Fort Spring (Fayette County, KY)

Formerly referred to as Reform and later Slickaway, the community was located on Versailles Road. Slickaway was established by white residents, and in 1826 Henry and Patty Sthreshley sold 1 1/2 acres of land to freeman Henry Clark. A few other African Americans moved to the area.

Following the Civil War, adjoining land owned by Mr. H. W. Worley may also have been sold to African Americans, which added to the population of the community. By 1882, there about 150 African American residents, making them the majority in the community.

Slickaway had a school and a church. In 1890, the community was renamed Fort Spring after a post office was established and named from a local tavern that had a spring under it. The tavern had been used as a fort during the Civil War.

For more see the Kentucky Atlas & Gazetteer; and Negro Hamlets and Gentlemen Farms: a dichotomous rural settlement pattern in Kentucky's Bluegrass Region, by P. C. Smith.