Biohazard and Pathogen Disinfection in West Point, KY

West Point is a home rule-class city in northern Hardin County, Kentucky, located at the confluence of the Ohio and Salt rivers, just south of Louisville.

West Point was founded by pioneer James Young, who built a cabin at the site in 1789 and in 1797 built a brick house and inn that still stands today.

Local tradition holds that the town took its name because it was then the westernmost point of English settlement.

In 1803, Lewis and Clark passed nearby and recruited West Point resident John Shields to join their Corps of Discovery expedition.

Before the railroad era, West Point was the main river port of commerce for much of Kentucky.

During the Civil War, Union forces built Fort Duffield above the town to protect their supply routes; it remains the largest and best-preserved earthen fortification from the Civil War era in Kentucky, and it anchors Fort Duffield Park on a hill 300 feet above downtown.

A large portion of West Point is listed in the National Register of Historic Places as a historic district, and the West Point Independent Colored School of 1926, one of the Rosenwald Schools built for African American children, is being rehabilitated as a visitor and education center.

The population of West Point was 952 at the 2020 census, rebounding from 797 at the 2010 census but still below the 1,100 counted in 2000 and the peak of 1,957 in 1960.

The city covers about 2.69 square miles along the Dixie Highway (U.S. Routes 31W and 60), about 21 miles southwest of Louisville, and it borders the Fort Knox military reservation to the south.

West Point is part of the Elizabethtown-Fort Knox Metropolitan Statistical Area.