BOYD, KENTUCKY, USA

Look it up on a map and the town is called Boyd, Kentucky. But over 200 years ago, it was nothing more than the spot where the Covington and Lexington railroad lines crossed near the south fork of the Licking River.

Because of its convenient location between the burgeoning cities of Cincinnati and Lexington, workers built a water station and coal supply for trains passing through. Andrew Boyd, Sr., a soldier in the War of 1812, liked what he saw and became one of the first settlers of the region, opening a distillery there along with his home.

Then came Thomas Boyd, who saw the growing village and decided to establish a trading post there on Dec. 8, 1854. To honor his ancestor who first staked his claim on the region, he named it “Boyd’s Station.” 

The town kept growing, adding a depot, bank, telephone exchange, mill, tobacco warehouse, two stores and two churches. By 1880, village residents decided to simply call their home town Boyd.