Edmonton-Metcalfe County

Sesquicentennial Proclamation

            IN ORDER THAT THE CITY OF EDMONTON AND THE COUNTY OF METCALFE BE PROPERLY AND APPROPRIATELY CELEBRATED DURING THIS SESQUICENTENNIAL YEAR, WE PROCLAIM THAT:

               WHEREAS, reliably documented sources confirm that the town of Edmonton was settled as a result of the sacrifice, work and vision of Edmund

Rogers, and that, although perhaps somewhat less well documented, sources suggest that it was given the name of Edmunton as a tribute to Edmund Rogers, and the at the spelling was changed, perhaps by mistake, when in 1826 the Post Office Department established the Edmonton Post Office; nonetheless, on matters of greater consequence, historians for the most part, agree that records conclusively establish as fact, the events set forth in this Proclamation and

             WHEREAS, Edmund Rogers, Revolutionary War veteran, and cousin to General George Rogers Clark and William Clark, after surveying General Clark’s military land grant along the Ohio River in 1783, began the following year surveying his own military grant along the Barren River and its tributaries, and

             WHEREAS, Rogers thereafter, settled upon a portion of that land lying on the South Fork of Little Barren River, and in 1800 surveyed and laid off the site of what was to become the town of Edmonton, and

             WHEREAS, gradually, as settlers began to move west into the new State of Kentucky, Edmonton surrounded by great timberland, many fresh water streams and an abundance of game began to attract greater numbers of settlers searching for opportunities in the new west, and by March 1826, the first United States Post Office was established in Edmonton changing its image from that of a trading post to a more permanent settlement, and           

            WHEREAS, by an act of the Kentucky Legislature in 1836, the settlement of Edmonton became officially established as a town, gradually becoming the largest population center in Barren County east of Glasgow, and

             WHEREAS, in the late 1850s railroad related taxation issues emerged in Barren County giving impetus to an ongoing effort to create a separate county from the eastern precincts of Barren County, and

             WHEREAS, effective as of the 1^st day of May 1860, Metcalfe became the 106^th county in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, being named in honor of Kentucky’s 10^th governor, Thomas Metcalfe, and

             WHEREAS, by the previous action of the General Assembly a committee was appointed to determine the county seat of the new county, whereupon Edmonton was chosen by virtue of its geographically central location; however, a disagreement as to its central location resulted in a survey of the county to make such a determination, and

             WHEREAS, upon the completion of the survey it was established that the exact center of the county was one-half mile form the public square in Edmonton at the site of Dr. Beauchamp ‘s mill dam ( on the South Fork of Little Barren River). And

             WHEREAS, among the growth and improvements experienced by the new county and its seat of government was a new courthouse; however, within one year following the creation of the new county the Civil War began, and

             WHEREAS, one month before the end of that war a band of Confederate guerrillas attacked Edmonton, looting and plundering homes and stores and burned the recently built courthouse and all its records, and

             WHEREAS, through the course of history of Edmonton and Metcalfe County its citizens have endured hard times and sacrifices; its sons have answered the call to serve in every war beginning  with the Civil War and continuing through this day, and

             WHEREAS, this being the 150^th anniversary year of the creation of Metcalfe County and of Edmonton as the county seat, and

             WHEREAS, the citizens of Edmonton and Metcalfe County, having an appreciation for the sacrifice and struggles endured by our forbears in the  development of the town of Edmonton and the county of Metcalfe, we deem it right and proper that a period of acknowledgement and celebration be commenced on this day.

             THEREFORE, we, Howard Garrett, Mayor of the City of Edmonton, and Greg Wilson, County Judge Executive of Metcalfe County, do PROCLAIM AND DECLARE that the period beginning on the 1^st day of May 2010 and continuing until the 6^th day of September 2010, shall be set aside as the Period of Celebration of the Sesquicentennial of Edmonton and Metcalfe County.

             WITNESS our hands this 21^st day of May 2010.