Biohazard Cleanup Near North Loretto Loretto, KY

Loretto is a home rule-class city in northwestern Marion County in central Kentucky.

The city takes its name from the Sisters of Loretto, a Catholic congregation founded in 1812 at nearby St. Mary, who were themselves named for Loreto in Italy, the site of the Basilica della Santa Casa.

The sisters began a school at the site to educate frontier children.

By 1833, the Loretto community was large enough for its own post office.

Loretto was formally incorporated in 1866.

The population of Loretto was 723 at the 2020 census.

Loretto covers about 3.22 square miles and is concentrated around the intersection of Kentucky Route 52 and Kentucky Route 49, about 10 miles northwest of Lebanon, the Marion County seat.

Loretto is best known as the home of the Maker's Mark bourbon distillery.

The distillery traces its roots to Charles Burks, who built a water-powered gristmill in 1805 and distilled whiskey in the early 1800s, and his descendant George R. Burks built the present distillery plant in 1889.

T. William Samuels Sr. bought the Burks distillery on October 1, 1953, began production in 1954, and bottled the first run in 1958 under the red wax seal created by his wife, Margie Samuels.