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Clark County was formed from Bourbon
and Fayette in 1792. The county seat is the city of Winchester.
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Place Names, Clark County, KY
The Origin and Derivation of the Names of Towns and
Places in Clark County
by
Colonel T.G. Stuart
Written September 21, 1923, for Mr. William G. Steele, Eugene Oregon, at
the request of the Winchester Chamber of Commerce
Transcribed by George F. Doyle, M.D., F.A.C.S.
PATIO is a Spanish word
meaning an inner court, from the fact that nearly all the old-time houses and
homes in Mexico, and those in Latin America, are built around an open court or
space on which all the rooms of the house fronted, while the rear or outer
windows and doors, being those which fronted on the outer exterior, were guarded
by iron rails and bars. Patio is a new switch station just inside of the city
limits of Winchester, where the Winchester & Irvine Divisions of the
Louisville & Nashville Railroad joins the Cincinnati & Knoxville
Division, and it has a signal tower and telegraph station and watchman, and its
name was therefore deemed appropriate as the place was practically centered
between two divisions.
QUISENBERRY (pronounced Cushionberry),
is a station on the west side of the town and is somewhat similarly situated as
Patio. It received its name after one of the family of that name who had a
warehouse there. It is on the C&O Railroad at the Lexington Avenue crossing
and contains the Standard Oil Station and Warehouse, but is inside of the city
limits.
PILOT VIEW is a village between seven
and eight miles east of Winchester at the junction of the Winchester and
Ironworks pike with the Schollsville pike. It has several residences, store,
school, and was so named in 1868 from the fact that its site, the first fine
view of Pilot Knob, the last of the foot-hill mountains of the Cumberland Range,
can be first seen in full. Pilot Knob was so named by Daniel Boone who used it
as a pilot point in his earliest explorations of Kentucky, and who in his crude
diary of that period said that "From this mountain I first looked down on
the beautiful green fields of Kane-tuck-ee." This mountain was originally
in Clark county, but is now in Powell county and is about seventeen miles from
Winchester. Pilot View was named by the late Franklin H. Ramsey, who built and
established the first store in the village.
RAKER was so named for Squire Mike
Raker, whose land it is situated on, along the line of the Winchester &
Irvine Division of the L&N Railroad.
RENICK is named from the noted family of
that name and is a railroad station and post office on the Cincinnati and
Knoxville Division of the L&N Railroad, about five miles north of
Winchester.
PINE GROVE is a station and village,
also a post office, on the C&O Railroad, about seven miles west of
Winchester and was named for the old village of Pine Grove which is situated on
the Winchester and Lexington turnpike. Old Pine Grove received its name before
the Civil War from a grove of pine trees situated on either side of the road.
RIGHT ANGLE is in the southeastern
portion of the county and received its name from the Masonic Lodge of that name
situated at this point. The village and post office, however, has been moved
farther southeast and is now known as Trapp, which is named for a family of that
name.
RIVERSIDE is situated on the Cincinnati and Knoxville Division of the L&N
Railroad eight miles south of Winchester, where the railroad first touches the
Kentucky River and was named for its location by the riverside. It is, however,
no longer a station of any consequence, as the sawmills there have been moved
away.
RUCKERVILLE is a village about seven
miles southeast of Winchester, on the Winchester, Vienna and Ruckerville
turnpike and contains stores, several houses and a church. Before the Civil War
it also had a large grist mill and other enterprises. It was named for its
founder Reuben Rucker, a pioneer citizen of that section. It also contained a
hotel.
SLOAN is in Estill county, just across
Red River on the Winchester and Irvine Division of the L&N Railroad, and was
so named for Mr. E.D. Sloan, division engineer at the time, who located the line
of the road between Winchester and Irvine some years ago.
SPOUT SPRINGS is in Estill county, and
was so named from the fact that a fine spring comes out of the cliff at this
point and from it a spout is extended to the roadside and hence its name Spout
Springs.
TEBBS is a railroad station on the C&O
Railroad between Winchester and Pine Grove and was so named for the late S.F.
Tebbs, whose magnificent residence was located at this point and had around it a
beautiful farm.
THOMSON was named for the late Senator
Harrison Thomson and his son Col. H.P. Thomson, who owned the land around it and
who were instrumental in securing the station at this point. It has several
houses, post office, and tobacco warehouses, and is about nine miles east of
Winchester on the C&O Railroad.
