Samuel Haycraft, Jr., in his History of Elizabethtown, wrote in 1869: "For who can tell what Elizabethtown will be with her delightful location, her enterprising and energetic population, her railroad facilities, her fine water, and her surroundings of intelligent and gentlemanly farmers, the best fruit country in the world, and her future manufactories that must spring up, and when it becomes a large city it will be well to look back upon her starting point." Founded in July 1797, Elizabethtown is the Hardin County seat. In 1779, three early settlers, Capt. Thomas Helm, Col. Andrew Hynes, and Col. Samuel Haycraft, built forts with blockhouses to use as stockades for defense against Native Americans. The forts, being one mile apart, formed a triangle. At the time, there were no other settlements between the Ohio River and the Green River. Soon, however, other people came and settled around these forts. Hardin County was established in 1793 and named for Colonel John Hardin, an Indian fighter who had been killed by Native Americans while on a peace mission with tribes in Ohio. It did not take long for the settlement to become an active community. In just a few years, professional men and tradesmen came to live in the area. In 1793, Colonel Hynes had thirty acres of land surveyed and laid off into lots and streets to establish Elizabethtown. Named in honor of the wife of Andrew Hynes, Elizabethtown was legally established on July 4, 1797. Thomas Lincoln was a resident of Hardin County and helped Samuel Haycraft build a millrace at Haycraft's mill on Valley Creek. He married Nancy Hanks in 1806 and they lived in a log cabin built in Elizabethtown. Their daughter, Sarah, was born there in 1808. Soon after, they moved to the Sinking Spring Farm where Abraham Lincoln was born. Thomas Lincoln took his family to Indiana in 1816. After his wife died in 1818, he came back to Elizabethtown and married Sarah Bush Johnston. Sarah had the privilege of rearing ten year-old Abraham. On March 5, 1850 the Commonwealth of Kentucky granted a charter to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company authorizing it to raise funds and built a railroad from Louisville, KentuckyLouisville to the Tennessee state line in the direction of Nashville. John L. Helm, the grandson of Capt. Thomas Helm, became the president of the railroad in October 1854 and through his efforts, the main stem of the road was built through Elizabethtown. The road was completed to Elizabethtown in 1858, the first train arriving on June 15, 1858. The opening of the railroad brought growth and prosperity to Elizabethtown. The community became one of the most important stops along the railroad and a strategic point during the Civil War. On December 27 1862, General John Hunt Morgan and his 3,000-man cavalry attacked Elizabethtown. During the battle more than 100 cannon balls were fired into the town. Although he successfully captured Elizabethtown, his goal was to disrupt the railroad. He proceeded north along the route of the railroad burning trestles and destroying sections of the track. After the battle, one cannon ball was lodged in the side of a building on the Public Square. The building later burned in 1887 and when it was rebuilt the cannon ball was replaced in the side of the building, as close to its original impact as possible, where it remains in the present day. From 1871 to 1873, the Seventh Cavalry and a battalion of the Fourth Infantry, lead by General George Armstrong Custer, were stationed in Elizabethtown. The battalions were stationed in the community to suppress the Ku Klux Klan and Carpet Baggers and to break up illegal distilleries which began to flourish in the South after the Civil War. General Custer and his wife, Elizabeth, lived in a small cottage behind Aunt Beck Hill's boarding house, now known as the Brown-Pusey House. Today Elizabethtown is still a growing community. With a population of over 20,000 persons, the community has a growing industrial and commercial economy. There are also many cultural and recreational opportunities in the area, including the summer concert series at Freeman Lake Park, organized sports, and the Heartland Festival. The City Seal, with the inscription "Elizabethtown, Strong and Growing Since 1779" still rings true today. Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elizabethtown%2C_Kentucky