Portal:Kentucky/Selected city/7
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Bowling Green is the fourth-most populous city in Kentucky, after Louisville, Lexington and Owensboro, with an estimated population in 2006 of 53,112. It is the county seat of Warren County. Bowling Green was founded in 1798 after Robert and George Moore donated 30-40 acres to the Warren County trustees. The land surrounded the 2 acre plot they had previously donated for the construction of public buildings. In 2003, Bowling Green and its surrounding communities were designated as a "metropolitan area".
The third largest Kentucky public university, Western Kentucky University, is situated upon a hill in central Bowling Green, thus its athletes are called Hilltoppers.
The origin of the name Bowling Green has not been definitely pinned to a single source by historians. Some say at the first county commissioners meeting in early 1798, the pioneers decided that the new town would be "called and known" by the name of Bolin Green." This name was after the Bowling Green in New York City, where patriots had pulled down a statue of King George III and used the lead to make bullets during the American Revolution. Other say the Virginian settlers could have been honoring Bowling Green, Virginia. Still others say, Robert Moore kept a "ball alley game" on his residence which guests called bowling on the green. Early records indicate that the city name was also spelled Bowlingreen and Bolin Green.
