Junction City, KY

Junction City is a Boyle County home-rule city in a broad valley south of Danville, with a small piece extending into Lincoln County. The 2020 census counted 2,268 residents. Shelby Street runs between the Cincinnati Southern tracks and U.S. 127, giving the city a long, straight transportation spine. The place began as Gore, became Goresburgh, and finally became Junction City when the railroad arrived.

That name change tells the whole local story. A post office opened in 1880, but the railroad gave the settlement its purpose and its current name. The southeastern part of town was once a separate place called Shelby City, named for Kentucky governor Isaac Shelby. Today, the county line cuts through the school arrangement: Boyle County students attend Boyle County Schools, while the Lincoln County section belongs to Lincoln County’s district. Junction City is a rail town with two counties under one city sign. The tracks and the county line still do most of the orienting.