Ohio County is a

county A county is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposes Chambers Dictionary, L. Brookes (ed.), 2005, Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, Edinburgh in certain modern nations. The term is derived from the Old French ...

located in the U.S. state of

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virginia ...

. As of the 2020 census, the population was 23,772. Its

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or civil parish. The term is in use in Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, Taiwan, and the United States. The equivalent term shire town is used in the US ...

is Hartford. The county is named after the

Ohio River The Ohio River is a long river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing southwesterly from western Pennsylvania to its mouth on the Mississippi River at the southern tip of ...

, which originally formed its northern boundary. It is a moist county, which means that the sale of alcohol is only legal within certain city limits.

History

Ohio County was formed in 1798 from land taken from Hardin County. Ohio was the 35th

Kentucky county Kentucky County (then alternately spelled Kentucke County) was formed by the Commonwealth of Virginia from the western portion (beyond the Cumberland Mountains) of Fincastle County effective December 31, 1776. The name of the county was taken ...

in order of formation. It was named for the

, which originally formed its northern boundary, but it lost its northern portions in 1829, when Daviess County and Hancock County were formed. The first settlements in Ohio County were Barnetts Station and Hartford. In January 1865, during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and t ...

, the courthouse in Hartford was burned by Kentucky Confederate cavalry because it was being used to house soldiers of the occupying

Union Army During the American Civil War, the Union Army, also known as the Federal Army and the Northern Army, referring to the United States Army, was the land force that fought to preserve the Union (American Civil War), Union of the collective U.S. st ...

. However, the county records were removed first and preserved. Ohio County is famous for its coal mines, and was the second place county producing coal in Kentucky.

Geography

According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau (USCB), 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 Census Bureau is part of th ...

, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.5%) is water. It is the fifth-largest county by area in Kentucky. Ohio County is part of the Western Coal Fields region of

. Much of Ohio County is farmland and the eastern and northern parts have rolling hills. Of the 120 counties in Kentucky, it is the fifth largest. The county is intersected by the Rough River and the Green River runs along its southwestern border.

Adjacent counties

* Hancock County (north) * Breckinridge County (northeast) * Grayson County (east) * Butler County (southeast) * Muhlenberg County (southwest) * McLean County (west) * Daviess County (northwest)

Demographics

As of the

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses inc ...

of 2000, there were 22,916 people, 8,899 households, and 6,585 families residing in the county. The

population density Population density (in agriculture: 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 geographical term.Matt RosenberPopu ...

was . There were 9,909 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.71%

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

, 0.75%

Black Black is a color which results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without hue, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness. Black and white ha ...

African American African Americans (also referred to as Black Americans and Afro-Americans) are an ethnic group consisting of Americans with partial or total ancestry from sub-Saharan Africa. The term "African American" generally denotes descendants of ens ...

, 0.19% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.03%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the Pacific Islands. As an ethnic/ racial term, it is used to describe the original peoples—inhabitants and diasporas—of any of the three major subregions of O ...

, 0.45% from other races, and 0.67% from two or more races. 1.01% of the population were

Hispanic The term ''Hispanic'' ( es, hispano) refers to people, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or Hispanidad. The term commonly applies to countries with a cultural and historical link to Spain and to viceroyalties for ...

or Latino of any race. There were 8,899 households, out of which 33.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.20% were

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

living together, 9.20% had a female householder with no husband present, and 26.00% were non-families. 23.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.10% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 2.98. In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.90% under the age of 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 27.50% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 14.40% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 96.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.20 males. The median income for a household in the county was $29,557, and the median income for a family was $34,970. Males had a median income of $29,778 versus $19,233 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or total income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. It is calculated by dividing the area's total income by its total population. Per capita i ...

for the county was $15,317. About 13.90% of families and 17.30% 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 21.90% of those under age 18 and 15.70% of those age 65 or over. 7.1% of the workforce in the county comes from coal production. In December 2019, more than half of the coal workforce, 3.5% of the counties total workforce, received WARN notices that their coal mine was closing and they would be laid off in February 2020.

Communities

Cities

* Beaver Dam * Centertown * Fordsville * Hartford (county seat) * McHenry * Rockport

Census-designated places

* Pleasant Ridge * Rosine

Other unincorporated places

North

* Adaburg *

Beda Bede ( ; ang, Bǣda , ; 672/326 May 735), also known as Saint Bede, The Venerable Bede, and Bede the Venerable ( la, Beda Venerabilis), was an English monk at the monastery of St Peter and its companion monastery of St Paul in the Kingdom o ...

