County Named, 1842

Crittenden County, the 91st county established in Kentucky, was formed in 1842 from the eastern part of Livingston and was named for John J. Crittenden, who lived from 1787 to 1863 and was one of Kentucky’s great statesmen, serving as the state’s 15th Governor, as Attorney General under three Presidents, and five times as a U.S. Senator; he was noted for the Crittenden Compromise of 1860, a futile effort to avert the Civil War and preserve the Union.

Marion, Kentucky · United States