Florence, KY History

From Crossroads to North America’s Manufacturing Capital

Kentucky’s northernmost incursion into the Indiana, Ohio, Kentucky tri-point located just off the Ohio River was originally known as Pow-Wow or Polecat by 19th century fur trappers and Native Americans. In the years to come, a small but important intersection in the area connecting Burlington and Union, Kentucky, was – fittingly enough – named Crossroads, and as many crossroads do, grew to a bigger place. This happened to be the city of Florence, KY, incorporated in 1830 and where Mazak established its North American headquarters over a century later in 1974.

In the mid-1800s, paths and trails became roads, and the Covington-to-Lexington turnpike ushered stagecoaches through the county. Like arteries carrying life blood, the developing thoroughfares and stage routes brought more people, hotels, businesses, churches and schools to the area. In 1900, road improvements authorized by city leaders allowed auto traffic to zip through Florence at the posted speed limit of 6 mph, which remained in effect until 1931 when it was increased to 25 mph. A decade later, speed limits would become temporarily irrelevant as WWII gas rationing limited families to three gallons of petrol a week.

As with many small towns reliant on the carriage and lorry traffic of early toll roads, Florence suffered a setback in 1870 when the railroad ungraciously bypassed the city, routing traffic and commerce through Erlanger a few miles northeast. The city held, however, and emerged into the 20th century with improved sidewalks, gas lines and a municipal water system.

After moving to Florence from upstate New York as a boy in 1853, renowned painter, writer and pharmacist John Uri Lloyd led the botanical eclectic medicine movement and established Lloyd Brothers Pharmacists, Inc., which developed the first cold still for plant extractions. Lloyd’s company was acquired by Eli Lilly and Company in 2013. As a novelist, Lloyd recounted his boyhood in and around Florence in a series of “Stringtown” novels and also wrote Etidorhpa (Aphrodite spelled backwards), an 1895 allegorical journey that starts in a Kentucky cave and makes its way to the center of the earth. The book ran 18 editions and was translated into seven languages. He is buried at Hopeful Lutheran Church in Florence.

One historical landmark of modern Florence can be seen right from interstate I-75. The “Florence Y’all” water tower adjacent to Florence Mall was built in 1974. Though originally conceived to support and promote the highly anticipated Florence Mall and dressed with “Florence Mall” in bold red letters, the structure was in violation of the federal Highway Beautification Act of 1965 that made it illegal to advertise non-existent roadside establishments. Still two years away from completion when the water tower went up, the Florence Mall was certifiably non-existent. Instead of repainting the tower at some expense, city leaders opted to simply paint over the two legs of the “M” and add an apostrophe, turning “Florence Mall” into “Florence Y’all.” Citizens embraced the new slogan and kept it, going so far as to name the city’s Frontier League minor league baseball team the “Florence Y’alls” in 2020. Five Y’alls players have gone on to the major leagues.

As the water tower was being erected in 1974, another milestone was occurring just five miles away. With the relocation of Mazak’s Long Island, New York manufacturing plant to its new North American Headquarters, advanced manufacturing took the crossroads to Florence. Now 50 years on and 20 expansions later, Mazak’s Florence campus boasts a workforce of approximately 1,000, turning out more than 70 different advanced machining solutions at its million-square-foot, state-of-the-art iSMART Factory.

The road from a small Kentucky crossroads to a center for manufacturing technology innovations such as Mazak’s Multi-Tasking DONE IN ONE machine concept, digital solutions and automation systems has been as long and winding as the Ohio River that wraps around the city. Ebb and flow, pull and push – history has tugged on Florence in ways the original Polecat fur traders would have never imagined. But Northern Kentucky continues to press toward the future, and Mazak is proud to be a part of it. After all, this is Florence, Y’all.