About 1814, Edmund Wells (1777-1846) settled here in what was then Floyd County and operated a mill, ferry, and tavern. The first meeting of Morgan County Court was held at his home on March 10, 1823, as directed by the Kentucky legislature. He provided land for the county seat, West Liberty, built the first jail and courthouse, and served as justice of the peace, sheriff, and the county's second state legislator. Wells completed his grist mill here in 1816, and early roads connected Wells Mill, as the first settlement was called, to Blaine in Lawrence County and other points in this county. The mill remained a central landmark after Wells sold it about 1838.