Formed March 5, 1860 (107th county)
Wolfe County (6,561), Campton (315)
A dome and columns are the features of the 1915 red/brown brick Beaux Arts courthouse. It is located on Court Street at Washington Street. Kentucky State Highway 15 is one block south of the location. H. L. Lewman provided the courthouse designs. The building was enlarged in 1977. A Judicial Center was built in 2012. Wolfe County was established on March 5, 1860 and named for State Legislator Nathaniel Wolfe. The county was created from parts of Breathitt, Morgan, Owsley, and Powell counties as the 107th county. The county seat is named for a former camp on the site of the town. Campton has always been the county seat.
Wolfe 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 Magistrates (legislative.) One Circuit Court Judge, One District Court Judge, and One Family Court Judge serve Wolfe, Breathitt, and Powell counties and a court clerk serves Wolfe County (judicial.) The county is in eastern Kentucky. Huntington, West Virginia is northeast and Lexington, Kentucky is northwest. The county center is 5.5 miles East-Northeast of Campton nearer Trent. The county is surrounded clockwise by Morgan, Magoffin, Breathitt, Lee, Powell, and Menifee counties.
The area of the county is 223 square miles. It is 94 out of 120 in the state. It ranks 113 out of 120 in population in the state. It has a density of 29.4 persons per square mile making it 109 out of 120 in the state. Wolfe County has 4.8% of its population in its incorporated areas. There are no Interstates or United States Highways in the county. The county is shaped like a plow facing upside down toward the southeast. Campton is in the western third of the county. Campton is the county seat and the largest city since it is the only incorporated city. It is 4.8% of the county population. The county seat is pronounced KAMP-TON.
Campton
