Welcome To Lexington SAFeDATA

The University of Kentucky fields 22 varsity sports teams, most of which compete in the Southeastern Conference. The most famous team by far is the men`s basketball team, led by head coach Billy Gillispie. The Kentucky Men`s Basketball team has won 7 NCAA Championships and is the winningest program in college basketball history.

Lexington was founded in June 1775 in what was then Virginia (15 years before Kentucky became a state in 1792). A party of frontiersmen, led by William McConnell, camped on the Middle Fork of Elkhorn Creek (today called Town Branch and rerouted under Vine Street) at the location known today as McConnell Springs. Upon hearing of the colonists` victory in the Battles of Lexington and Concord, on April 19, 1775, they named their campsite Lexington after Lexington, Massachusetts. Due to the danger of Indian attacks, lasting settlement was delayed for four years. In 1779, Colonel Robert Patterson and 25 companions came from Fort Harrod and erected a blockhouse. Cabins and a stockade were soon built, making the fort a place of importance. The town of Lexington was established on May 6, 1782, by an act of the Virginia General Assembly.

By 1820, it was one of the largest and wealthiest towns west of the Allegheny Mountains. So cultured was its lifestyle, Lexington gained the nickname "Athens of the West." One early prominent citizen, John Wesley Hunt, became the first 1,000,000aire west of the Alleghenies. Slaves were widely held and used as laborers, field hands and domestic servants in Kentucky. In 1850, 1/5 of the state`s populus were slaves, and Lexington had the highest concentration of slaves in the state. However, the state attempted to remain neutral during the Civil War. Not only were both Abraham Lincoln and Confederate President Jefferson Davis born in Kentucky (less than one year and 100 miles (200 km) apart), but both had spent time in Lexington. Davis attended Transylvania University in 1823 and 1824. Lincoln`s wife, Mary Todd Lincoln, was born and raised in Lexington; the couple visited the city several times after their marriage in 1842.

Fayette County consists of 285.5 sq miles (739.4 km²), mostly gently rolling plateau, in the center of the inner Bluegrass Region. The area is noted for its beauty, fertile soil, excellent pastureland, and horse and stock farms. Poa pratensis (bluegrass) thrives on the limestone beneath the soil`s surface, playing a major role in the area`s scenic beauty and in the development of champion horses. Numerous small creeks rise and flow into the Kentucky River.

Lexington is in the transition area between a humid continental weather (Köppen Dfa)and a humid subtropical weather (Köppen Cfa). Summers are hot and humid, and winters are moderately cold with mild periods.

Lexington has the dubious distinction of being recognized as a high allergy area by the Asthma and Allergy Foundation of America. The results for the spring of 2006 rank Lexington at 75th.