History of Warren County, Kentucky

"Where did we come from?" This is always an interesting question to ask and address. A good information source for addressing that question for Warren County is online from WKU’s Ky Museum. Roads, Rails, and Rivers Warren County Then and Now www.wku.edu/Library/onlinexh/rrr1. This website confirms information understood by many in the community of Warren County. This website also offers additional insights in areas that are not readily brought to mind today for all the residents of our County. The topics from this work are broad and varied, all a part of Warren County's history. Tobacco, Mills, Strawberries, Dressmaking, Milliners, Groceries, Restaurants, Oil, Limestone, Education for African Americans, Early Warren County Colleges and Normal Schools, Massey Springs, and other topics from those days gone by are described. The prose and pictures provide a broad and deep understanding of the question "where did we come from?"

First as with many communities like Warren County our growth sprang up near waterways. Those primary waterways were and continue to be the Barren and Green Rivers. The Barren River cuts across Warren County from east to west. Entering Warren County on the eastern edge out of Allen County, the Barren River travels in a northwestern direction across Warren County. The Barren River ends as it joins the Green River at the edge of Butler County in the northwestern corner of Warren County.

While Warren County is now the regional leader in many ways the "senior" County in our area is Logan. In 1797 just seven short years after the Commonwealth of Kentucky became the 15th state of the United States of America Warren County was formed from the eastern portion of Logan County. The name Warren was chosen to honor a fallen soldier/physician from Massachusetts, General Joseph Warren. General Warren lost his life at the Battle of Bunker Hill during the Revolutionary War.

The area in downtown Bowling Green now know as Fountain Square was the site of the first Courthouse for this newly formed Warren County. Construction of this log structure (20’ x 24’) was completed for Court to be held in March of 1798. This same year., 1798, the Court created the City we now know as Bowling Green (originally called "Bolin Green").

Please visit our Photo Gallery for history of the growth of Warren County. We have grown to become the home of Western Kentucky University, the Corvette Plant, and other businesses. Those other businesses include manufacturing, retail, and regional government offices as well as home to over 100,000 which makes us the fourth largest metropolitan area in the Commonweatlh of Kentucky.