Greenup is a home rule-class city in and the

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 ...

Greenup County, Kentucky Greenup County is a county located along the Ohio River in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,962. The county was founded in 1803 and named in honor of Christopher Greenup. Its c ...

, United States, located at the confluence of the Little Sandy River with the

Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...

. The population was 1,095 at the 2020 census. It is part of the

Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area The Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area is a metropolitan area in the Appalachian Plateau region of the United States. Referred to locally as the "Tri-state area, Tri-State area," and colloquially as "Kyova" (Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia), ...

History

Greenup was laid out in 1803 and 1804 by Robert Johnson, a pioneer and legislator who owned the land. Upon the formation of Greenup County (named for the former

congressman A member of congress (MOC), also known as a congressman or congresswoman, is a person who has been appointed or elected and inducted into an official body called a congress, typically to represent a particular constituency in a legislature. The t ...

Christopher Greenup Christopher Greenup (c. 1750 – April 27, 1818) was an American politician who served as a U.S. Representative and the third Governor of Kentucky. Little is known about his early life; the first reliable records about him are documents recordi ...

, who later served as

governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

) out of land separated from Mason County, Johnson's settlement was chosen to be the seat of government and adopted the name "Greenupsburg". Its post office was erected on July 1, 1811. Accessed 17 April 2009. The state assembly formally established the town on February 4, 1818, and incorporated the city thirty years later on February 29, 1848. The name was shortened to "Greenup" on March 13, 1872, partially to avoid confusion with Greensburg. Around 1865 the

Eastern Kentucky Railway The Eastern Kentucky Railway was a railroad in northeastern Kentucky, United States. It served mainly mine traffic, running north from Webbville, Kentucky, Webbville through Grayson, Kentucky, Grayson to Riverton, Kentucky, Riverton (now part of ...

Company established its headquarters,

rail yard A rail yard, railway yard, railroad yard (US) or simply yard, is a series of Track (rail transport), tracks in a rail network for storing, sorting, or loading and unloading rail vehicles and locomotives. Yards have many tracks in parallel for k ...

, and depot at Riverton or eastern Greenup. The

Ohio River flood of 1937 The Ohio River flood of 1937 took place in late January and February 1937. With damage stretching from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to Cairo, Illinois, 385 people died, one million people were left homeless and property losses reached $500 million ...

brought devastation to Greenup and many other towns along the river. Some people left the area permanently, with the population of Greenup showing a decline of 5.5% in the 1940 census. Greenup is one of three

s in the Commonwealth of Kentucky to share its name with its county; the other two being

Harlan Harlan is a given name and a surname which may refer to: Surname * Abram D. Harlan (1833–1908), American politician from Pennsylvania * Bob Harlan (born 1936 Robert E. Harlan), American football executive * Bruce Harlan (1926–1959), America ...

and

Henderson Henderson may refer to: People *Henderson (surname), description of the surname, and a list of people with the surname * Clan Henderson, a Scottish clan Places Argentina *Henderson, Buenos Aires Australia *Henderson, Western Australia Canada *H ...

Geography

Greenup is located in eastern Greenup County at (38.573503, -82.833549), along the south bank of the

. The northeast boundary of the city follows the

Ohio Ohio ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Erie to the north, Pennsylvania to the east, West Virginia to the southeast, Kentucky to the southwest, Indiana to the ...

–Kentucky border within the river. The Little Sandy River forms most of the western boundary of the city, except for a small portion of the city that extends west across the river between Seaton Avenue and Main Street. U.S. Route 23 (Seaton Avenue) runs through the southwest side of the city, leading northwest to

Portsmouth, Ohio Portsmouth is a city in Scioto County, Ohio, United States, and its county seat. Located in southern Ohio south of Chillicothe, Ohio, Chillicothe, it lies on the north bank of the Ohio River, across from Kentucky and just east of the mouth of th ...

and southeast to

Ashland, Kentucky Ashland is a List of cities in Kentucky, home rule-class city in Boyd County, Kentucky, United States. The most populous city in Boyd County, Ashland is located upon the southern bank of the Ohio River at the state border with Ohio and near West ...

Kentucky Route 1 Kentucky Route 1 (KY 1) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky. It originates at a junction with Kentucky Route 3, KY 3, one mile (1.6 km) east of Cadmus, Kentucky, Cadmus in Lawrence County, Kentucky, Lawrence County. The rout ...

leads south to Grayson, and Kentucky Route 2 leads southwest to Olive Hill. According to the

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

, Greenup has a total area of , of which is land and , or 36.08%, is water.

Government

The city of Greenup has a mayor–council form of government. The city's current

mayor In many countries, a mayor is the highest-ranking official in a Municipal corporation, municipal government such as that of a city or a town. Worldwide, there is a wide variance in local laws and customs regarding the powers and responsibilitie ...

is Lundie Meadows. Its representative body is the

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, borough counc ...

, which has six members elected from single-member districts.

Public safety

Greenup is protected by its own police and fire departments. In addition, surrounding fire and police departments are in a mutual aid agreement with the city of Greenup. Also, the Greenup County Sheriff's Department offices are located in the Greenup County Courthouse in downtown Greenup. Emergency medical service is provided by the Greenup County Ambulance Authority under an interlocal agreement with the East Greenup County Ambulance Tax District, of which Greenup is a member. *Greenup Fire Department (Station 70) is located at 1110 Walnut Street. *Greenup Police Department is located in the city's municipal building located at 1005 Walnut Street. *The Greenup County Ambulance Authority operates a station on Collins Avenue adjacent to the Robert W. Carpenter Public Safety Center on US 23.

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 1,198 people, 478 households, and 321 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 526 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 90.07%

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 ...

, 8.85%

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 ...

, 0.25% Native American, 0.17% Asian, 0.17% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races.

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 were 0.75% of the population. There were 478 households, out of which 24.3% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.0% 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, 11.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 32.8% were non-families. 31.0% of all households were made up of individuals, and 17.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.27 and the average family size was 2.83. In the city the population was spread out, with 18.5% under the age of 18, 10.2% from 18 to 24, 30.1% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 18.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 39 years. For every 100 females, there were 96.4 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $33,158, and the median income for a family was $41,548. Males had a median income of $33,750 versus $23,036 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 city was $15,926. About 6.2% of families and 10.7% 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 10.7% of those under age 18 and 12.1% of those age 65 or over.

Education

The main branch of the Greenup County

Public Library A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...

is located in downtown Greenup.

Notable people

* W. Terry McBrayer, Kentucky state legislator and lawyer *

Clint Thomas Clinton Cyrus Thomas (November 25, 1896 – December 2, 1990), nicknamed "Hawk", was an American professional baseball player born in Greenup, Kentucky. He was an outfielder and second baseman in the Negro leagues from 1920 to 1938, where he earne ...

, baseball player in the Negro leagues

References

External links

City of Greenup official website
{{authority control Cities in Greenup County, Kentucky County seats in Kentucky Populated places established in 1818 Kentucky populated places on the Ohio River Cities in Kentucky