Ashland, city in Boyd County, northeastern Kentucky, on the Ohio River. Part of a tristate metropolitan area also embracing Ironton, Ohio, and Huntington, West Virginia. Ashland is a commercial, manufacturing, and transportation center situated in a region that produces coal, clay, natural gas, and lumber. Products of the city include iron and steel, coke, petroleum products, clothing, leather goods, and mining equipment. A community college is in Ashland. Settled in 1815, the community was known as Poage Settlement until 1850, when it was renamed for Ashland, the Lexington, Kentucky, home of the United States statesman Henry Clay. Ashland was incorporated in 1870. Population 27,064 (1980); 23,622 (1990); 21,981 (2000).
