Scott County, Kentucky
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Scott 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 central part of the U.S. state of
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 ...
. As of the 2020 census, the population was 57,155. Scott County is part of the Lexington-Fayette, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. Its county seat and largest city is Georgetown.


History

Native Americans inhabited the Scott County area from perhaps 15,000 years ago. Evidence has been identified that belongs the Adena culture (800 B.C. - 800 A.D.), including several significant Adena mounds. The area was explored by American explorers as early as 1774. One of the earliest settlers was John McClelland from Pennsylvania, who built McLelland's Fort overlooking the Georgetown spring. During the
American Revolution The American Revolution (1765–1783) was a colonial rebellion and war of independence in which the Thirteen Colonies broke from British America, British rule to form the United States of America. The revolution culminated in the American ...
, pro-British Native Americans attacked McLelland's Fort in 1777, causing the settlement to be abandoned. Six years later, a new and permanent settlement was founded by Robert and Jemima Johnson, who built Johnson Station (later called Great Crossing), near the north fork of Elkhorn Creek, about five miles west of today's Georgetown. All of Kentucky was originally part of
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
's frontier. However, in 1776 Virginia reorganized it as ''Kentucky County''. In 1780 this county was divided into the three large counties of Lincoln, Jefferson, and Fayette. In 1788, Fayette County was divided to create Woodford County. On June 1, 1792, the state of Kentucky came into existence. An early act of the new state legislature divided Woodford County into two counties. One of these became Scott County, named for General Charles Scott, a Revolutionary War hero, who would serve as Kentucky's fourth governor (1808–1812). Its area was taken from the existing Woodford County. Other counties established before the end of 1792 were Clark, Shelby, Logan, and
Green Green is the color between cyan and yellow on the visible spectrum. It is evoked by light which has a dominant wavelength of roughly 495570 nm. In subtractive color systems, used in painting and color printing, it is created by a com ...
counties. In 1784, Elijah Craig (1743–1808), a Virginia preacher, induced the Virginia legislature to incorporate the town of Lebanon, near the site of McLelland's Fort. In 1790 the town's name was changed to George Town, to honor then-President George Washington. Elijah Craig is also credited with founding the county's first classical school, the first sawmill, the first gristmill, the first fulling and paper mill, the first ropewalk, and (possibly) the area's first bourbon whiskey. On December 27, 1787, edition of the ''Kentucky Gazette'', he solicited scholars to study at an academy that would open in January 1788 "in Lebanon town," and would offer courses in Latin, Greek, and "such branches of the sciences as are usually taught in public seminaries." Ten years later the school was absorbed by the Rittenhouse Academy, which was given by the state some 5,900 acres in Christian and Cumberland counties so that they might sell the land to benefit their endowment fund. The academy, in turn, was absorbed by Georgetown College in 1829. The community went into a decline after the death of Elijah Craig in 1808. When Elder Barton Warren Stone (1772–1844), a founder of the Christian Churches movement during the Great Revival, moved to Georgetown in 1816 to become principal of Rittenhouse Academy, he found the community "notorious for its wickedness and irreligion." In 1825, the Choctaw Nation established the Choctaw Academy at Blue Spring in Scott County. They operated the school for Choctaw boys until 1842, when it was closed. The staff and records moved to the Choctaw Nation,
Indian Territory Indian Territory and the Indian Territories are terms that generally described an evolving land area set aside by the Federal government of the United States, United States government for the relocation of Native Americans in the United States, ...
, where the Choctaw Nation had been relocated in the 1830s. In 1844 the Spencer Academy opened as the school for Choctaw boys, while a school was also opened for girls. Later in the century, they allowed
Baptist Baptists are a Christian denomination, denomination within Protestant Christianity distinguished by baptizing only professing Christian believers (believer's baptism) and doing so by complete Immersion baptism, immersion. Baptist churches ge ...
missionaries to found the Armstrong Academy there. During the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
, Scott County furnished the Union Army with 118 soldiers, while about 1,000 enlisted in the
Confederate Army The Confederate States Army (CSA), also called the Confederate army or the Southern army, was the military land force of the Confederate States of America (commonly referred to as the Confederacy) during the American Civil War (1861–1865), fi ...
. On November 18, 1861, Scott County native George W. Johnson was elected the provisional Confederate governor of Kentucky. In 2019, voters in Scott County approved county-wide alcohol sales.


