Warren County Bowling Green

Bowling Green Fountain Square Warren County

1807 Courthouse Fountain Square

Introduction In 1784 Virginia opened the Green River district in Kentucky to her Revolutionary War veterans. Settlers quickly populated the land south of the Green River. Andrew McFadden, an early pioneer, built a station near the mouth of Drakes Creek. McFadden's Station was a frequent stopping place for travelers on the Cumberland Trace. Kentucky became the United States' 15th state on June 1, 1792.

Warren County Warren County, formed from Logan in 1797, was named after General Joseph Warren, a Massachusetts physician and political leader, who died at the Battle of Bunker Hill. The county built its first courthouse on Bowling Green's present day Fountain Square. In March 1798 court was first held in the 20' x 24' log structure. In 1805 the county court established the communities of Jeffersonville and New Town nearby. For several years these three settlements battled to become the county seat. In 1807 the court ordered a courthouse erected in Jeffersonville located on the banks of the Barren River. When construction was delayed, a legislative commission decided the old log structure should be moved from Bowling Green to Jeffersonville. The 1809 Kentucky General Assembly proclaimed Bowling Green the county seat and two years later the county built its second courthouse on the square. (learn more)

Fountain Square In 1797 Robert Moore donated two acres of land to Warren County for public buildings. Over the next several years a courthouse, jail, stock and pillory, clerk's office, marketplace and stock pen were erected on the plot. When the present courthouse was constructed in the late 1860s, a park was built on the old public square. A stone fountain stood in its center. In 1881 a fountain made of cast iron replaced the original.

Bowling Green On January 2, 1798 the Warren County Court created a town on thirty to forty acres of land donated by Robert Moore. On March 6, 1798 the court named the town "Bolin Green" reputedly after an incident at Bowling Green Square in New York City where Revolutionary patriots destroyed a statue of King George III. By 1810 the settlement had twenty-three households and 154 residents.