Corn Island (Kentucky)

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An early map of the Falls of the Ohio, Corn Island is seen in the lower center

Corn Island is a now-vanished 7-acre island in the Ohio River, at head of the Falls of the Ohio, just north of Louisville, Kentucky. Heavy excavation of rock for cement was done in the 19th century, and the island was flooded by the construction of a dam in the 1920s. It now lies permanently underwater.

Corn Island was first surveyed in 1773 by Thomas Bullitt's party and called Dunmore's Island (after John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore, Crown Governor of Virginia). Surveying expeditions like this helped to provoke Dunmore's War the following year.

During the American Revolutionary War, the island was settled on May 27, 1778 by George Rogers Clark's militia and 60 civilian settlers, who remained behind when Clark's party departed on June 24. Clark established the farming colony on the island as a communication post to support his famous military campaign in the Illinois Country.^[1]

The island was renamed Corn Island by Clark, presumably reflecting the early importance of farming. The agricultural name also might have helped further the ruse that it was intended purely as a farming settlement, and not a military post. The settlers remained long after Clark's campaign ended. They moved to the mainland the following year, establishing Louisville. Louisville traces its foundation in 1778 to the settlement on Corn Island. The island continued to be used for farming and hunting until it was submerged.

The annual Corn Island Storytelling Festival in September takes its name from the subject landmark. There is also a Sea Scout Group named The Corn Island Pirates in Louisville.^[2]