Geography

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 ...
, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (1.3%) is water.


Adjacent counties

*
Grant County Grant County may refer to: Places ;Australia * County of Grant, Victoria ;United States * Grant County, Arkansas * Grant County, Indiana * Grant County, Kansas *Grant County, Kentucky Grant County is a county located in the northern pa ...
(north) * Harrison County (northeast) * Bourbon County (east) * Fayette County (southeast) * Woodford County (southwest) * Franklin County (west) * Owen County (northwest)


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 33,061 people, 12,110 households, and 8,985 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 12,977 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 91.94%
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 ...
, 5.35%
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 ...
, 0.26% Native American, 0.50% Asian, 0.01%
Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.82% from other races, and 1.13% from two or more races. 1.61% 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 12,110 households, out of which 38.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 58.80% 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, 11.50% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.80% were non-families. 21.00% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.00% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.61 and the average family size was 3.01. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.30% under the age of 18, 11.80% from 18 to 24, 32.60% from 25 to 44, 20.40% from 45 to 64, and 8.90% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. For every 100 females, there were 95.80 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 90.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $47,081, and the median income for a family was $54,117. Males had a median income of $40,604 versus $25,767 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 $21,490. About 7.30% of families and 8.80% 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 11.00% of those under age 18 and 12.10% of those age 65 or over.


Communities


Cities

* Georgetown (county seat) * Sadieville * Stamping Ground


Unincorporated Communities

* Great Crossing


Notable people

* James C. C. Black - U.S. Representative from Georgia. Born in Stamping Ground. * J. Campbell Cantrill - politician, U.S. Representative from Kentucky. * Julia Chinn - common-law wife of Vice President Richard M. Johnson. * Daniel Cook - First Attorney General of Illinois. * Basil Duke - Confederate General, took part in Morgan's Raid. Brother-in-law of John Hunt Morgan. * William H. Hatch - politician, U.S. Representative from Missouri. * Henry P. Haun - politician, U.S. Senator from California. * George W. Johnson - politician, 1st Confederate Governor of Kentucky, died at the Battle of Shiloh. * John T. Johnson - politician, U.S. Representative from Kentucky, brother of Richard M. Johnson. * Richard M. Johnson - politician, Vice President of the United States 1837–43. * Tom L. Johnson - U.S. Representative from Ohio 1891–95, Mayor of Cleveland 1901–1909. * John M. Palmer - Civil War general, Governor of Illinois 1869–1873, National Democratic Party presidential candidate 1896. * James F. Robinson - politician, 22nd Governor of Kentucky. Federal governor during the Civil War. Cardome in Georgetown was his family home. * John M. Robinson - politician, United States Senator from Illinois. * Robert Ward Johnson - U.S. and Confederate senator from Arkansas. Nephew of Richard M. Johnson. * Ryan Quarles - Kentucky Commissioner of Agriculture * Gustavus W. Smith - General in the Confederate Army during the Civil War, Confederate Secretary of War in 1862. * Junius Ward - 19th century horseman and plantation owner, founder of Ward Hall. * Edith Summers Kelley - Canadian author, wrote ''
Weeds A weed is an unwanted plant of any species. Weed or weeds may also refer to: Places * Weed, Arkansas, an unincorporated community in the United States * Weed, California, a city in the United States * Weed, Kentucky, an unincorporated communit ...
'' (1923), novel about "an artistic tomboy in the rural hills of Kentucky, who struggles unsuccessfully to overcome the oppressive roles assigned to her as a woman"


Politics

The county voted "No" on 2022 Kentucky Amendment 2, an anti-abortion ballot measure, by 58% to 42%, and backed
Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who is the 47th president of the United States. A member of the Republican Party (United States), Republican Party, he served as the 45 ...
with 61% of the vote to
Joe Biden Joseph Robinette Biden Jr. (born November 20, 1942) is an American politician who was the 46th president of the United States from 2021 to 2025. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, he served as the 47th vice p ...
's 36% in the 2020 presidential election.


Elected officials


See also

* National Register of Historic Places listings in Scott County, Kentucky


References


External links

*
Scott County Kentucky
{{Coord, 38.30, -84.58, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-KY_source:UScensus1990 Kentucky counties Lexington–Fayette metropolitan area 1792 establishments in Kentucky Populated places established in 1792