Our gig at A Reader’s Corner in Louisville prompted this trivia question – How did Louisville become Louisville?

The present day city is located near what was once a rapids in the Ohio River. The river drops about 26 feet over a few miles and created the only serious navigation hazard in the 18th Century. Settlements grew on both sides of the river where boats needed to be portaged.

The first settlement (during the American Revolution) was on an island in the river which is now submerged. At the time, the Commonwealth of Virginia claimed modern-day Kentucky as part of the Commonwealth. It granted a charter to a settlement on the southern side of the Ohio River.

Everyone knows (or should know) that France aided America during the American Revolution against the British. So the Virginia General Assembly decided to name the settlement after King Louis XVI of France.

The French didn’t think as highly of Louis as did the Virginians. Louis was beheaded in 1793 during the French Revolution.