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HISTORICAL SlxET CH.
Tim city of Lexington is situzited in latitude 38° O2' north:
longitude XP 2•i’ west_; 517 miles froni Washington City, 25
miles southeast from Frankfort, the Capital of the State, 77
miles southeast from Louisville, and 85 miles south from Cincin-
V nati; it is surrounded by one of the most beautiful and fertile
regions that is to be found upon the continent. There is per-
haps no spot upon the face of the globe that yields so uniformly
an abundant return for the labor of the planter as that portion
of Kentucky laying contiguous to and tributary to the city of
Lexington. `
Fayette county (in which the city of Lexington is situated)
was formed in 1780 by the State of Virginia, and is one of the °
three original counties that at one time comprised the entire dis- i
triet of Kentucky—and embraced all that territory beginning at ° {
the mouth of the Kentucky river, and extending up its middle
fork to the head, and embracing the eastern portion of the pres-
ent State; it received its name as a testiiuonial of gratitude to ..
(ieneral Gilbert Mortier de La Fayette.
Lexington is the seat of justice for the county of Fayette-
about the first of April, 1776, a ‘bloek-house was built on
the site now occupied by T. W. White & Bi·o. as a dry goods i
store—corner of Main and Mill streets——and the settlement
j t commenced under the influence of Colonel Robert Patterson,
joined by Messrs. McConnells, Lindsays and James Masterson.
j Major John Morrison removed his family soon after from at
· » Ilarrodsburg, and the lady of that gentleman was the first white
(~ female that graced the infant settlement. It received its name
in commemoration of the battle of Lexington, where the first
i blood was shed in our first struggle for political liberty. ,
2 Lexington was incorporated by the Virginia Legislature in