West Point, KY

West Point had 952 residents in 2020, in a former bend of the Ohio River where the Salt River joins it. The first settlers arrived in 1776, and a permanent settlement followed in 1796 after the Greenville treaties. James Young founded the town, which took its name from its position as the westernmost outpost in the early settlement period. That river setting made West Point a port community, and Dixie Highway now passes just east of downtown on its way between Louisville and Elizabethtown.

Fort Duffield, built on a hill above the town in 1861, is the clearest reminder of West Point’s Civil War-era role. The later military story runs through Camp Young in 1903, Camp Knox in 1918, and the creation of Fort Knox in 1932. A 1926 Rosenwald School and the story of the town’s 1956 school desegregation add a different layer to the local record. Downtown, the National Register historic district, river walk, Veterans Memorial Park, museum, and boat ramp keep the Ohio River setting visible in everyday life.