Kentucky Fun Facts
Information About Kentucky, Kentucky Geography, and Kentucky Schools

Kentucky’s nickname is the “ Bluegrass State.” The actual grass is not blue, but there are small flower buds in the grass that give the usual green a blue haze. When traders would ask for the seeds, they would refer to the buds as “blue grass.” The name caught on, and Kentucky became known as the “ Bluegrass State.”

The capital of Kentucky is Frankfort, but the largest city is Louisville. Louisville is famous for hosting the Kentucky Derby which is also known as “The Fastest Two Minutes in Sports.”

Kentucky residents are referred to as Kentuckians. The state song of Kentucky is “My Old Kentucky Home.” The name Kentucky is of Native American origin and has been attributed to several languages with several possible meanings. Some are "land of tomorrow," “ meadow lands,” “ cane,” and “turkey lands,” or dark and bloody ground.

The state symbols for Kentucky include the cardinal as the state bird, the Goldenrod as the state flower, and Tulip Tree as the state tree.

Kentucky is surrounded by Colorado, Missouri, Nebraska, and Oklahoma. The Ohio River and the Mississippi River run through Kentucky.

There were 656,089 K12 students in the Kentucky public schools in 1996. Out of those students 48,209 were first grade students. There were also 39,331 k12 public school teachers in the Kentucky public schools system. There were a total of 1,407 Kentucky public schools in 1996. (Source: IES National Center for Education Statistics)