Bath

Formed January 15, 1811 (55^th county)

Bath County (12,747), Owingsville (1,594)                

The Italianate courthouse was built in 1866 of white brick.  The building was remodeled in 1904.  The facility is on a square at Main, State, South Court and West Court streets.  United States Highway 60 is Main Street in the town.  Frederick Visscher provided the designs.  An Annex is across State Street.  The building features a tower and veteran memorials are on the grounds.  The county was formed on January 15, 1811 from Montgomery County as the 55^th county with Owingsville as the only county seat.  The county is named for the natural springs in the area.  The county seat is named for the owner of the local foundry, Thomas Dye Owings. 

Bath County government consists of a sheriff, County Judge Executive, and 3 Magistrates.  Two Circuit Court Judges and Two District Court Judges serve Bath, Menifee, Montgomery and Rowan counties.  The county is in eastern Kentucky.  Lexington, Kentucky is west and Huntington, West Virginia is east.  The county center is 4.2 miles Southeast of Owingsville.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Fleming, Rowan, Menifee, Montgomery, Bourbon, and Nicholas counties. 

The area of the county is 279 square miles.  It is 75 out of 120 in the state.  It ranks 86 out of 120 in population in the state.  It has a density of 45.7 persons per square mile making it 76 out of 120 in the state.  Bath County has 17.3% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 64 crosses the county east to west from Rowan County to Montgomery County.  United States Highway 60 parallels Interstate Highway 64 from Rowan to Montgomery counties.  The county looks like a bowl tipping toward the east.  Owingsville is slightly west of center in the county.  Owingsville is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 12.5% of the county population.  This county is in the Mount Sterling Micropolitan Statistical Area.