Return to Harrison County, KY

1847 Collins History of Kentucky

1847 Collins History of Kentucky

An Excerpt Describing Havilandsville

H A R R I S O N  C O U N T Y .

 . . .

          The towns and villages of the county are Cynthiana, Broadwell, Claysville, Colemansville, Havelandville and Leesburg.  CYNTHIANA, the county seat and chief town, is situated on the right bank of the south fork of Licking, thirty-seven miles from Frankfort.  It contains the usual county buildings, three churches (Methodist, Presbyterian and —–), five physicians, ten lawyers, thirteen stores, six groceries, two taverns, one academy, two common schools, one drug store, one auction store, one rope walk and bagging factory, one wool factory, on job printing office, two tanneries, one masonic lodge, 30 mechanics’ shops, market house, &c., Population about 1,000.  Incorporated in 1802, and named after Cynthia and Anna, two daughters of Mr. Robert Harrison, the original proprietor.

Claysville is situated at the mouth of Beaver creek, on Main Licking–contains a Republican church, two taverns, on physician, three stores, one merchant mill, three tobacco factories, one woolen factory and fulling mill, two warehouses, and about fifty inhabitants.  Formerly called Marysville, but changed in 1821 to its present name, in honor of Henry Clay.  Colemansville is thirteen miles north-west of Cynthiana–contains four stores and groceries, one church, one tavern, four physicians, eight mechanics’ shops, and about one hundred inhabitants.  Incorporated in 1831, and called after Robert Coleman, the original proprietor.  Havelandville is a small manufacturing town, owned by a gentleman named Haveland, containing a cotton mill, and a large number of small residences.  Leesburg is situated ten miles west of Cynthiana, and contains three churches (Episcopal, Reformed, and Republican), five stores and groceries, one tavern, one wool factor, seven mechanic’s shops, and one bagging factory and rope walk.

SOURCE:  Collins, Lewis, History of Kentucky, Lexington, Ky.:  Henry Clay Press, 1968, pp. 340-344 (A reprint of the 1847 ‘History of Kentucky’ by Lewis Collins)