Lexington history: First stagecoach began running in 1803, making travel easier

Editor’s Note: As Lexington celebrates the 250th anniversary of its founding, the Herald-Leader and kentucky.com each day throughout 2025 will share interesting facts about our hometown. Compiled by Liz Carey, all are notable moments in the city’s history — some funny, some sad, others heartbreaking or celebratory, and some just downright strange.

Lexington had a stagecoach just like other cities out west, and the first one started running in 1803.

As the ‘Athens of the West,’ Lexington was known for its arts, education and business in the years after its founding. But it also served as a gateway to the west, and that meant having stagecoaches to access other areas of the country.

The city’s first stagecoach line to Winchester started in August 1803.

Established by John Kennedy, it was the first regular stagecoach service in Kentucky and ran from Lexington to Olympian Springs at Mud Lick in Bath County, with stops in Winchester and Mt. Sterling. Before the arrival of railroads and cars, stagecoaches were the preferred way to travel longer distances, on four wheels and pulled by a team of horses.

But taking the stagecoach meant getting up early. It left Lexington on Thursdays at 4 a.m. and arrived in Olympian Springs later the same day. In comparison, it takes a little under an hour to drive from Lexington to Olympian Springs today.

The typical stagecoach traveled between five and 12 miles per hour, depending on the terrain and road conditions. For example, the 2,812 mile trip from Tipton, Missouri, to San Francisco, California, would take about 25 days, and averaged about four and a half miles per hour.

The cost for the trip from Lexington to Olympian Springs? Twenty-one shillings, roughly $5 in 1803, or about $140 today.

Each passenger was allowed 10 pounds of baggage and would have been charged 3 cents per pound (about $1 a pound) if they went over.

During the legislative session of the General Assembly in Frankfort, the stagecoach left Lexington at daybreak on Monday and Friday and departed Frankfort at noon on Tuesday and Saturday. The journey from Lexington to Frankfort took about four hours.

Until the 1880s, stagecoaches were the preferred way to travel long distances. The last stagecoach line in Kentucky ran from Burnside to Monticello in 1915, according to Sam Terry’s Kentucky history blog.

Have a question or story idea related to Lexington’s 250-year history? Let us know at 250LexKy@gmail.com.