Montgomery

Formed December 17, 1797 (23^rd county)

Montgomery County (28,104), Mount Sterling (7,551)

A 1958 red brick Colonial Revival courthouse is in Mount Sterling.  It is at High, Maysville, Court, and Broadway streets.  United States Highway 460 is Maysville.  Meriwether, Marye, and Associates are the architects.  There was a classic 1890 courthouse earlier also in Mount Sterling, the only county seat.  The building features columns and veteran memorials on the grounds.  Montgomery County was established on December 17, 1797 from Clark County as the 23^rd county.  Revolutionary War General Richard Montgomery inspired the county’s name.  The county seat is named for Stirling, Scotland.  Montgomery County was the birthplace of 1 Kentucky Governor, Ernest L. Fletcher. 

Montgomery County government consists of a County Judge Executive, a sheriff, a clerk, an attorney, a treasurer, a coroner, and an appraiser (executive).  It has 3 Commissioners (legislative.)  Two Circuit Court Judges and Two District Court Judges serve Montgomery, Bath, Menifee, and Rowan counties and a court clerk serves Montgomery County (judicial.) The county lies in eastern Kentucky.  Lexington, Kentucky is west and Huntington, West Virginia is northeast of the county.  The county center is 4.3 miles Southeast of Mount Sterling.  The county is surrounded clockwise by Bath, Menifee, Powell, Clark, and Bourbon counties. 

The area of the county is 199 square miles.  It is 102 out of 120 in the state.  It ranks 39 out of 120 in population in the state.  It has a density of 141.2 persons per square mile making it 20 out of 120 in the state.  Montgomery County has 36.6% of its population in its incorporated areas.  Interstate Highway 64 crosses east to west in the county from Bath County to Clark County.  United States Highway 60 parallels Interstate Highway 64 from Bath to Clark counties.  United States Highway 460 goes southeast to northwest from Menifee County to Bourbon County.  The county is shaped like a bomb.  Mount Sterling is near the center of the county.  Mount Sterling is the county seat and the largest city.  It is 26.9% of the county population.  This county is in the Mount Sterling Micropolitan Statistical Area.