City of Mount Washington City Map Poster

About City of Mount Washington

Mount Washington is part of the Louisville Metropolitan Statistical Area. It was named for George Washington, who surveyed the area in 1770 and camped on a hill that overlooks downtown Mount Washington. In 1848, John Wesley Hunt purchased land along Salt River to establish a town he called "Hunt's Station". The community later became known as "Mt. Pleasant" after an early inn built by William Hargis at what is now Broadway and 2nd Street (the building still stands). In 1853, residents renamed it Mt. Vernon after President George Washington's Virginia home; however this name did not stick either because another Kentucky town already had that name (and still does). Finally in 1860 local resident Richard Girdner suggested they call it Mount Washington instead to commemorate both its lofty elevation above sea level and its location near where General George Rogers Clark crossed the Ohio River during his campaign against British forces at Fort Nelson during the American Revolution.[3] The city formally incorporated under this name on April 16, 1861.