Formed January 1, 1878 (117th county)
Leslie County (10,516), Hyden (304)
The red brick and concrete 1953 Modern courthouse of Leslie County sits on Main Street at Dryhill Street. United States Highway 421 is Main Street in the town. Alfred LeFeber & Associates are the architects. The building was enlarged in 1970 and renovated in 1984. An Annex is connected and veteran memorials are on the grounds. An earlier version of the courthouse dated from 1886 in Hyden, the only county seat. The county was established on January 1, 1878 from Clay, Harlan, and Perry counties as the 117th county. It is named for Governor Preston H. Leslie. The county seat is named for Kentucky State Senator John Hyden.
Leslie County government consists of a County Judge Executive, a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive). It has 4 Magistrates (legislative.) Two Circuit Court Judges, Two District Court Judges, and One Family Court Judge serve Leslie, Clay, and Jackson counties and a court clerk serves Leslie County (judicial.) The southeast part of Kentucky is the home for Leslie County. Huntington, West Virginia is northeast and Lexington, Kentucky is northwest of the county. The county center is 9.1 miles South of Hyden nearer Hoskinston. The county is surrounded clockwise by Perry, Harlan, Bell, and Clay counties.
The area of the county is 404 square miles. It is 33 out of 120 in the state. It ranks 98 out of 120 in population in the state. It has a density of 26.0 persons per square mile making it 114 out of 120 in the state. Leslie County has 2.9% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 421 comes in from the west, Clay County, and goes to the south, Harlan County. The county looks like a popped kernel of popcorn. Hyden is in the northern half of the county. Hyden is the county seat and, as the only incorporated city, it is the largest city. It is 2.9% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced HIE-DEN.
