Historical Marker of the Week: Grant County

by Josh



Grant County
Kentucky Historical Marker 0942

Formed from Pendleton County in 1820. Named for two brothers who came from N.C., 1779, established Grant's Station, Fayette County. John developed salt works on the Licking River. Samuel was killed by Indians in Indiana in 1794. William Arnold donated courthouse site. Williamstown named for him, a Capt. in Revolution and Lieut. in Maumee Indian Campaign of 1790.

-Was the 67th county formed in Kentucky.
-Major cities and towns includes Corinth, Crittenden, Dry Ridge and the county seat, Williamstown.
-It's population is around 25,000.
-It's landmass is 260 square miles.

Kentucky has 120 counties, all of which have a historical marker describing how they were formed and named. Out of those, I have only spent a significant amount of time in about six counties. Grant is one of those.

Grant County was home to the big grocery and department stores that were closest to where I grew up. Most of what passed through or was worn on my body from the time I was 16 came from Grant County.

They had a Wal-Mart, IGA, Save-A-Lot, and eventually, an outlet mall. Grant County to me was like a New Jersey kid's New York. That place close by that has a lot of stuff.

When I was a kid, Wal-Mart was a rarity and Grant County somehow had one. I remember walking through it's big blue and white facade and being tortured by clothes shopping before being allowed to peruse the all-important comics and toys. I can still name many of the toys, comics, and video games I purchased within those walls.


This is not one of the comics I bought there but it should have been.


Now for a more official history.


The Grant County courthouse located in Williamstown.

Grant County was formed on April 1, 1820 from parts of Pendelton County and seems to have one of three possible reasons for its name. The three possible reasons also happen to be brothers, brothers who also just happen to have a very famous Uncle, Daniel Boone.

1. The youngest brother, Squire (probably named after Squire Boone) lived in Campbell county and served in the State Senate from 1801 till 1806.

2. The middle brother, Samuel, was a surveyor and was killed by Indians.

3. The oldest brother, Colonel John Grant, was from North Carolina and in 1779, established Grant's station. However, hostility from Indians drove the entire original party away when the station was attacked and burned down in 1780. Colonel Grant left but returned in 1784 to rebuild it.

My money is that the county was indirectly named after Colonel John Grant and was probably more named after the fort which bore his name. However Grant's Lick is directly named after him, as this is where he established himself after selling his land at Grant's Station in the 1790's.


There should be more videos like this online and less of...everything else.

And that concludes the origin of Grant County. Now I would like to begin a feature that I plan to continue on every county's historical marker I feature.

My five interesting factoids about Grant County

5. Survivor: The Australian Outback contestant Rodger Bingham lives in Crittenden. This is close to where my parents lived so I remember hearing a lot about "Kentucky Joe," as he was nicknamed. He would eat at the Subway and watch the new episode whenever it debuted. He's a very nice guy who even has an overpass named after him. Also he was on my crazy little public access talk show once.


Yes, feel sorry for him.

4. The Old Church on the Dry Ridge


Squire Boone preached here.

3. The Grant County News was against the Nineteenth Amendment. I am sure many newspapers of the day were but I still find their statement about it funny. From the Grant County News January 6, 1922.

2. World's Smallest Mother record holder, Stacey Herald, lives in Dry Ridge, KY.


The world's smallest picture for the World's Smallest Mother

1. Famous country singer Skeeter Davis was born in Dry Ridge. She will certainly get her own blog entry but for now, here is a video of her performing "The End of The World."


"The End of the World" for the end of the blog. Boy, I am clever.