City (pop., 2000: 260,512), northern central Kentucky, U.S. Named in 1775 for Lexington, Mass.
, after the Battles of Lexington and Concord , it was chartered in 1782 and was the site of the first session of the Kentucky legislature (1792). Incorporated as a city in 1832, it merged with Fayette county in 1974 to create an urban county government. It is the seat of Transylvania University (founded 1780) and the University of Kentucky, and it is also the headquarters of the American Thoroughbred Breeders Association.