Mercer County

Mercer County, the sixth county in order of formation, is located in central Kentucky. Bordered by Anderson, Boyle, Garrard, Jessamine, Washington, and Woodford counties, it has an area of 250 square miles. Mercer County was formed on December 15, 1785, from a portion of Lincoln County and was named in honor of Gen. Hugh Mercer, a Scotsman who was killed at the Battle of Princeton in the Revolutionary War. Harrodsburg, the first permanent pioneer settlement in Kentucky, is the county seat.

The topography of Mercer County is rolling to hilly. There are steep hillsides near the Kentucky and Dix rivers. The deep soils are excellent for crops such as tobacco, corn, and hay; large numbers of livestock are also raised. The major water courses of Mercer County are the Kentucky, Dix, and Salt rivers and Chapline's, Jennings, Lyon's, McCoun's, Thompson's, Rocky, and Shawnee Run creeks.

Mercer County was the site of several unique communities and institutions during the nineteenth century. Shakers built a large and prosperous community at Pleasant Hill and lived and worshipped there from 1805 to 1910. They were excellent farmers and craftsmen and for most of the nineteenth century their community was a self-supporting enterprise. Also located in Mercer County was the first meetinghouse of the Dutch Reformed church west of the Allegheny Mountains. Erected in 1800, it was called the Old Mud Meeting House for the extensive mud daubing used in its construction.

One of the early settlements in Mercer County was McAfee Station, established in 1779 by the McAfee, Curry, McGee, and McCoun families. Other communities in the county include the incorporated town of Burgin.

During the Civil War, several skirmishes took place in the county, and some citizens were arrested on suspicion of disloyalty to the Union. When the war ended, the county remained a large livestock and grain-producing region, where other crops included hay, corn, tobacco, and strawberries. Industrial development began on a modest scale with the products of the Shakers. Although distilleries, a coal oil refinery, and a calcite mine opened, the economy remained agricultural. By the twentieth century, the industrial base expanded to production of clothing, metal, glass, and heating and refrigeration items. Construction of the Dix River Dam and electric generating plant was completed in 1925 and created Herrington Lake.

Tourism increased in 1927 with the reconstruction of Fort Harrod. During the 1940s, rail excursions to the Roebling Suspension Bridge and the Dix River Dam were popular. In 1962 Shakertown at Pleasant Hill was incorporated as a nonprofit organization and opened the restored community as a historic area.

The population of Mercer County was 15,960 in 1970; 19,011 in 1980; 19,148 in 1990; and 20,817 in 2000.

From: The Kentucky Encyclopedia, edited by John Kleber. University Press of Kentucky. Copyright 1992