Ballard County Courthouse
4th and Court Sts., Wickliffe, KYThe Ballard County Courthouse, the county's symbol of government, had more attention lavished on its design than any other structure in the county. In an area that contains few surviving buildings of outstanding architectural significance, the courthouse is an exceptionally well-planned structure.
A county courthouse is meant to be imposing and its physical presence felt in a community. The Ballard County Courthouse accomplishes this through its large scale, imposing volume, well-executed detail, portico-porches, and the placement of an octagonal cupola that towers above the entire composition. The apparent architect for the building, Jerome B. Legg, had his office in St. Louis and seems to have been selected because of his design for the Mississippi County, Missouri courthouse, completed in 1900 and located directly across the river.
When Ballard County was officially formed in 1842, the town of Blandville (approximately 12 miles from present-day Wickliffe) became the official seat of government. The first courthouse was completed in 1844 at a cost of $6,000. On February 2, 1880, either by accident or otherwise, the Blandville courthouse burned. There ensued a rather heated contest which, after four years, two county elections, and a court battle that reached the Kentucky Court of Appeals, resulted in the establishment of the seat of justice in the new town of Wickliffe.
Two factors influence the 1884 decision to move the remaining county records from Blandville to Wickliffe. First, Wickliffe was a river port and a busy center of local commerce located only six miles from Cairo, Illinois, a major commercial and banking center. Second, by the 1860s and 1870s, Wickliffe was served by two railroads, Illinois Central and Mobile and Ohio. The railroads linked Wickliffe to Cairo and points north as well as to major southern centers, such as New Orleans, Mobile, and Memphis, thus stimulating Wickliffe's economy.
The county officials held their offices in the Wickliffe city hall until a new courthouse was completed. Begun in 1900, the building was completed in 1905 at a cost of $25,000.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.