City of Elsmere, Kentucky

The year after Kentucky became a state in 1792, the state legislature passed an act that called for the clearing of a wagon road from Frankfort to Cincinnati. This road closely followed the old buffalo road, which ran along the Dry Ridge and became known as Georgetown Road. There was not a town between Covington and Georgetown. In 1813, Robert Johnson and John D. Watkins, owners of the land that would become Elsmere and Erlanger, divided their property into two equal tracts of 1100 acres. Later that year, Johnson sold half of his tract to Bartlett Graves and the other half to John Stansifer. Stansifer was a native of Germany, born in 1744. He first came as an indentured servant to Virginia, where he married Jemima Clore. By 1850, Johns Family had sold all its interest in the property, known as South Erlanger at that time. February 12, 1874 was one of the most important days in Erlanger and Elsmeres history as the trustees of the Cincinnati Southern Railroad announced that they wou...