Carter

Formed February 9, 1838 (88^th county)

Carter County (26,626), Grayson (3,841)                

The yellow brick Beaux Arts courthouse was built in 1907 on a hill at West Main and Court streets.  Main Street is United States Highway 60 in the town.  H. L. Lewman provided the designs.  The building was enlarged in 1950 and 1964.  The Justice Center was built in 2004 at Main and Hord streets.  The courthouse features a tower and veteran memorials on the grounds.  Carter County was established on February 9, 1838 from parts of Greenup and Lawrence counties as the 88^th county with Grayson as the only county seat.  The county is named for Kentucky State Senator William Grayson Carter.  The county seat is named for his grandfather Colonel William Grayson.  He is also the namesake for Grayson County.  Carter County was the birthplace of 1 Kentucky Governor, William J. Fields. 

Carter County government consists of a County Judge Executive, a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive).  It has 5 Magistrates (legislative.)  One Circuit Court Judge, Two District Court Judges, and Two Family Court Judges serve Carter, Elliott and Morgan counties and a court clerk serves Carter County (judicial.) The county is in the northeast.  Huntington, West Virginia is east and Lexington, Kentucky is west of the county.  The county center is 5.3 miles West of Grayson.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Greenup, Boyd, Lawrence, Elliott, Rowan, and Lewis counties. 

The area of the county is 411 square miles.  It is 31 out of 120 in the state.  It ranks 42 out of 120 in population in the state.  It has a density of 64.8 persons per square mile making it 57 out of 120 in the state.  Carter County has 20.4% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 64 crosses the county east to west from Boyd County to Rowan County.  United States Highway 60 parallels Interstate Highway 64 from Boyd to Rowan counties.  The county looks like a reclining fat letter L.  Grayson is located in the southeast part of the county.  Grayson is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 14.4% of the county population.