Here’s Why This Town Is Known as ‘Kentucky’s City of Firsts’

First, last, longest, shortest, oldest, widest. If it's a superlative, I'm here for it. But specifications have to be in place. What is the oldest (fill in the blank) in (fill in the blank). Remove oldest, insert any of the others or the superlative of your choice, and you have one of my favorite searches.

This one, however, fell right into my lap. God bless the algorithm, right? There's a town that's known as Kentucky's City of Firsts. The fact that I've been there and didn't know this is mildly annoying, but I'll get over it. Anyway, let's dig in and learn why Danville has such a special nickname.

Danville - Kentucky's City of Firsts

On June 1st, 1792, Kentucky became the first state west of the Appalachian Mountains to enter statehood, becoming the nation's 15th state. It came to pass after 10 constitutional conventions that were held in Danville. Constitution Square Historic District commemorates the occasion.

That's a mighty important first, but we are not done. Danville, after all, is Kentucky's City of Firsts, so let's see what else "got started" here.

Centre College

One of the South's first liberal arts colleges, Centre College was founded inn 1819. Today, the private institution offers more than 70 majors and minors, offers students the opportunity to study abroad, and offers guaranteed internship programs and undergraduate research. Famous alumni include former vice-presidents John C. Breckinridge and Adlai Stevenson I; Lieutenant Governor Jacqueline Coleman; Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Famer and the legendary former hoops coach at Western Kentucky University, E.A. Diddle; and the legendary voice of the Kentucky Wildcats, the late Cawood Ledford.

First Post Office West of the Allegheny Mountains

While United States Postal Service records indicate that post offices in Ohio opened after 1794, records at Louisville's Filson Historical Society (who acknowledge the Ohio locations) show that the first post office west of the Allegheny Mountains was in Danville. A replica of the original can be found in the city's Constitution Square

Kentucky School for the Deaf

The Kentucky School for the Deaf, founded in April 1823, was the first school for the deaf established west of the Allegheny Mountains. The first three were in the original colonies, in New York, Virginia, and Connecticut. The Kentucky School for the Deaf was also the first of its kind to be supported by public funding.

A Surgical First in Danville

This one I saved for the end because it's a real mind-blower. We have to go all the way back to 1809 to find the world's first successful abdominal surgery, and it happened in Danville, and on Christmas Day. What a "gift." Already considered an excellent surgeon by the time he was 19 years old, Ephraim McDowell opened his Danville practice in 1795 without a medical degree. But his reputation preceded him, and, 14 years later, he was called upon to remove an enormous ovarian cyst; the woman in question thought she had been pregnant for more than a year.

It was considered foolhardy and dangerous, but it was also successful. And it was also one of multiple historical moments that gives Danville its nickname of "Kentucky City of Firsts."