Pleasureville, Kentucky

History

In 1784, 30-odd Dutch Huguenot families colonizing present-day Mercer County purchased 10,000 acres (4,000 ha) from Squire Boone. They erected a fort for their protection about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) east of present-day north Pleasureville. Their land was held and cultivated in common, but managed by Abraham Banta. It was variously known as "The Dutch Tract", the "Low Dutch Settlement" or "Station", and "Bantatown", but the post office was established as "Pleasureville" c. 1828, and the city was incorporated under that name in 1842.

Rennick relates the local story that it derived from a visitor expressing what a pleasure it was to stay among such pleasant people. This story was also detailed in an autobiography of Isaac Newton LeCompte in 1919, where he noted, "My Great Uncle, Major Joe LeCompte, who was a politician as well as a soldier, upon his rounds as a candidate for Congress (he was elected four terms) frequently passed through this village and upon one occasion he remarked that every time he passed through he heard the men whistling and the woman singing and suggested that the town should be named Pleasureville, and so it was." Others say the area of the post office housed a bordello (at the site of the later Pleasureville Hotel and a present-day apartment building).

From the History section of Pleasureville, Kentucky on Wikipedia, under CC BY-SA 4.0.