Аппалач таулары батысындағы ең көне қала – Гарродсбург тарихы

Harrodsburg is a home rule class city in Mercer County, Kentucky, United States. It is the seat of its county. The population was 9,064 at the 2020 census. Although Harrodsburg was formally established by the Virginia House of Burgesses after Boonesborough and was not incorporated by the Kentucky legislature until 1836, it was honored by President Franklin D. Roosevelt as the oldest permanent American settlement west of the Appalachians.

Harrodstown (sometimes Harrod's Town) was laid out and founded by James Harrod on June 16, 1774. Harrod led a company of adventurers totaling 31 men, beginning in the spring of 1774 at Fort Redstone in Pennsylvania down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers in canoes and through a series of other rivers and creeks to the town's present day location. Later that same year, amid Dunmore's War, Lord Dunmore sent two men to warn the surveyors of imminent Shawnee attacks, Daniel Boone and Michael Stoner, who are said to have completed the round trip of 800 miles in 61 days. Regardless, the pioneers remained for a few weeks until a man was killed by the natives, when the settlement was abandoned and resettled the following year by March. It was one of three settlements in present day Kentucky at the time the Thirteen Colonies declared independence in 1776, along with Logan's Fort and Boonesborough. Also known as Oldtown, Harrodstown was the first seat of Virginia's Kentucky (1776), Lincoln (1780), and Mercer (1785) Counties upon their formations. It remains the seat of Mercer County in Kentucky. A census taken between Dec. 16, 1777, and Oct. 16, 1778, James Harrod, Hugh McGary, Isaac Hite and his cousins, Isaac and John Bowman, David Glenn, along with his brother Thomas, and Silas Harlan, with his brother James, had accompanied Harrod on his initial expedition in 1774.

The Kentucky General Assembly incorporated Harrodsburg in 1836.

Pioneer Memorial Park (now Old Fort Harrod State Park) was opened on June 16, 1927. In 1936, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt honored the city with a monument honoring the "first permanent settlement west of the Appalachians".

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 5.3 square miles (14 km2), all land.

U. S. 127 runs north–south through Harrodsburg. U. S. 127 Bypass goes around Harrodsburg. U. S. 68 runs east–west through the city, but U. S. 68 turns onto U. S. 127 some of the time in Harrodsburg. KY 152 also runs east–west through the area.

Harrodsburg is in the humid subtropical climate zone, although verging on a humid continental climate. Summers are hot and humid, and winters are cool with mild periods. Average high is 87 °F in July and August, the warmest months, with the average lows of 26 °F in January, the coolest month. The highest recorded temperature was 105 °F in September 1954. The lowest recorded temperature was −18 °F in January 1985. Average annual precipitation is , with the wettest month being May, averaging .

As of the 2020 United States Census, 9,064 people and 4,088 households were residing in the city. The racial makeup of the city was 87.0% White, 6.5% African American, 0.6% Native American, 1.6% Asian, and 4.2% of two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos were 3.7% of the population. The population density was with 4,128 housing units. had an average density of
Of the 4,088 households, 27.1% had children under 18 living with them, 31% were married couples living together, 33.1% had a female householder with no spouse present, and 31.4% were male householders with no spouse present. About 25.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.8% had someone living alone who was 65 or older. The average household size was 2.16, and the average family size was 3.16. In 2021, the city's age distribution was 20.6% under 18, 9.2% from 18 to 24, 7.7%% from 25 to 29, and 25.9% who were 60 or older. The median age was 39.5 years. Female persons comprised 48.7 percent of residents in 2020. The median income for a household in the city was US $41,839 (in 2021). The per capita income for the city was $24,242. About 15.5% of the population was below the poverty line, including 20.8% of those under age 18 and 21.6% of those age 65 or over.

Harrodsburg has a lending library, the Mercer County Public Library.

Hitachi Astemo is based in Harrodsburg. Corning Incorporated has a plant located in Harrodsburg that makes Gorilla Glass.