Leavenworth was founded in 1818 by Seth and Zebulon Leavenworth. It became an Ohio River port for keelboats, flatboats, and packets, shipping pork, spirits, produce, corn, lumber, and other goods. It also manufactured skiffs, flatboats, and pearl buttons. Leavenworth served as the Crawford County seat from 1843 to about 1895, when the seat was "stolen" by the town of English. After the 1937 flood, the town relocated to its present site.