City's transformation
When thinking of Lexington Kentucky, the image of riding horse mostly comes into people’s mind. As the second-largest city in the Kentucky, Lexington is an inland city that does not play a significant role in shipping transport as Cincinnati; Pittsburgh; Louisville do. However, it boasts its own geographic advantages in fertile limestone soil, rich plateau land and mild climate in the center of Kentucky’s Bluegrass Region. After 1788, the first racecourse was constructed and a desirable environment for raising horses was successfully developed, Lexington started to be known as “Horse Capital of the World”. [3] Every year horse race attracts a large number of professionals and tourists come here, which financially supports this city’s prosperity. The original reason why a city has been established usually relates to original geographic feature. For instance, people prefer to settle along the river to access water for irrigation or migrate to a rich land for cultivation. In Lexington, the natural resource is a critical point, which largely determines this city’s primary function and image. In 1800s, Lexington unfortunately lost its size due to the invention of the steamboat. River cities became much more important as major metropolitan hubs other than inner cities. The success of steamboat became an important landmark event that restricted Lexington’s further development. Eventually, Lexington lost its position of trading center. Then Lexington didn’t focus on heavy industry like Cincinnati and Pittsburgh did. Instead, it put an effort to develop light industry and modern technology, which now could be considered as a rather wise decision. |