Harrodstown (sometimes Harrod's Town) was laid out and founded by James Harrod on June 16, 1774.[7][8] Harrod led a company of adventurers totaling 31 men, beginning in the spring of 1774 at Fort Redstone in Pennsylvania[9] down the Monongahela and Ohio Rivers in canoes and through a series of other rivers and creeks to the town's present-day location.[10]
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.[11][12] 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 Coloniesdeclared 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.[13] It remains the seat of Mercer County in Kentucky.[14]
A census taken between Dec. 16, 1777, and Oct. 16, 1778,[10] lists 52 residents, several of whom were well-known pioneers and frontiersmen, including Daniel Boone's younger brother, Squire Boone, Silas Harlan, the Kentucky county's namesake,[15] James Harrod, Hugh McGary, Isaac Hite and his cousins, Isaac and John Bowman,[10] and David Glenn, who later travelled further west and settled in Yellow Banks (present Daviess County).[16] David Glenn, along with his brother Thomas, and Silas Harlan, with his brother James, had accompanied Harrod on his initial expedition in 1774.[10]
During the Civil War, the town was pro-Confederate,[13] but Union control permitted the organization two Union regiments, the 19th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Infantry and the 11th Regiment Kentucky Volunteer Cavalry. The 19th Infantry as organized at nearby Camp Harwood for a three-year enlistment commencing January 2, 1862, under the command of ColonelWilliam J. Landram. Companies A, C, D, and F of the 11th Kentucky Cavalry were organized at Harrodsburg, Kentucky, in July 1862. The remainder of the regiment was organized in Louisville, Kentucky, and mustered in on September 26, 1862, for three years service under the command of Colonel Alexander W. Holeman. Following the Battle of Perryville, much of the city was converted into makeshift hospitals; 1600 sick and wounded Confederate soldiers were captured during a raid by the 9th Kentucky Cavalry under Lieutenant Colonel John Boyle on October 10, 1862. The city then remained under martial law for the remainder of the war.[13]
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".[13]
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 45.73 inches (1,162 mm), with the wettest month being May, averaging 4.68 inches (119 mm).[21]
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.[27]
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.[28] Female persons comprised 48.7 percent of residents in 2020.[29]
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.[30]
Harrodsburg's Beaumont Inn (1917–present) was known as the Christian Baptist School (1830–1833), Greeneville Institute (1841–1856), Daughters' College (1856–1893),[8] Young Ladies College (1893–1894), Beaumont College (1895–1915), and Daughters' College (1916), prior to becoming Beaumont Inn.[32]
