The opening engagements of the American Revolution took place on 19 April 1775, not far from Lexington in Massachusetts. Hunters who were encamped on a site in the heart of the bluegrass region of northern Kentucky heard the news of the battle and founded Lexington there.
There are several places of interest in Lexington. 'Ashland' was the home of American statesman Henry Clay. The building was designed by Latrobe in 1806 and rebuilt with the original materials in the 1850's. 'Hopemont' dates from 1811 and was the home of John Hunt Morgan, who was a Confederate general in the American Civil War. The Thomas Hart house dates from 1794. The home of Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of Abraham Lincoln is also there. The city's library was founded by John Bradford in 1787. It houses a file of the Kentucky Gazette. Lexington cemetery contains the graves of Clay, Morgan, J. C. Breckinridge, Vice President of the United States from 1857 to 1861 and the author James Lane Allen. A national cemetery is not far from town.
Lexington is the outstanding center in the United States for the raising of thoroughbred horses. It is also an important market for tobacco, livestock and bluegrass seed, as well as a railroad shipping point for E Kentucky's oil, coal, farm produce and quarry products. Lexington has railroad shops and plants where fixtures, metal products, processed foods, machinery and transportation and electronic equipment are made. The University of Kentucky and Transylvania University have seats in the city. Keeneland Racetrack is also there. Lexington was made coextensive with Fayette county in 1974.
Accommodation and restaurants are available in Lexington. The city is 40 km southeast from Frankfort and 650 km southwest from Washington D.C.