FRANKFORT, the capital city of Kentucky, U.S.A., and the county seat of Franklin county; on the Kentucky river, 52m. E. of Louisville. It is on Federal highway 6o, and is served by the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Frankfort and Cincinnati and the Louisville and Nashville railways. The population was 9,805 in 192o (23% negroes) and was 11,626 in 1930 by the Federal census. It is in the heart of the "blue grass" region, and surrounded by picturesque hills on both sides of the river. The State capitol (built in 1905-07 at a cost of $2,000,000) is of granite and white limestone, 400ft. long by 185ft. wide, finished on the interior entirely in white marble. The old capitol (1829) is occupied by the State historical society. The State arsenal, the State institu tion for feeble-minded children and the State industrial college (for negroes) are situated here. The city is a trading centre for the rich surrounding country, which produces hemp and tobacco and raises thorough-bred trotting horses. The manufactures in clude twine, lumber, furniture, brooms and shoes. Frankfort was founded in 1786 by Gen. James Wilkinson, became the capital of the State in 1792 (when its population was less than 500) and was chartered as a city in 1839. During the Civil War it was occupied for a short time (in 1862) by Gen. Braxton Bragg (Con federate), who was driven out by Gen. D. C. Buell. In 1900 there was a bitter contest for the governorship, in connection with which the Democratic claimant, William Goebel, was assassinated. Daniel Boone and other national heroes are buried in Frankfort Cemetery.
a city in the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, principally on the right bank of the Main, 24 m. above its confluence with the Rhine at Mainz. Always a place of great trading importance, long the place of election for the German kings, and until 1866, together with Hamburg, Bremen and Lubeck, one of the four free cities of Germany, it is one of the leading commercial centres of Germany. The various stages in the development of the city are clearly indicated in its general plan and the surviving names of many of its streets. The line of the original 12th century walls and moat is marked by street names ending in -graben, from the Hirschgraben on the west to the Wollgraben on the east. These and the river on the south enclose the "old town" (Altstadt). The "new town" (Neustadt), added in 1333, extends to the Anlagen, the gardens and prome nades laid out (1806-1812) on the site of the 17th century forti fications, of which they preserve the general ground plan. Of the mediaeval fortifications the Eschenheimer Tor, a round tower 1S5 ft. high, dating from 1400 to 1428, the Rententurm (1456) on the Main and the Kuhhirtenturm (c. 1490) in Sach senhausen, are the sole remains. Its boundaries have been ex tended in all directions and include Sachsenhausen, where stand the Church and House of the Teutonic Order, Bornheim, and the former Hessian town of Bockenheim.
The main development has been to the north of the river. The Altstadt still preserves many of its mediaeval features. The Judengasse (Ghetto), down to 1806 the sole Jews' quarter, has been pulled down, with the exception of the ancestral house of the Rothschild family. As the Altstadt is mainly occupied by artisans and petty tradesmen, so the Neustadt is the principal business quarter of the city, containing the chief public buildings and the principal hotels.
The Alte Mainbriicke, a red sandstone structure of fourteen arches, 815 ft. long, dates from the 14th century. On it are a mill, a statue of Charlemagne and an iron crucifix surmounted by a gilded cock. Frankfurt lies at the junction of lines from Berlin to Basel, from Cologne to Wiirzburg and Vienna, from Hamburg and Cassel, and from Dresden and Leipzig to France and Switzerland. The river Main has been dredged so as to afford heavy barge traffic with the towns of the upper Main and with the Rhine. Frankfurt is now an important inland port, heavy barges can navigate the Main as far as Aschaffenburg, and canal ization is being carried as far as Wurzburg. The Rhine-Main Danube canal is under reconstruction, and a scheme has been prepared for a waterway to the Weser, which will link Frankfurt with Bremen.
Excavations around the cathedral have suggested that Frank furt-on-Main (Traiectum ad Moenum) was probably founded in the 1st century of the Christian era. The first genuine historical notice of the town occurs in 793, when Einhard, Charlemagne's biographer, tells us that he spent the winter in the villa Frank onovurd. The name "Frankfurt" is also found in several official documents of Charlemagne's reign; and from the notices that occur in the early chronicles and charters it would appear that the place was the most populous at least of the numerous villages of the Main district. During the Carolingian period it was the seat of no fewer than 16 imperial councils of colloquies.