TULIP received its name from a flower of
that name and is in the southeastern portion of the county on the Muddy Creek
pike.
VAN METER is merely a flag station on
the L&E Division of the L&N Railroad west of Winchester, and is named
for the owner of the farm on which it is located, Mr. N.P. VanMeter.
WADES MILL is a village and post office
with a store, a mill and some residences. It is in the northeastern section of
the county and is also a voting precinct and was so named from William Wade, who
owned the store and mill at this point many years ago. It was originally called
Judy's Mill.
WATAUGA is a station on the L&E
Division of the L&N Railroad about four miles northeast if Winchester and is
an Indian name, the name having originally been made famous by the Treaty of
Watauga, situated at that time in North Carolina, the treaty being made by
Colonel Richard Henderson and the Transylvania Company on the one part and the
Cherokee Indians on the other.
WYANDOTTE is situated on the L&E
Division of the L&N Railroad, in the extreme northwestern portion of Clark
county, and was so named for the Indian tribe of that name. The original
stations along the line of the L&E Railroad, then known as the Kentucky
Union Railroad, were nearly all christened from Scotch and Indian names by the
original projectors of the line.
WINCHESTER is the county seat of Clark
county and was so named by John Baker, its founder, for his native town on
Winchester, Virginia, which in turn was named for the Cathedral City of
Winchester, in England.
VIENNA, which is a village and post
office and also a ferry town on Red River in Clark county on the mail road from
Winchester to Irvine, was so called from the City of Vienna, the Capitol of
Austria.
INDIAN FIELDS is a village and post
office and also a railroad station in the extreme eastern portion of Clark
county on the L&E Division of the L&N Railroad, and the name was derived
from the fact that the only settlement known in Kentucky when the whites first
came was at this point and at which a small and peaceable tribe of Indians had
lived for centuries and cultivated fields of corn during that time, and from
this fact it was called the "Indian Old Fields."
KIDDVILLE is about a mile north of
Indian Fields Station and is quite a large village, with stores, post office,
schools and a church, and was so named from the Kidd family, its pioneer
settlers.
OIL SPRINGS is in Clark county, just
east of Indian Fields on Lulbegrud creek, but on the Clark county side of the
line, and was so named from the fact that when Boone and the whites first came
to Kentucky, oil was flowing from these springs and has been so flowing for
centuries, according to the tradition of the Indians, and one of the springs is
flowing oil to this day. The Oil Springs tract is a part of an original grant of
three thousand acres to General Marquis Calmes, a French nobleman and
Revolutionary soldier, as well as a Kentucky pioneer. The land around is still
owned by Squire W.Z. Eubank and his two sons, Squire Eubank's first wife having
been a lineal descendant of General Calmes. The original grant or patent written
on parchment and signed by Patrick Henry, Governor of Virginia, is still in
possession of Squire Eubank and family and is over 140 years old.
SCHOLLSVILLE is in the northeastern part
of the county and was so called from Peter Scholl, a relative of Daniel Boone,
who received the land from his noted pioneer relative, who originally surveyed
it more than 145 years ago.
L.& E. JUNCTION (or Fairlie as it
was originally called) received its name from the fact that the L&E Division
of the L&N Railroad at this point crosses the C&O Railroad. The original
name Fairlie is a Scotch name.
DODGE, also on the L&E Division of
the L&N Railroad, received its name from General A.G.P. Dodge, of New York,
who built the first division of the road.
GORDONTON is another station on the L&E
Railroad, and this received its name from Mr. R.D. Gordon, who had a store, post
office and station at this place.
MISTLETOE (formerly Glenarvon) was named
for the plant of that name growing on the trees near there, and the original
name Glenarvon was a Scotch place of that name. Mistletoe is two miles east of
Winchester on the L&E Railroad.
KINROSS, two miles west of Winchester on
the L&E Railroad, is so named from the Scotch town of that name.
PINCHEM is a straggling village in the
noted precinct of that name in the south side of the county and is an
abbreviation of the name "Pinchem Slyly," originally given the place
in the pioneer days by a wag who lived near it.
