Harrison County, Kentucky facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Harrison County
U.S. county
Harrison County Courthouse in Cynthiana
Location within the U.S. state of Kentucky
Kentucky's location within the U.S.
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
Founded	December 21, 1793
Named for	Benjamin Harrison (Pennsylvania)
Seat	Cynthiana
Largest city	Cynthiana
Area
• Total	310 sq mi (800 km2)
• Land	306 sq mi (790 km2)
• Water	3.5 sq mi (9 km2)  1.1%%
Population  (2020)
• Total	18,692
• Estimate  (2023)	19,415
• Density	60.3/sq mi (23.3/km2)
Time zone	UTC−5 (Eastern)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−4 (EDT)
Congressional district	4th

Harrison County is a special area called a county in the state of Kentucky, USA. Think of a county as a smaller region within a state, like a district. In 2020, about 18,692 people lived here. The main town, or "county seat," where the county government is located, is Cynthiana.

Harrison County was started way back in 1793. It was named after Colonel Benjamin Harrison. He was an important person who helped Kentucky become a state. He also helped write Kentucky's constitution and was a legislator.

History

Harrison County officially became a county on December 21, 1793. It was created from parts of two other counties: Bourbon and Scott. Harrison was the 17th county formed in Kentucky! As mentioned, it was named after Colonel Benjamin Harrison, who was one of the first settlers in this area.

This county saw some action during the American Civil War. Two battles happened in Cynthiana. The First Battle of Cynthiana took place on July 17, 1862. This was part of a raid led by Confederate Colonel John Hunt Morgan.

Later, on June 11–12, 1864, the Second Battle of Cynthiana was fought. This was part of Morgan's Last Kentucky Raid. On the first day, Confederate General John Hunt Morgan and his 1,200 cavalry soldiers captured the town. They took Union soldiers as prisoners. Even though they were low on ammunition, Morgan decided to stay and fight. The next morning, Union General Stephen G. Burbridge attacked with 2,400 soldiers. They drove the Confederates out of town and freed the prisoners.

Geography

Harrison County covers a total area of about 310 square miles. Most of this, about 306 square miles, is land. The rest, about 3.5 square miles, is water.

Major Highways

These are the main roads that go through Harrison County:

• US 27
• US 62
• KY 36
• KY 32
• KY 356

Adjacent Counties

Harrison County shares its borders with these other counties:

• Pendleton County (to the north)
• Bracken County (to the northeast)
• Robertson County (to the northeast)
• Nicholas County (to the southeast)
• Bourbon County (to the southeast)
• Scott County (to the southwest)
• Grant County (to the northwest)

Population

In 2000, there were 17,983 people living in Harrison County. There were 7,012 households, which are groups of people living together in one home. About 33.5% of these households had children under 18 living with them. The average household had about 2.53 people.

The population was spread out by age. About 25% of the people were under 18 years old. About 29.8% were between 25 and 44 years old. The median age, which is the middle age of all the people, was 37 years old.

Communities

Harrison County has a few cities and many smaller, unincorporated communities.

Cities

• Berry
• Cynthiana (This is the county seat, meaning it's where the county government is located.)

Unincorporated communities

These are smaller places that don't have their own city government.

See also

In Spanish: Condado de Harrison (Kentucky) para niños