture of the Northwest Territory from the English. In 1781, Virginia ceded to the new Republic those lands beyond the northern and northwestern shores of the Ohio River, creating the Territory of Illinois, from which all or parts of Illinois, Indiana, Ohio, Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Michigan were formed. Virginia held title to what would become Kentucky and West Virginia.
Conventions were held in Danville as early as December 27, 1784. There were ten of them, the last one held April 2 - 19, 1792. Virginia's legislature began passing enabling acts for the creation of a separate state, the first of which was ratified on January 10, 1786, the final one, called the Virginia Compact on December 18, 1789. But it would not be until Congress acted, during its Third Session, on February 4, 1791 that a law passed both houses creating Kentucky from Virginia. Signing the bill in the United States House was Speaker Frederick A. Muhlenberg. Signing for the United States Senate was Vice President John Adams in his role as President of the Senate. The bill went on to President George Washington's desk, where he signed it into law. Due to a number of unavoidable delays, the new state did not effectively separate and enter the Union until June 1, 1792, becoming the second new state formed after the original Thirteen Colonies, and the first in the new west, across the Appalachian Mountains.
Having achieved statehood, the first legislature met temporarily in Lexington in a two-story log building on Main Street, between Mill Street and Broadway. There they commissioned Robert Todd, John Edwards, John Allen, Henry Lee, and Thomas Kennedy to seek out a site for the permanent location of a capital city. In the running were Legerswood Bend, Delaney's Ferry, Louisville, Lexington, Frankfort, Leestown, and Petersburg. If anyone knows where Legerwood's Bend is, please let me know. Their ultimate choice was Frankfort and the legislature first met there in the home of Major James Love on November 1, 1793. Love's home stood on the southwest corner of Wapping and Main streets.
The choice of Frankfort, located where Benson Creek empties into the Kentucky River, is an interesting one in that this intersection is where the three counties originally created out of the Kentucky District (County) of Virginia met. Jefferson, Fayette, and Lincoln counties, formed by Virginia's legislature in 1780, came together at the intersection of Benson Creek with the Kentucky River. The first three capitol buildings were in what was a part of Fayette County; the present building is in what was a part of Lincoln County. Then, as now, Kentuckians seemed not to want Jefferson County in control of their government.
*****
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