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Official Website
History
The Transylvania Co., also known as Richard Henderson & Co., in 1775 purchased from the Cherokees a large swath of wilderness between the Kentucky River and Cumberland River, encompassing approximately half of what would become Kentucky as well as a portion of northern Tennessee. Their intention was to establish a 14th colony to be called Transylvania Colony. To help attract people to purchase land and populate the region, Henderson & Co. hired pioneer, explorer, woodsman, and frontiersman Daniel Boone to lead settlers through Cumberland Gap and direct woodsmen to cut the Wilderness Road through the Kentucky forest. However, the Continental Congress declined to act on Transylvania Co.'s petition without the consent of Virginia and North Carolina, which laid claim to the disputed lands.
In December 1778, Virginia's Assembly finally declared the Transylvania claim void. In compensation, Henderson and his partners received a grant of 12 square miles on the Ohio River below the mouth of Green River. In 1797, the surviving Transylvania Co. investors and heirs directed Samuel Hopkins (congressman), a Revolutionary War colonel, and a surveyor to the Henderson Grant land to lay out a town and mark off land for the respective investors. Hopkins and his surveyor selected a site called Red Banks, Kentucky that sat high above the Ohio River. The town was named Henderson. The county itself was established in 1798.
During the 19th century, a cultivar of dark tobacco raised in Henderson County became very popular in Great Britain and continental Europe. Henderson became the largest dark-tobacco market in the world, generating considerable wealth in Henderson County. Around 1880, Henderson had 17 stemmeries in the city and 18 in the county. Stemmeries were where tobacco was stripped from its stem and made ready for use. [7] However, tobacco production in Henderson County declined through the 20th century and early 21st century, with few farmers still raising the labor-intensive crop. [8]
A workplace shooting occurred at an Atlantis Plastics factory in Henderson, Kentucky, United States on June 25, 2008. The gunman, 25-year-old Wesley Neal Higdon, shot and killed five people and critically injured a sixth, before taking his own life. The mass murder is the worst in the history of Henderson County, surpassing the triple homicides that took place in 1799 and 1955.
Adjacent Counties
- Daviess County
- Warrick County, Indiana
- McLean County
- Posey County, Indiana
- Union County
- Vanderburgh County, Indiana
- Webster County
Cities
- Corydon
- Henderson (County Seat)
- Robards
Other Communities: Alzey, Anthoston, Baskett, Bluff City, Cairo, Dixie, Finley Addition, Geneva, Graham Hill, Hebbardsville, Niagara, Poole (part), Reed, Scuffletown, Smiths Mills, Spottsville, Weaverton, Wilson and Zion
Links
National Register of Historic Places
Henderson County Public Library Genealogy Resources
Henderson County History & Genealogy
