Rowan County is a county located in the northeastern part of the U.S. state of Kentucky, in the Eastern Kentucky Coalfield region. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,662. Its county seat is Morehead.

The county was created in 1856 from parts of Fleming and Morgan counties, and named after John Rowan, who represented Kentucky in the House of Representatives and the Senate.

With regard to the sale of alcohol, it is classified as a moist county in which alcohol sales are prohibited, but unlike a dry county, it contains a "wet" city, Morehead, where packaged alcohol sales are allowed.

History

thumb|left|235px|The town of Morehead in 1890

It is believed that Rowan County was first explored by those of European descent in 1773 by a party of surveyors from Pennsylvania. The first settlement was established in Farmers, a town 10 miles west of Morehead. Its population rapidly increased due its fertile farming land and proximity to water sources. Additional settlers came to Rowan County from Virginia in the late 18th century after being awarded land grants at the end of the American Revolutionary War. Clearfield was the second settlement established in the county, being colonized by a Virginia aristocrat named Dixon Clack in the early 1800s. It accommodated the first sawmill in the county.

In 1854, Morehead became the third community to be settled in the area. Colonel John Hargis founded the city after purchasing land in the county, naming it after governor James Morehead. Rowan County came into existence in May 1856, seceding from Morgan County and Fleming County. It was divided into four districts with Morehead being declared the county seat. In 1896, a tax was levied on Morehead, sourcing it with the revenue needed to construct hard surface roads. The road system was extended to Farmers by 1920.

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.3%) is water. Its highest point is "Limestone Knob" at about above mean sea level.

Adjacent counties

  • Lewis County (north)
  • Carter County (northeast)
  • Elliott County (east)
  • Morgan County (south)
  • Menifee County (southwest)
  • Bath County (west)
  • Fleming County (northwest)

National protected area

  • Daniel Boone National Forest (part)

Demographics

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Rowan County used to be known as a swing county. It voted Republican in 2000, 2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024 and Democratic in 2004 and 2008, but in most of those elections the winning candidate won by small margins. This changed in 2016 when Republican Donald Trump won the county with 58% of the vote to Democrat Hillary Clinton's 37%, the largest margin of victory since Jimmy Carter won the county in 1976. Trump won this county by a 28% margin in 2024 over Democrat Kamala Harris, the largest margin of victory since Lyndon B. Johnson won it in 1964. He became the first Republican presidential candidate to exceed 60% of the vote in this county since Herbert Hoover in 1928. Rowan County was one of four counties in Eastern Kentucky to vote for Barack Obama in 2008.

In 2015, local Democratic-turned-Republican county clerk Kim Davis became notorious for illegally refusing to issue marriage licenses. David Ermold, one of the gay men refused a marriage license by Davis, ran in the 2018 Democratic primary election to seek the nomination to unseat her. Davis was defeated in the general election by Democratic nominee Elwood Caudill, garnering only 3,566 votes (about 45.86% of the two-party vote) to Caudill's 4,210 (about 54.14%).

The county voted "No" on 2022 Kentucky Amendment 2, an anti-abortion ballot measure, by 58% to 42%, and backed Donald Trump with 60% of the vote to Joe Biden's 39% in the 2020 presidential election.

Elected officials

{| class=wikitable

|-

| colspan="3" |Elected officials as of January 3, 2025

|-

! scope=row|U.S. House

| |Hal Rogers (R)

| |

|-

! scope=row|Ky. Senate

| |Stephen West (R)

| |27

|-

! scope=row|Ky. House

| |Richard White (R)

| |99

|}

In June and July 2015, the Rowan county clerk, Kim Davis, refused several residents their right to marry, a right guaranteed by the ruling of the Supreme Court on June 26, 2015, that same-sex marriages are legal across the entirety of the United States. Privately held religious belief was given as the reason for non-compliance with the Court's ruling and with the state governor's executive order of June 26 instructing all state agencies and clerks to comply with it. After Davis took her name off the county's marriage licenses and allowed her deputies to issue them, Governor Matt Bevin issued an executive order ensuring marriage licenses without the county clerk's name on them would be recognized as valid, and the state legislature changed the law to codify Governor Bevin's executive order by 2018.

Media

  • WMKY – Morehead State University radio
  • W10BM – TV
  • Rowan Review – local online news
  • The Trail Blazer – Morehead State University newspaper
  • News Center - Morehead State University Television

Communities

Cities

  • Lakeview Heights
  • Morehead (county seat)

Census-designated place

  • Farmers

Other unincorporated communities

  • Clearfield
  • Cranston
  • Elliottville
  • Gates
  • Haldeman
  • Hayes Crossing
  • Hilda
  • Paragon
  • Pelfrey
  • Rodburn
  • Sharkey
  • Smile
  • Triplett
  • Wagner Corner

Notable people

  • Kim Davis – former Rowan County Clerk, jailed for refusing to comply with a federal court order directing her to issue marriage licenses to same-sex couples following the United States Supreme Court decision in Obergefell vs. Hodges
  • Cora Wilson Stewart (1875–1958) – first woman to be elected to the position of the president of the Kentucky Education Association; opened Moonlight School, a nationwide night education program for illiterate adults

See also

  • National Register of Historic Places listings in Rowan County, Kentucky

References

;Specific

;General

  • Wet Dry map
  • The Kentucky Highlands Project
  • Rowan County Sheriff's Department