HUNT is a village, post office and high
school near the junction of the Muddy Creek pike and the Allansville pike and
was so called from the noted family of that name in this county. It was
originally called Lockname from the family of that name.
ALLANSVILLE was named for the late Judge
Frank S. Allan, who had a mill and a store at this place, and was its most noted
citizen, and who died while serving as County Judge of Clark County.
RABBITTOWN is in the extreme
southeastern portion of the county, and was so christened by an old school
teacher who nicknamed every community in which he taught. He gave the place this
name on account of the numerous flocks of wild rabbits then existing in that
region, on which he principally subsisted for many months while teaching there.
DUNAWAYS is a village and church, also
in the southeastern section of the county, and was so called from the family of
that name.
FORD is a village which at one time had
2,500 inhabitants, when the sawmills were located there. It is situated where
the C&K Division of the L&N Railroad crosses the Kentucky River. It was
so called from Mitchell Ford, the man who originally owned the land when the
town was established.
ELKIN is another station and village on
the C&K Division of the L&N Railroad. It is south of Winchester, and was
so called from the family of that name residing near there.
FLANAGAN is another village and station
on the same division just south of Winchester and was named for the late Judge
James Flanagan, a noted citizen of Winchester and once Circuit Judge of this
district.
OLIVER'S is on Four Mile creek in the
south side of the county. It at one time had a noted distillery, mill, store
houses, and some residences. It was so called from the Oliver family who owned
the place.
JACKSON'S FERRY is at the crossing of
the Muddy Creek pike on the Kentucky River and was so called from the family of
that name, who once owned the land and conducted a ferry there.
COMBS' FERRY is in the southwest side of
the county and was so called from a family of that name who owned and conducted
a ferry, but it was originally known as Holder's Boat Yard, which was
established and conducted by Captain John Holder, who had a large boatyard at
this point in the pioneer days. Captain Holder was a noted pioneer and was in
the rescuing party which recaptured the Boone and Callaway girls, who were
stolen from Boonesborough by the Indiana. Captain Holder afterwards married one
of the Callaway girls.
HAYDEN'S CORNER is in the southwest side
of the county and is quite a village and voting place. It was so called from one
of the pioneer settlers of that name. The village and post office is now known
as Becknerville, which is so called from a lawyer of that name who died some
years ago.
COLBYVILLE is a station on the C&O
Railroad west of Winchester, and was so called from the Old Colbyville Tavern,
which was a pioneer roadside inn more than a century ago, and they also had a
Masonic lodge and muster ground.
TANNER'S STORE is a village and voting
place on the Mt. Sterling road in Clark County, and was so named from the family
of that name who established the mill and store at this point.
SEWELL'S SHOP is a village in Clark county
just on the Montgomery county line, at the junction of the Mt. Sterling pike and
the pike from Thomson Station, and was so called from the family of that name
residing at this point.
HEDGES is a station and village on the C&O
Railroad in Clark county, between Dodge and Thomson Station and was named for
Preston Hedges, the owner of the land where the station and village are
situated.
MINA is a station and village on the
Winchester and Irvine Division of the L&N Railroad and was so named for the
wife of the founder of the station, Mr. Crow.
LOG LICK is a village and settlement in
the extreme southeast portion of Clark county and is so called from the fact
that Daniel Boone and his pioneers had cut down a number of trees at this point,
at which there was a sulphur spring, and used the logs as a trap in which to
lure buffalo, deer and other animals that came there to drink the saline water,
and from the logs it was called Log Lick.
GAMBOE is a station on the Winchester
and Irvine Division of the L&N Railroad and was so called from the family of
that name who owned the land at this point.
AGAWAM is a flag station on the
Winchester and Irvine Division of the L&N Railroad. It is an Indian name.
NELSON is a flag station on the C&O
Railroad, just west of Winchester, on the land formerly owned by Judge George B.
Nelson.
LILLY'S FERRY is at the junction of the
Lulbegrud creek and Red river and was so called from the family of that name,
the most noted member of which was H. Clay Lilly, who was born at this point.
NORTH WINCHESTER is the main local
station on the L&E Division of the L&N Railroad, in the northern limits
of Winchester.
NORTH CABIN is a signal and telegraph
station at the crossing of the C&K Division of the L&N Railroad and is
in the extreme northwest side of the town of Winchester.
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