THE CITY OF LEXINGTON, COMMONWEALTH OF KENTUCKY, 1942
POPULATION: 208,033 (1939 Census)
After the six-year American War of Secession, Europeans brokered a truce between the United States and the Confederate States. One of the main outcomes of the Treaty of Bermuda (1862) was the formation of the two neutral countries of Kentucky and Kansas between the two American rivals. As tensions rose once again in the decade after the war, diplomats from Europe and the neutral American countries developed a forum for grievances between the major countries of North America. This institution, christened as the North American Combine, was founded in 1871. The Commonwealth of Kentucky volunteered to host the diplomatic endeavor in the city of Lexington. The institution was housed at the estate of Henry Clay, a pre-war US Secretary of State from Kentucky.
Thus began Lexington’s history as one of the world’s great Diplomatic Cities. A generation later, as war loomed on the European Continent, leaders from the countries of North American sought to diffuse the crisis by proposing a global equivalent to itself -- a global combine. This International Combine, as it was to be called, would provide a place for diplomacy for an ever-smaller world.
Europe balked. Leaders of the great states of Europe gallantly stated that they did not need such a forum like the “young republics of America” did. Thus, North America watched as the European continent descended into chaos. Seven years and 8 million dead later, the inaugural session of the International Combine was held in 1927, also in Lexington.
In the 15 years since the founding of the International Combine, the number of countries that have built embassies or consulates in Lexington has risen from the 14 North American countries to 40 from around the world, while many others have diplomatic missions located in the Kentucky national capital of Frankfort 50km to the west. Nearly all of the missions in Lexington are located in the Diplomatic District on the southeast side of town in close proximity to the International Combine campus.
Autoroute 1 connects the three great cities of Kentucky. Known as the “K1”, the limited-access highway connects Lexington to Kentucky’s capital Frankfort and to Louisville, Kentucky’s center of commerce and banking. The K1 Corridor has some of the highest building densities in North America due to this clustering of industries and Kentucky’s implementation of DRSRA zoning.
In order to preserve the quality horse breeding areas in the region, Lexington enacted North America’s first DRSRA zoning (Designated Rural and Semi-Rural Areas) in 1923. The cities of Frankfort and Louisville followed suit soon after, with nationwide legislation in 1927. Development in these rural and semi-rural areas are limited to farmsteads and other agricultural uses or forestry activities. Cities are allowed to expand into these areas by de-zoning a DRSRA area, but only with approval of Kentucky’s National Rural Zoning Board.
As mentioned above, the Lexington region features some of the leading thoroughbred horse racing programs in the world. Its two racetracks, the Red Mile and the Kentucky Raceway, host two of the three thoroughbred races that comprise the Kentucky Crown: the Red Cup and the Lexington Stakes. A fierce rivalry exists between breeders from Lexington, Louisville, southern Kentucky, and the neighboring Confederate state of Tennessee.
In addition to being known as a city of Diplomacy, Lexington is also one of Kentucky’s centers of Higher Education. The city is home to two world-class universities: the University of Kentucky and Transylvania University. The University of Kentucky, known more colloquially as “UK”, is the younger of the two universities, founded in 1864 in the wake of the American War of Succession. It is a public land-grant university known best for its programs in in Science, Technology, and Engineering. Transylvania University, a private college founded in 1780, is better known for its specializations in diplomacy, political science, philosophy, and religious studies, and has produced Kentucky’s last five Presidents. The two colleges contribute to Kentucky’s high education levels and high standard of living.
