Glasgow, Kentucky - American Guide Series on Waymarking.com

"GLASGOW, 112.1 m. (780 alt., 5,042 pop.), a lively, bustling town,
is the business center of a petroleum-producing field. It was named
for Glasgow, Virginia, in 1799. This area was settled by Virginians
who, after the Bluegrass section of Kentucky had been filled, moved
farther west into the Barrens, then an almost treeless plateau. Long
before the advent of the white man, the forests of this region had been burned; the abundance of grass on this prairie provided an excellent grazing ground for big game. The trees of the area are younger and therefore smaller than those of the eastern section of the State. Maj. John Gorin, a soldier of the Revolutionary War, was the first to settle here on a land grant awarded for Revolutionary services. A good spring was the deciding factor in his selection of a site for his home-stead. Soon other settlers, most of them veterans of the Revolutionary War, came to take up land grants. After the formation of the county Major Gorin gave a 50-acre tract, including the spring, as a town site and the settlement grew up about the courthouse square. Early in 1800 the Kentucky Legislature authorized a State road between Lex-ington and Nashville, Tennessee, passing through Glasgow. The first stage traversed this road in 1836.

Among early settlers from Virginia was Alexander E. Spottswood, a
general in the Revolutionary Army and the first lawyer to live here.
He was the grandson of a Colonial Governor of Virginia who married
Elizabeth Lewis, niece of Martha Washington. In addition to the
land grant that General Spottswood received for his war services, he
purchased land in Glasgow, where he built (L) the SPOTTSWOOD HOUSE,
N. Race St., two blocks from the courthouse. It was said to have
been the town's first brick building; it is Georgian Colonial in style, has 28-inch walls, and contains eight rooms and a basement that was used as slave quarters. During the War of 1812 much saltpeter was produced in Barren County. In 1813 a powder mill was erected on Coon Creek and the manufactured product was transported by wagon through Lexington to Philadelphia. An old battery, erected during the War between the States, is on the western edge of the town.

Glasgow is at the junction with State 90 (see Tour 20) and State 80
(see Tour 18)."
-Kentucky: a Guide to the Bluegrass State, 1939
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The city is currently like many others, with many vacant storefonts. Though, this city square is busier than others nearby.

Book: Kentucky Page Number(s) of Excerpt: 294-5 Year Originally Published: 1939

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