Lexington is a town of around 260,000 people, located in central Kentucky. For a few years it was the largest city in Kentucky, until the January 2003 merger of Jefferson County and Lousiville kicked the population of the latter up from 250,000 to almost 700,000. Some Lexingtonians feel cheated by this turn of events---ignoring the fact that Lexington-Fayette underwent a similar merger back in 1974.
The core of Lexington is the area inside New Circle Road; this is a circular area, around 7 or 8 km in diameter. Pretty close to the centre is the notional "downtown", which is only about nine or so blocks, if you count liberally---this causes residents of Cincinnati and Louisville to laugh at Lexington. Downtown is delineated on the west by Upper or perhaps Broadway; on the east by Rose St.;
on the south by High St.; and on the north by Short.
Just next to downtown are Lexington's three major universities: University of Kentucky, the state's "flagship" public university; Lexington Community College, not really a university; and Transylvania University, a "liberal arts" school for those who wouldn't be caught dead attending a public university.
Outside of New Circle, 'urban' Lexington extends for another three to five kilometres in each direction. The metropolitan area, if you can call it that, includes the entirety of Fayette County (and, according to some people, parts of the surrounding counties).
Lexington's local government is LFUCG: the Lexington-Fayette Urban County Government. I don't know about most people,
but I pronounce it 'le-fuck-G'.
Lexington has a number of horse parks, many vaguely or not-so-vaguely threatened by rampant expansion. You see, Lexington exemplifies sprawl. Being located in the middle of a Midwestern state, and not near any major bodies of water (well, the Kentucky River passes through some surrounding counties), Lexington has decided to expand out rather
than up. There are very few tall buildings in Lexington---I would estimate fewer than ten of more than fifteen stories.
Nearby cities (i.e., within a two hours' drive): Cincinnati, Ohio; Louisville, Kentucky.
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