Green County is a

county A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...

located in the

U.S. state In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

and only municipality is Greensburg. Green was a prohibition or

dry county In the United States, a dry county is a county whose local government forbids the sale of any kind of alcoholic beverages. Some prohibit off-premises sale, some prohibit on-premises sale, and some prohibit both. The vast majority of counties n ...

until 2015.

History

Green County was formed in 1792 from portions of Lincoln and Nelson Counties. Green was the 16th Kentucky county in order of formation. The county is named for Revolutionary War hero General

Nathanael Greene Major general (United States), Major General Nathanael Greene (August 7, 1742 – June 19, 1786) was an American military officer and planter who served in the Continental Army during the American Revolutionary War, Revolutionary War. He emerge ...

, but the reason why the final E is missing is unknown. Three courthouses have served Green County. In 1804, a brick building replaced an earlier log structure, and while no longer operational, it stands in the Downtown Greensburg Historic District as the oldest courthouse building in the commonwealth. The present courthouse dates from 1931. The Cumberland Trace runs through Green County. This early road started in Lincoln County, Kentucky, and went to Nashville. (1) Three counties (Cumberland, Adair, Taylor) were formed entirely from Green County, along with a portion of four more (Pulaski, Barren, Hart, and Metcalfe). (1) Green River flows east to west through Green County. The Paddle Trail provides canoe rentals. In the early history of the county, flatboats would take tobacco from Green County, to New Orleans. There, farmers would sell their tobacco, sell their boat (for wood), and walk back to Green County. (1) Green County was without a sheriff from 1879 until 1918, due to a dispute over railroad taxes. Individuals were elected sheriff, but were unable to post enough bond to cover not collecting railroad property taxes, and the office was declared vacant. From 1896 until 1915, a total of 34 murders were committed in the county. (1) An oil boom from 1958 until the early 1960s gave the county an economic lift. Temporary air strips were built in the communities of Summersville, and Pierce. (1) An adobe brick house was uncovered in Greensburg during 2007. The structure is thought to be the only "mud brick house" in Kentucky. (1) The Goose Creek Footbridge connects the town square to what was once the train depot. Built in the late 1920s, the structure is 445 feet long, 40 feet high at its highest point, and has a plank walkway which is five feet wide. (1) The community of Summersville is home to weekend music at Green River Live, and to the Skyline Drive-In Theater. (1) A public hanging in Greensburg on September 21, 1841, attracted a crowd recorded at 10,000 people. Two other men who were convicted of the same crime - robbery and murder - died in their jail cell. (1) The country's first known serial killers, Big Harpe and Little Harpe, murdered a twelve-year-old Green County boy in 1799. (1) (1) "History of Green County, Kentucky," by Lanny Tucker. The Cow Days Festival is held in Greensburg the 3rd weekend of September. The event originated during the late 1930s, when Greensburg merchants would give away a cow to entice people to come to town.

Geography

According to the

U.S. Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and economy. The U.S. Census Bureau is part of the U ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.0%) is water. Green County is in the central time zone.

Adjacent counties

* LaRue County (north/Eastern Time Border) * Taylor County (northeast/Eastern Time Border) * Adair County (southeast) * Metcalfe County (southwest) * Hart County (west)

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 11,518 people, 4,706 households, and 3,378 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...

was . There were 5,420 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 96.19%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.61%

Black Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.10% Native American, 0.13% Asian, 0.31% from other races, and 0.65% from two or more races. 0.95% of the population were

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race. There were 4,706 households, out of which 29.90% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 59.70% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 8.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.20% were non-families. 25.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 2.87. In the county, the population was spread out, with 22.70% under the age of 18, 8.10% from 18 to 24, 26.80% from 25 to 44, 25.40% from 45 to 64, and 16.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 40 years. For every 100 females there were 96.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 91.90 males. The median income for a household in the county was $25,463, and the median income for a family was $31,852. Males had a median income of $25,764 versus $17,510 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the county was $16,107. About 15.20% of families and 18.40% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 23.10% of those under age 18 and 18.50% of those age 65 or over.

Communities

City

* Greensburg (county seat)

Census-designated place

* Summersville

Other unincorporated places

* Black Gnat (partly in Taylor County in the

Eastern Time Zone The Eastern Time Zone (ET) is a time zone encompassing part or all of 23 U.S. states, states in the eastern part of the United States, parts of eastern Canada, and the state of Quintana Roo in Mexico. * Eastern Standard Time (EST) is five ...

) * Bluff Boom *

Eve Eve is a figure in the Book of Genesis in the Hebrew Bible. According to the origin story, "Creation myths are symbolic stories describing how the universe and its inhabitants came to be. Creation myths develop through oral traditions and there ...

* Exie * Grab * Hashingsville * Little Barren * Lobb *

Mell Mell (stylized as MELL) is a female Japanese singer from Sapporo, Japan, who is signed to Geneon Universal Entertainment (abbreviated as NBCUEJ) is a Japanese music, anime, and home entertainment production and distribution enterprise tha ...

Newt A newt is a salamander in the subfamily Pleurodelinae. The terrestrial juvenile phase is called an eft. Unlike other members of the family Salamandridae, newts are semiaquatic, alternating between aquatic and terrestrial habitats. Not all aqua ...

* Pierce * Roachville * Webbs

Notable people

* Junius George Groves, born a slave in Green County, he moved to Kansas in the 1870s and became known as the "Kansas Potato King," one year producing 72,150 bushels of potatoes on 295 acres. At his death, Groves owned a 22-room brick house. * Henry Skaggs (January 8, 1724 – December 4, 1810), an American longhunter, explorer and pioneer

Politics

Elected officials

References

External links

City of Greensburg
{{authority control Kentucky counties 1792 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1792