Four large springs, which were presumed to be never failing, probably led to the location of the town. They were within the limits of the 25 acres laid out into the town, and a second reason was the fact that roads from north to south and east to west crossed at right angles at the point selected for the town.

The new town was named for Colonel George Nicholas through the partiality of the Reverend John Metcalf, who held great admiration for Nicholas, whom he had known in Virginia before coming to Kentucky.

Nicholas was one of the members of the committee chosen to write the Kentucky Constitution He was known to be the best lawyer on the committee which framed the Constitution.

Nicholasville's first charter was passed in 1812. It gave the trustees the right to levy taxes on property and power to oversee the purchase of lots. The second charter (1823) gave the free white male inhabitants the right to elect trustees.

At first there was no post office in the new town; mail was carried by horseback from several nearby towns. Bejanmin Netherland petitioned Postmaster General J. Habersham for better service as was appointed Nicholasville's first postmaster a position he held from 1801 - 1822.

Thus with power to collect taxes and its own post office, Nicholasville was on its way to becoming a growing community, a vital part of Jessamine County's history.

Jessamine Woodson wrote the following about Nicholasville in 1897:

Nicholasville, the county-seat, is quite an enterprising, up-to-date town of 3,000 inhabitants, in the center of the county, 12 miles south of Lexington and eight from the river which can be reached from five different pikes and two railroads. It has eight or nine churches, several of them quite handsome. Several large dry-goods stores that do an immense business and grocery stores too numerous to mention; the prettiest courthouse and yard in the state; the handsome buildings and grounds of Jessamine Institute and Bethel Academy; a public library, a skating rink, a lake, an unfailing well of purest water; a stand-pipe and water-works, a steam laundry, two able weekly newspapers, two or three literary clubs, a first-class hotel, well paved streets and street lamps all in good running order, and sanitary laws are well observed.