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Please add profiles of those who were born, lived or died in Daviess County, Kentucky.
Official Website
History
Daviess County was established in 1815. The county is named for Major Joseph Hamilton Daveiss (a recording error in the State Clerk's office accounts for the error in spelling, which was never corrected), the United States Attorney who unsuccessfully prosecuted Aaron Burr. The county's borders were altered in 1829 to form Hancock County, in 1830 to absorb a small area surrounding Whitesville, in 1854 to cede land to McLean County, and finally in 1860 to annex 44 square miles from Henderson County.
The courthouse was burned in January 1865 during the American Civil War, but because the county records had been transferred to a church they were spared destruction.
Daviess County has long had a reputation as the leading center of the production of distilled spirits, chiefly Kentucky bourbon. Walter McFarland, who moved here from North Carolina, began making whiskey and peach brandy in about 1804 on a 200-acre estate just south of Panther Creek, on today's U.S. 431. Cornelius Westerfield also began distilling corn whiskey in the early 1800s on his farm three miles (4.8 km) southwest of Whitesville, Kentucky, on Deserter Creek. It finally closed in 1872, after more than 60 years of production.
By the 1880s, 18 large distilleries operated in Daviess County at the same time. Today only three remain. One dates back to 1869, the former Glenmore Distillery Company, which was originally the R. Monarch Distillery. Charles Medley Distillers Kentucky is at least the 59th distillery in the county's history.
The southwestern portion of the county around the Panther Creek area was heavily mined through the 1960s until the early 1990s. After 1998 large tracts of mined land were left unclaimed. Then after a lengthy search for contractors by the state government's Division of Abandoned Mine Lands, work commenced on the largest tract, a 42-acre tract once part of the now defunct Green Coal Company. The 42 acres of unclaimed land were part of Green Coal Company's mine once known as the "Panther Surface Mine". Green Coal Company was a staple mining company in Daviess County and was based nearby in Henderson.
Adjacent Counties
- Warrick County, Indiana
- Spencer County, Indiana
- Hancock County
- Ohio County
- McLean County
- Henderson County
Cities
- Owensboro (County Seat)
- Whitesville
Other Communities: Birk City, Browns Valley, Curdsville, Delaware, Dermont, Ensor, Gatewood, Habit, Knottsville, Maceo, Masonville, Moseleyville, Panther, Pettit, Philpot, Rome, Saint Joseph, Scytyhia, Sorgho, Spice Knob, Stanley, Sutherland, Thruston, Tuck, Utica, West Louisville and Yelvington
Links
National Register of Historic Places
Confederate Monument in Owensboro