Under the Hohenstaufens many brilliant diets were held within its walls. That of I147 saw, also, the first election of a German king at Frankfurt, in the person of Henry, son of Conrad III. But as the father outlived the son, it was Frederick I., Barbarossa, who was actually the first reigning king to be elected here (in 1152). With the beginning of the 13th century the municipal constitution appears to have taken definite shape. The chief official was the royal bailiff (Schultheiss), who is first mentioned in 1193, and whose powers were subsequently enlarged by the abolition, in of the office of the royal Vogt or advocates. About this time a body of Schoften (scabini, jurats), 14 in number, was formed to assist in the control of municipal affairs, and with their appoint ment the first step was taken towards civic representative govern ment. Soon, however, the activity of the Scho jf en became specifi cally confined to the determination of legal disputes, and in their place a new body (Collegium) of counsellors—Ratmannen—also 14 in number, was appointed for the general administration of local matters. In 131I, the two burgomasters, now chiefs of the municipality, take the place of the royal Schultheiss. In the 13th century Frankfurt Fair (first mentioned in 115o, but clearly of greater antiquity) was largely frequented. By the famous Golden Bull of 1356 Frankfurt was declared the seat of the imperial elec tions, and it still preserves an official contemporaneous copy of the original document as the most precious of the eight imperial bulls in its possession. At the Reformation Frankfurt heartily joined the Protestant party, and in consequence it was hardly treated both by the emperor Charles V. and by the archbishop of Mainz. Between 1612 and 1616 occurred the great Fettmilch insurrection, perhaps the most remarkable episode in the internal history of Frankfurt. The magistracy had been acquiring more and more the character of an oligarchy, all power was practically in the hands of a few closely-related families, and the gravest peculation and malversation took place without hindrance. The ordinary citi zens were roused to assert their rights, and they found a leader in Vincenz Fettmilch, who carried the contest to dangerous excesses, but lacked ability to bring it to a successful issue. An imperial commission was ultimately appointed, and the three principal rebels and several of their associates were executed in 1616. It was not till 18o1 that the last mouldering head of the Fettmilch company dropped unnoticed from the Rententurm, the old tower near the bridge. The insurrection completely destroyed the po litical power of the guilds, gave new strength to the supremacy of the patriciate, and brought no further advantage to the rest of the citizens than a few improvements in the organization and ad ministration of the magistracy. The Jews, who had been attacked by the popular party, were solemnly reinstated by imperial com mand in all their previous privileges, and received full compensa tion for their losses.
The independence of Frankfurt was brought to an end in 18o6, on the formation of the Confederation of the Rhine ; but on the reconstitution of Germany in 1815 it again became a free city, and in the following year it was declared the seat of the German Con federation. In April 1833 occurred what is known as the Frank furt Insurrection (Frankfurter Attentat), in which a number of insurgents led by Georg Bunsen attempted to break up the diet. During the revolutionary period of 1848 the people of Frankfurt, where the united German parliament held its sessions, took a chief part in political movements, and the streets of the town were more than once the scene of conflict. In the war of 1866 they were on the Austrian side. On July 16 the Prussian troops, under Gen. Vogel von Falkenstein, entered the town, and on Oct. 18 it was formally incorporated with the Prussian State. A fine of 6,000,000 florins was exacted. On May I o, 1871 the treaty which concluded the Franco-German War was signed in the Swan hotel by Prince Bismarck and Jules Favre, and it is consequently known as the Peace of Frankfurt.
In the 15th century Frankfurt successfully withstood sieges by the Hussites (1429 and 1432), by the Poles (145o) and by the duke of Sagan (1477). Also in the Thirty Years' War and Napoleonic Wars it suffered much.
The town proper lies on the left bank of the river Oder and is connected by a stone bridge 900 ft. long, with the suburb of Damm. The Evangelical Marienkirche (Oberkirche), a brick edifice of the 13th century with five aisles, and the Rathhaus dating from 1607, and bearing the device of a member of the Hanseatic League, are notable. Frankfurt-on-Oder was long the seat of the court of appeal for the province, but of this it was deprived in 1879. Its industries include the manufacture of machinery, metal ware, chemicals, paper, leather and soap. It has an extensive system of water communication by means of the Oder and its canals to the Vistula and the Elbe. Trade in corn, cattle and wine is fostered by its three annual fairs, held respectively at Reminiscere (the second Sunday in Lent), St. Margaret's day and at Martinmas. In the neighbourhood are extensive coal fields.