Frankfort, Kentucky

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Hilltop view of Frankfort in 2007.

Open Street Map view of Kentucky, showing neighboring cities of Frankfort.

Frankfort, Kentucky is the capital of the U.S. state of Kentucky and the seat of Franklin County. The town is located along the Kentucky River. As of 2020, the population of the town itself was 28,602, and the greater metropolitan area (including parts of neighboring counties) had 66,798 people. Frankfort is one of the smallest state capitals in the United States by population.

Before Frankfort was founded, the site was a ford across the Kentucky River, along one of the great buffalo trails used as highways in colonial times. English explorers first visited the area in the 1750s. The site evidently received its name after an incident in 1780, when pioneer Stephen Frank was killed in a skirmish with Native Americans; the crossing was named "Frank's Ford" in his memory. In 1786, the Virginia legislature designated 100 acres as the town of Frankfort and, after Kentucky became a state in 1792, Frankfort was chosen as capital.

The city is located in the inner Bluegrass region of Kentucky. The Kentucky River passes through the center of town; the Downtown and South Frankfort districts are opposite one another on each side of the river. The suburban areas on either side of the river valley are known as East and West Frankfort. Because of the city's location on the Kentucky River, it has flooded many times, with the two highest recorded floods occurring in 1937 and 1978. The North Frankfort levee, finished in 1969, and the South Frankfort floodwall, built in the 1990s, were constructed for flood protection. Five bridges cross the river in downtown Frankfort.

Frankfort does not have a commercial airport and travelers fly into Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, the closest, or Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport near Covington, Kentucky, or Louisville International Airport in Louisville, Kentucky. The Capital City Airport in Frankfort serves general and military aviation.

Kentucky State University is located with the Frankfort city limits. KSU (also known as KYSU) is a public historically black university and an 1890 land-grant institution.^[1]

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