Formed January 1, 1834 (84th county)
Marion County (19,577), Lebanon (6,274)
The 1935 red brick Neo-Classical courthouse replaced an 1835 version. It is on Main Street at Court Square between Spalding and Proctor Knott streets. Main Street is United States Highway 68 in the town. Thomas J. Nolan is the building designer. A Justice Center was built in 2005. A new courthouse has been recently added across from the Justice Center one block to the west of Main Street at Spalding and MLK. It is built of brown brick and concrete and features a clock. Veteran memorials are on the Justice Center grounds. Marion County was created on January 1, 1834 from Washington County as the 84th county with Lebanon as the only county seat. Revolutionary War hero General Francis Marion is the namesake. He is also the namesake of the county seat of Crittenden County. The county seat is named for the Biblical location. Marion County was the birthplace of 1 Kentucky Governor, J. Proctor Knott.
Marion 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.) Two Circuit Court Judges and Two District Court Judges serve Marion, Green, Taylor and Washington counties and a court clerk serves Marion County (judicial.) The county is in central Kentucky. The geographical center of Kentucky is 3 miles north-northwest of Lebanon in the county. Louisville, Kentucky is northwest and Lexington, Kentucky is northeast of the county. The county center is in Lebanon 1.8 miles Southwest of the city center. The county is surrounded clockwise by Washington, Boyle, Casey, Taylor, Larue, and Nelson counties.
The area of the county is 347 square miles. It is 47 out of 120 in the state. It ranks 59 out of 120 in population in the state. It has a density of 56.4 persons per square mile making it 64 out of 120 in the state. Marion County has 38.6% of its population in its incorporated areas. United States Highway 68 goes east to south in the county from Boyle County to Taylor County. Lebanon is located near the center of the county. Lebanon is the county seat and the largest city. It is 32.1% of the county population.
Bradfordsville
Lebanon
Loretto
Raywick
