Keene, Kentucky

Keene is a Jessamine county city at the junction of the Keene-Versailles and Troy-Keene Roads about six miles northwest of Nicholasville. It was founded in 1794 with a mill and may have initially been known as hardscrabble. The town was laid out about 1813 and named Liberty. Several early settlers were from Keene, New Hampshire and by 1830 the town was known as Keene.

The Keene post office opened in 1830. There may have been a North Liberty post office in briefly in 1830.

Keene was incorporated in 1844.

The Keene post office opened in 1830.

The population of Keene in 2020 was 100.

Keene was once a popular resort because of a nearby spring and supported a hotel and rail line. Many people from Lexington moved to Keene during the cholera epidemics of 1833 and 1849. The Keene Springs Hotel, which operated into the twentieth century, is on the National Register of Historic Places. The first section of the hotel was built in the 1840s and it was expanded over the years.

A few miles southwest of Keene is the Ebenezer Church, established in 1793. Originally built of logs, the current structure was completed in 1803.

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© 2024 David C. Elbon