Bowling Green, Kentucky

Bowling Green is a city in and the county seat of Warren County, Kentucky, United States. As of 2014, its population of 62,479 made it the third most-populous city in the state after Louisville and Lexington; its metropolitan area had an estimated population of 165,732; and the combined statistical area it shares with Glasgow has an estimated population of 218,870.

Founded by pioneers in 1798, Bowling Green was the provisional capital of Confederate Kentucky during the American Civil War. The city was the inspiration for the 1967 Everly Brothers song "Bowling Green", and today it is the home of numerous manufacturers, including General Motors and Fruit of the Loom. The Bowling Green Assembly Plant has been the source of all Chevrolet Corvettes built since 1981. Bowling Green is also home to the state's second-largest public university, Western Kentucky University. In 2014, Forbes magazine listed Bowling Green as one of the Top 25 Best Places to Retire in the United States.

Bowling green

A bowling green is a finely-laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of lawn for playing the game of lawn bowls.

Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep on them. The world's oldest surviving bowling green is the Southampton Old Bowling Green, which was first used in 1299.

When the French adopted "boulingrin" in the 17th century, it was understood to mean a sunk geometrically shaped piece of perfect grass, framed in gravel walks, which often formed the center of a regularly planted wood called a bosquet, somewhat like a highly formalized glade; it might have a central pool or fountain.

The diarist Samuel Pepys relates a conversation he had with the architect Hugh May:

Dimensions and other specifications

Bowling green specifications for the Lawn Bowls variation of the sport are stipulated in World Bowls' Laws of the Sport of Bowls. For the variant known as crown green bowls, no such stipulation is documented by the National Governing Body and bowls clubs are free to form the dimensions and other specifications as they feel fit.

Bowling green (disambiguation)

A bowling green is a lawn used for playing the game of bowls.

Bowling Green may also refer to:

Places

Songs

Other

Bowling Green, Kentucky metropolitan area

The Bowling Green Metropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of four counties in Kentucky, anchored by the city of Bowling Green. As of 2014, the MSA had an estimated population of 165,732.

Counties

Communities

Incorporated places

Unincorporated places

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 104,166 people, 40,013 households, and 26,873 families residing within the MSA. The racial makeup of the MSA was 88.25% White, 7.68% African American, 0.26% Native American, 1.21% Asian, 0.07% Pacific Islander, 1.19% from other races, and 1.35% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 2.43% of the population.

The median income for a household in the MSA was $30,782, and the median income for a family was $38,493. Males had a median income of $29,417 versus $19,968 for females. The per capita income for the MSA was $16,664.