Barren

Formed December 20, 1798 (35^th county)

Barren County (44,482), Glasgow (15,025)                

The Colonial style red brick building was built in 1965 to replace an 1896 courthouse.  The building was renovated in 1999.  There was an 1838 courthouse also in Glasgow, the only county seat.  Bayless, Clotfelter, and Johnson are the architects.  The building features a tower and columns.  The grounds have veteran memorials and a gazebo.  Barren County was organized on December 20, 1798 from parts of Green and Warren counties as the 35^th county.  The building sits in a city square surrounded by Main, Green, Washington, and Race streets.  United States Highway 31 East passes in front of the courthouse.  The county’s name is descriptive of the treeless landscape.  Glasgow is named for Glasgow, Scotland.  Barren County was the birthplace of 1 Kentucky Governor, Louie B. Nunn. 

Barren County government consists of a County Judge Executive, a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive).  It has 7 Magistrates (legislative.)  One Circuit Court Judge, Two District Court Judge, and a Family Court Judge serve Barren and Metcalfe counties and a court clerk serves Barren County (judicial.) The county is in south central Kentucky.  Bowling Green, Kentucky is west and Louisville, Kentucky is north.  The county center is 4.9 miles Southwest of Glasgow.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Hart, Metcalfe, Monroe, Allen, Warren, and Edmonson counties. 

The area of the county is 491 square miles.  It is 13 out of 120 in the state.  It ranks 25 out of 120 in population in the state.  It has a density of 90.6 persons per square mile making it 36 out of 120 in the state.  Barren County has 40.5% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 65 clips the northwest corner from Hart County, north, to Edmonson County, west.  United States Highway 31 East goes north to south through the county from Hart County, to Allen County.  United States Highway 31 West parallels Interstate Highway 65 from Hart to Edmonson counties.  United States Highway 68 goes east to west from Metcalfe County to Warren County.  The county is a baseball field’s home plate.  Glasgow is located north and east of center in the county.  Glasgow is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 33.8% of the county population.  The county seat is pronounced GLAS-GOE.  This county is in the Glasgow Micropolitan Statistical Area.

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