* Buford * Haynesville * Heflin * Herbert * Magan *

Narrows A narrows or narrow (used interchangeably but usually in the plural form), is a restricted land or water passage. Most commonly a narrows is a strait, though it can also be a water gap. A narrows may form where a stream passes through a tilted ...

* Reynolds Station * Shreve * Silver Beach * Taffy

South

* Baizetown * Ceralvo * Cool Springs *

Cromwell Oliver Cromwell (25 April 15993 September 1658) was an English politician and military officer who is widely regarded as one of the most important statesmen in English history. He came to prominence during the 1639 to 1651 Wars of the Three Ki ...

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

Echols Echols may refer to: * Echols (surname) *Echols County, Georgia Echols County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Georgia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,697. The county seat is Statenville. State ...

* Equality * Horse Branch * Matanzas * Olaton * Prentiss * Select * Shultztown

Media

Ohio County is part of the Owensboro radio market and the

Evansville, Indiana Evansville is a city in, and the county seat of, Vanderburgh County, Indiana, United States. The population was 118,414 at the 2020 census, making it the state's third-most populous city after Indianapolis and Fort Wayne, the largest city i ...

television market area. Charter Communications is the county's primary

cable television Cable television is a system of delivering television programming to consumers via radio frequency (RF) signals transmitted through coaxial cables, or in more recent systems, light pulses through fibre-optic cables. This contrasts with bro ...

provider under the

Spectrum A spectrum (plural ''spectra'' or ''spectrums'') is a condition that is not limited to a specific set of values but can vary, without gaps, across a continuum. The word was first used scientifically in optics to describe the rainbow of colors ...

name. Locally-based media outlets in Ohio County include a weekly newspaper, '' The Ohio County Monitor'', and

Oldies Oldies is a term for musical genres such as pop music, rock and roll, doo-wop, surf music (broadly characterized as classic rock and pop rock) from the second half of the 20th century, specifically from around the mid-1950s to the 1980s, as w ...

-formatted

radio station Radio broadcasting is transmission of audio (sound), sometimes with related metadata, by radio waves to radio receivers belonging to a public audience. In terrestrial radio broadcasting the radio waves are broadcast by a land-based radio ...

WXMZ. Additionally, the transmission facility of K-Love owned-and-operated radio station WEKV is located just south of Pleasant Ridge.

Notable residents

* Ramsey Carpenter, Miss Kentucky 2014, competitor for the title of Miss America 2015 * James Earp, lawman, soldier, and saloon-keeper, member of the

Earp family Nicholas Porter Earp (September 6, 1813 – February 12, 1907) was the father of well-known Western lawmen Virgil, Wyatt, and Morgan, and their lesser-known brothers James, Newton and Warren Earp. He was a justice of the peace, a farmer, coo ...

Newton Earp Newton Jasper Earp (October 7, 1837 – December 18, 1928) was an American pioneer born in Kentucky in 1837. He was the eldest child of Nicholas Porter Earp and Abigail Storm. He was the half-brother of Old West lawmen Wyatt, Virgil, and Morga ...

, Civil War soldier *

Virgil Earp Virgil Walter Earp (July 18, 1843 – October 19, 1905) was both deputy U.S. Marshal and Tombstone, Arizona City Marshal when he led his younger brothers Wyatt and Morgan, and Doc Holliday, in a confrontation with outlaw Cowboys at the Gu ...

, lawman and soldier * John Givens, first coach of Kentucky Colonels professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

team * Bill Monroe, known as the father of

bluegrass music Bluegrass music is a genre of American roots music that developed in the 1940s in the Appalachian region of the United States. The genre derives its name from the band Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys. Like mainstream country music, it la ...

* George H. Tichenor, inventor of Dr. Tichenor's antiseptic * Pendleton Vandiver, 'Uncle Pen', who inspired the music of Bill Monroe was a resident of Rosine * Ray Chapman, only MLB player ever killed in a game *

The Crabb Family The Crabb Family is a southern gospel group originally from Beaver Dam, Kentucky. They have had sixteen No. 1 songs on the national radio charts.Southern Gospel Southern gospel music is a genre of Christian music. Its name comes from its origins in the southeastern United States. Its lyrics are written to express either personal or a communal faith regarding biblical teachings and Christian life, as ...

family group

Politics

References

External links

* {{authority control 1798 establishments in Kentucky Kentucky counties Populated places established in 1798