John Bradford and the Kentucke Gazette

He had little experience as a printer or editor, but with Fielding Bradford he started Kentucky’s first newspaper in Lexington, the Kentucke Gazette. The first issue was printed on Aug. 11, 1787, and the paper switched to the modern spelling of the state’s name in 1789.

It had no rival within 500 miles until 1795. After statehood, Bradford printed the first book published in Kentucky, a compilation of the acts of the legislature’s first session in 1792. He served as a Lexington town trustee, in the legislature, and as Fayette County sheriff, and he helped found Transylvania University, chairing its board of trustees from 1793 until his death in 1830.

Beginning in August 1828 he wrote a series of 66 newspaper articles on Kentucky’s early years: the Indian wars, the fight for free use of the Mississippi and the port of New Orleans, and the ten conventions that led to statehood. Those “Notes” are still a valued source on the era.

On his farm north of Lexington he built a Flemish-bond brick house called Fairfield, about 1785–1800. The map pin marks the Kentucky Historical Society’s John Bradford marker (#1864) at 1916 Iron Works Pike.