Additional information about Danville, Kentucky
Danville is called the "City of Firsts".
- It housed the first Courthouse in Kentucky
- It had the first U.S. Post Office west of the Allegheny Mountains
- It hosts the first state-supported school for the deaf.
- In it, Ephraim McDowell became the first physician in the world to successfully remove an ovarian tumor.
- It is home to the oldest college administration building and campus west of the Allegheny Mountains at Centre College
Danville was part of the Great Settlement Area around Harrod's Fort (now Harrodsburg), which was first settled in 1774. Walker Daniel, Kentucky's first District Attorney, bought from settler John Crow on the Wilderness Road and had it surveyed for a town in 1783-1784. The city was probably named for Daniel. The Virginia Legislature officially established Danville on December 4, 1787.
Between 1784 and 1792, ten conventions were held in Danville to petition for better governance and ultimately to secure independence from Virginia. In 1786 the Danville Political Club was organized. It met each Saturday night at Grayson’s Tavern to discuss the political, economic, and social concerns. After a state constitution was adopted and separation was confirmed in 1792, the town ceased to be of statewide importance and its leading citizens moved to elsewhere.
Transylvania University was founded in Danville in 1783. It moved to Lexington, Kentucky in 1789. Danville Theological Seminary was founded in 1853; in 1901 it became part of the Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary. The Caldwell Institute for Young Ladies was founded in 1860. It became Caldwell Female College in 1876, Caldwell College in 1904, Kentucky College for Women in 1913, and merged into Centre College in 1926.
In November 1806, Meriwether Lewis, co-leader of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, visited Danville while traveling the Wilderness Road to Washington DC to report on the expedition. In December 1806, William Clark visited his nephews in school in Danville before following Lewis to Washington.
In 1842, Boyle County was formed from southern Mercer County and northern Lincoln County. Danville became its county seat.
In 1850, Danville and Boyle County backed construction of the Lexington and Danville Railroad . Money ran out when the railroad reached Nicholasville, Kentucky and John A. Roebling had built towers for a suspension bridge over the Kentucky River (Roebling lived in Danville during the construction). Despite the lack of a railroad to Danville, the county still owed $150,000; it completed payment on time in 1884.
In 1860, a fire devastated the city, destroying 64 buildings and causing over $300,000 in damages. Boyle County's courthouse was among the destroyed buildings; its replacement was completed in 1862. After the Battle of Perryville in the American Civil War on October 8, 1862, the courthouse was appropriated by Union forces for use as a hospital. On October 11, a Union force drove Confederate forces from the county fairgrounds through Danville.
In 1775, Archibald McNeill planted Kentucky's first recorded hemp crop at Clark's Run Creek near Danville. Boyle County became one of ten Kentucky counties which together produced over 90% of the US yield in 1889. It was the state's largest cash crop until 1915 when it lost its market to imported jute.
On October 5 2000, Dick Cheney and Senator Joe Lieberman, candidates for Vice President of the United States, debated at Centre College during the 2000 presidential election.
