Frankfort Chosen as State Capital
Frankfort, Franklin County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Frankfort Chosen as Capital. After Kentucky became a state, five commissioners were appointed on June 20, 1792, to choose a location for the state capital. They were John Allen and John Edwards (both from Bourbon Co.), Henry Lee (Mason Co.), Thomas Kennedy (Madison Co.), and Robert Todd (Fayette Co.). A number of communities competed for this honor, but Frankfort won by perseverance and, according to early histories, the offer of Andrew Holmes' log house as capitol for seven years, a number of town lots, £50 worth of locks and hinges, 10 boxes of glass, 1500 pounds of nails, and $3000 in gold. (Reverse) Frankfort Chosen as Capital - Other contenders for the honor of being selected as the permanent seat of Kentucky state government had offered, as was customary, lists of contributions. These hopeful towns were Legerwood's Bend (Mercer County), Delany's Ferry and Petersburg (Woodford County), Louisville, Lexington, Leestown, and Frankfort. After thorough examination of all sites, the commissioners, following a majority vote, met with the legislature in Lexington on December 5, 1792, and gave their recommendation-that Frankfort was the most suitable site for the state capital. See over.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
Soon after Kentucky achieved statehood, five commissioners were appointed in June 1792 to select a seat of government. A number of towns competed, but Frankfort prevailed—thanks to persistence and a generous package that reportedly included Andrew Holmes' log house for use as a capitol, town lots, hardware, glass, nails, and gold. The commissioners gave their recommendation to the legislature in December 1792.
Why it matters
The bidding war captures how frontier communities courted the prestige and prosperity of hosting a new state's government.
The story behind this marker
AI contextThe era
Kentucky entered the Union in 1792 as the fifteenth state — the first carved out of the western frontier beyond the original thirteen. That was a genuinely new kind of moment in American life. For the first time, a self-governing state was being organized in country that had been raw wilderness within living memory, and one of its first orders of business was deciding where its government would live.
In those days the location of a capital was no small thing. A seat of government meant courts, legislators, clerks, travelers, and the money they spent — a guaranteed engine of growth in an economy where towns rose and fell on such advantages. Kentucky in 1792 had several ambitious young communities strung along its rivers and roads, each convinced it deserved to be the center of the new state.
So the choice became a contest, decided in the frank, transactional style of the frontier. There was no grand master plan, only commissioners riding out to weigh the merits of each place and communities scrambling to make themselves the most attractive offer. It was democracy and real-estate deal-making rolled into one.
People & events
On June 20, 1792, soon after statehood, five commissioners were appointed to select the seat of government. They came from across the young state's counties — John Allen and John Edwards of Bourbon County, Henry Lee of Mason, Thomas Kennedy of Madison, and Robert Todd of Fayette. Their charge was to examine the candidates and recommend the most suitable site.
And the candidates were many. Legerwood's Bend, Delany's Ferry, Petersburg, Louisville, Lexington, Leestown, and Frankfort all put themselves forward, and — as was the custom — backed their bids with lists of contributions. This was expected: a town courting the capital was expected to sweeten the offer with land and materials.
Frankfort won, according to the early histories, through persistence and a notably generous package. The offer reportedly included Andrew Holmes' log house to serve as a capitol for seven years, a number of town lots, fifty pounds' worth of locks and hinges, ten boxes of glass, fifteen hundred pounds of nails, and three thousand dollars in gold. It is a wonderfully concrete list — glass and nails and hinges, the very stuff of building a working seat of government from scratch. After examining all the sites, the commissioners took a majority vote and, meeting with the legislature at Lexington on December 5, 1792, recommended Frankfort.
Its place in the American story
Frankfort's selection is a vivid snapshot of how the American map actually got drawn. We tend to imagine capitals as inevitable, but many were the product of exactly this kind of bargaining, geography, and local ambition. A river crossing, a persuasive booster, and a good enough offer could fix the center of a state's public life for centuries.
The episode also captures the do-it-yourself spirit of the early republic. A brand-new state had no palaces and no treasury to speak of, so it accepted a log house, some town lots, and building supplies to get its government under a roof. That improvised beginning is a reminder of how modestly institutions we now think of as permanent and grand actually started.
And the competition among towns speaks to something enduring in American life: the belief that hosting government meant hosting prosperity. The same rivalry that put Frankfort on the map played out across the growing country, as communities everywhere fought to become the seats of counties, states, and eventually the nation itself.
If you visit
Stand in Frankfort and it helps to know you are standing in a town that won its status rather than inherited it. The city's tucked-in setting along the Kentucky River is part of the story — a river town that persuaded the commissioners it was the most suitable spot in a crowded field.
Read the marker's two sides carefully, because the list of contributions is the real treasure: the log house lent as a capitol, the lots, the locks and hinges, the glass, the nails, the gold. It reads like an inventory of everything it took to conjure a capital out of frontier scarcity, and it puts you right in the bargaining of 1792.
Let it frame the rest of a Frankfort visit. Knowing the town began its public life in a borrowed log building makes the later grandeur of its government buildings land differently — you can trace, in a single day, the distance a state traveled from a handshake deal to a permanent seat of power.
Written by AI to add context, grounded in the marker’s inscription and the historical record. The inscription above is the original, unaltered text.
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Related people
- · John Allen
- · John Edwards
- · Andrew Holmes
Related events
- · Selection of Kentucky's state capital, 1792
Themes & tags
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