McCreary County, Kentucky: History and Information

McCreary County, Kentucky

McCreary County History, Geography, Demographics, Cities and Towns, and Education

County Seat: Whitley City
Year Organized: 1912
Square Miles: 428

Court House:

P.O. Box 579
County Courthouse
Whitley City, KY 42653-0579

Etymology - Origin of County Name

James B. McCreary (1838-1918), lawyer, Confederate officer, Kentucky senator, representative, and governor.

Demographics:

History

McCreary county was formed in 1912. It is located in the Eastern Coal Field region of the state. The elevation in the county ranges from 723 to 2165 feet above sea level. In 2000 the county population was 17,080 in a land area of 427.70 square miles, an average of 39.9 people per square mile. The county seat is Whitley City. McCreary county is entirely within the Daniel Boone National Forest and includes the Big South Fork National River and Recreation Area. It is the last county formed in the state.

Neighboring Counties:

North: Pulaski County

Northeast: Laurel County

East: Whitley County

South: Scott County, Tenn.

Northwest: Wayne County

Cities and Towns:

- Whitley City (County Seat)

County Resources:

Enter County Resources and Information Here

The history of our nation can be seen as a prolonged struggle to define the relative roles and powers of our governments: federal, state, and local. And the names we've given our counties, our most locally based jurisdictions, reflects the "characteristic features of our country!"

But age, size and colorful names of our counties isn't the only reason to explore counties' role in American history, or the history of county government itself. In fact, the story of county government reflects the larger meanings of American history.

Today's counties are the most flexible, locally responsive and creative governments in the US. They are the most diverse, varying in size, population, geography, and governmental structure. In their politics and policies, they express a 1990's political slogan "Think globally, act locally."

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