Boyle County

Boyle County, the ninety-fourth in order of formation, is located in the Bluegrass region. It is bordered by Casey, Garrard, Marion, Mercer, and Washington counties and has an area of 182 square miles. The county was formed from Lincoln and Mercer counties on February 15, 1842, and was named in honor of Judge John Boyle, former chief justice of the Kentucky court of appeals. The seat of Boyle County is Danville, located in the eastern part of the county. The topography of Boyle County is gently rolling to hilly, with rich, productive soil. Tobacco, corn, and hay are the primary agricultural products. Beef and dairy cattle are also raised in large numbers on the farms of the county. The principal waterways in Boyle County are the Dick's (Dix), Chaplin, and Salt rivers, and many creeks flow through the area.

The area that became Boyle County was one of the first settled in Kentucky. In 1774 James Harrod erected a cabin in what is now Danville. In 1787 the town of Danville was established by an act of the Virginia legislature, making it one of the oldest communities in the commonwealth. Isaac Shelby, the first governor of Kentucky (1792-1796), made his home at Travelers Rest, six miles south of Danville.

Around 1781, James Harberson established a fort at Perryville, seven miles west of Danville on the Chaplin River. The town was laid out there in 1815 at the junction of roads leading from Danville to Springfield and from Harrodsburg to Lebanon. It was named in honor of Oliver Hazard Perry's victory on Lake Erie in 1813. On October 8, 1862, the largest Civil War battle in Kentucky was fought in the area surrounding the small crossroads village. About thirty buildings in and around the city are of historical interest for their association with the battle. Two miles northwest of the city is the Perryville Battlefield State Shrine, a museum and a cemetery that includes some of the battlefield.

Because Boyle County was a rich agricultural region, recovery from the war was rapid. Industrial growth took place after the coming of the railroads. In 1866 the Louisville & Nashville Railroad's Lebanon branch crossed the southern part of the county east-west. In 1882 the Cincinnati Southern Railroad (now the Norfolk Southern) made a north-south connection with the L&N four miles south of Danville. The city that grew along the railroad became known as Junction City and, along with Danville and Perryville, is one of the three incorporated towns in the county. Junction City, in which the major industry is the Penn Ventilator Company, is largely residential.

Throughout the twentieth century, most of Boyle County has remained primarily agricultural. Commercial and residential growth in and around Danville and along U.S. 127 increased during the mid1960s and continued during the 1970s and 1980s. Nevertheless, in 1987 farms still occupied 89 percent of the county. Tourism is an important county industry and was directly or indirectly responsible for 430 county jobs in 1988.

The population of Boyle County was 21,090 in 1970; 25,066 in 1980; 25,641 in 1990; and 27,697 in 2000.