Throwback Thursday: Remembering the Revolution

Even though our city was founded 20 years after Americans declared independence from British colonial rule, we thought it would be fun to share the history of how the American Revolution shaped the story of Bowling Green and Warren County.

Let’s start with Major General Joseph Warren. Born in Boston in 1741, he was a doctor with a successful practice who served in the Continental Army under General Washington. Joseph Warren is most famously known for dispatching Paul Revere and William Dawes on April 18th, 1775. Their midnight rides warning Colonial Minutemen militia that the British were coming, were made famous by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow’s Paul Revere’s Ride poem. General Joseph Warren died in the Battle of Bunker Hill in 1775, when Boston was under Redcoat siege. Even British commander General William Howe mourned his death, saying the passing of General Warren was equal to a loss of 500 men. Warren County was approved by the Kentucky State Legislature in December 1796, and officially created on March 1st, 1797. Its 546 square miles of land were taken out of nearby Logan County. The first courthouse was erected at what is now Fountain Square.

The founding of Bowling Green as a county seat came in 1798. One of the namesakes for the city was referencing Bowling Green Park in New York City. At the time, a statue of King George the Third stood in that park, and angry colonists and patriots toppled it during the war, melting it down into lead bullets for Continental Army muskets. During this year’s Independence Day celebrations, think about how Bowling Green’s founders paid homage to these patriots in 1796. These people fought to create our country 20 years before the city was founded.