Formed January 17, 1818 (59th county)
Whitley County (36,715), Williamsburg (5,245), Corbin (7,849)
The columns on the red brick Modern Colonial Revival courthouse stand out in this 1932 facility on a square at Main, 2nd, Sycamore, and 3rd streets. United States Highway 25 West is two blocks to the northeast of the courthouse. The courthouse was renovated in 1971 and in 1989. W. A. Rotherford, Jr., is the courthouse designer. A Judicial Center was built in 2011 across the street. Veteran memorials are on the grounds. The county was formed from Knox County on January 17, 1818 as the 59th county. There were 1819 and 1882 courthouses previously also in Williamsburg, the only county seat. The county is named for War of 1812 hero Colonel William Whitley. He is also the namesake of the county seat of McCreary County. Williamsburg is also named for Colonel Whitley.
Whitley 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 and Two District Court Judges serve Whitley and McCreary counties and a court clerk serves Whitley County (judicial.) The county is in southern Kentucky on the border with Tennessee. Lexington, Kentucky is north and Huntington, West Virginia is northeast. The county center is 2.1 miles Northeast of Williamsburg. The county is surrounded clockwise by Laurel, Knox, and Bell counties and Tennessee and McCreary County.
The area of the county is 440 square miles. It is 24 out of 120 in the state. It ranks 28 out of 120 in population in the state. It has a density of 83.4 persons per square mile making it 40 out of 120 in the state. Whitley County has 30.8% of its population in its incorporated areas. Interstate Highway 75 travels through the county north to south from Laurel County to Tennessee. United States Highway 25 West parallels Interstate Highway 75 from Laurel County to Tennessee. The county’s shape is a lazy capital letter L. Williamsburg is south and west of center in the county. Corbin is on the northern part and extends into Knox County. Williamsburg is the county seat and Corbin is the largest city. Williamsburg is 14.3% of the county population while Corbin is 21.4% of the county population. The county is pronounced WHIT-LEE. The largest city is pronounced KOER-BIN. This county is in the Corbin Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Williamsburg
Corbin
