Shelbyville, Kentucky

City: Shelbyville

County: Shelby

State: Kentucky

Lat/Long: 38.210543, -85.225047

Located in north central Kentucky twenty miles west of Frankfort, Shelbyville is the county seat of Shelby County. Named in honor of Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky, Shelbyville became the county seat of Shelby County in December 1792. The Kentucky General Assembly incorporated it as a town in 1846. Prior to the Civil War, Shelbyville supported Shelby College and three female schools. During the war, Shelbyville was the site of a skirmish in September 1862, and in August 1864, Confederate Captain David Martin launched an unsuccessful guerrilla raid on the town in hopes of capturing a cache of weapons stored in the courthouse. Shelbyville became one of Kentucky's most prosperous towns after the war.

Webster's New Geographical Dictionary (Springfield, MA: Merriam-Webster, 1988), 1106; Ron D. Bryant, "Shelbyville," John E. Kleber, ed., The Kentucky Encyclopedia (Lexington, University Press of Kentucky, 1992), 816-17.