1807 - 2007 The 200th Anniversary of a unique place
The year 2007 marks the 200-year anniversary of the founding of Manchester and Clay
County. The county came first, the result of an act of the legislature in Dec. 1806, which
became official April 1, 1807. There was no town for a seat of government, much less a
courthouse, when the new court met on April 13th. They met in a private home at Tan
Yard, a small scattering of cabins that had grown up around the Langford Salt Works at
what is now the mouth of the Y Hollow. This tiny community was the closest thing the
county had to a community but not suitable for a county seat.
The next term, in May, the court ordered that a permanent seat of justice be established
on land donated by a group of salt men on a ten-acre knob of land that became known as
Court House Hill. Curiously, the first building authorized for the new town was a jail.
It wasn't until the June term that a name of the town was chosen. Later, it was determined
that there was already a Greenville, Kentucky. During the Dec. 1807 term, the court
ordered that the name be changed to Manchester, in honor of the great British industrial
center. The court authorized $100 for the building of a temporary court house, which was
less than a fourth that authorized for the jail. The first mention of holding court in the
courthouse in the new town of Manchester was the April, 1808 term during which John
Murphy was indicted for selling three half pints of whiskey.
It is clear that Manchester was unconventional from the start, having come into being as
an act of government, not as the result of congregation or commerce the way most
communities begin. The new county was no less so. It seems to have been established as
a way to have closer government scrutiny of the new salt industry, which by 1806 was
becoming one of the most important industries in the state. Kentucky's second governor,
James Garrard, had already acquired large holdings here and sent his son, Daniel, to Clay
County to establish a salt works. Other wealthy salt men were already here.
The arrival of the salt men coincided almost exactly with the arrival of their opposites,
land-hungry immigrants who were discovering that all the land in the Blue Grass had
already been taken by 1800. It is this mix of the ambitious salt families - wealthy,
powerful and educated - with the powerless, largely Scotch/Irish settlers, who wanted
nothing so much as to just be left alone, that scholars account for the roots of the unique
character of Manchester and Clay County.
This character has resulted in widely publicized unruliness at times - the notorious feuds
were largely the result of the powerful using surrogates to fight their battles; the slave-
owning salt families were at odds with the largely pro-Union populace before and during
the Civil War - but has produced a populace that includes people of uncommon purpose,
valor, and achievement. One small, poor community alone on the edge of Manchester
boasts several Ph.Ds, physicians, educators and a governor/federal judge. It is awareness
of this unique history that can help shape Manchester and Clay County in the coming
decades as a community of people who take a back seat to no one in the Commonwealth.
Written by Charles House, Manchester, KY.
Charles has just released his new book about rediscovering his family members who helped to settle Clay County. The first 150 years of our history was intregal to the settling of the West as hundres of thousands passed throught the Cumberland Gap. The toils and perils of early settler life in and around Clay County. "Blame It on Salt" reminds of us of what brought most of our people to Manchester, salt. In the late 1700's and up through the Civil War Manchester was a leading producer of salt in the U.S. To read and excerpt from the book and order a copy visit www.pubthis.com
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