There is some controversy over the source of the name. The city itself follows the first county commissioners’ meeting (1798), which named the town Bolin Green after the Bowling Green in New York City where patriots had pulled down a statue of King George III and used the lead to make bullets during the American Revolution.
Some historians dispute this, however, and credit Bowling Green, Virginia, or a personal “ball alley game” of Robert Moore’s instead. Early records indicate that the city name was also spelled Bowlingreen.