Bullitt County | |
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![]() Bullitt County Courthouse in Shepherdsville | |
![]() Location within the U.S. state of Kentucky | |
![]() Kentucky's location within the U.S. | |
Coordinates: 37°58′N85°42′W / 37.97°N 85.7°W | |
Country | ![]() |
State | ![]() |
Founded | 1792 |
Named for | Alexander Scott Bullitt |
Seat | Shepherdsville |
Largest city | Mount Washington |
Area | |
• Total | 300 sq mi (800 km2) |
• Land | 297 sq mi (770 km2) |
• Water | 3.2 sq mi (8 km2) 1.1% |
Population (2020) | |
• Total | 82,217 |
• Estimate (2023) | 84,863 ![]() |
• Density | 270/sq mi (110/km2) |
Time zone | UTC−5 (Eastern) |
• Summer (DST) | UTC−4 (EDT) |
Congressional district | 2nd |
Website | bullittky |
Bullitt County is a county located in the north central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 82,217. [1] Its county seat is Shepherdsville. [2] The county was founded in 1796. [3] Located just south of the city of Louisville, Bullitt County is included in the Louisville/Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area, commonly known as Kentuckiana. The western fifth of the county (62 sq. miles/40,000 acres (160 km2)) is part of the United States Army post of Fort Knox and is reserved for military training. [4]
The first inhabitants of the land that would become Bullitt County were the Paleo-Indians who entered North America approximately 11,500 to 10,000 years BP. These people, whose ancestors can be traced back to Eastern and Central Asia, were nomadic. They were hunters and gatherers whose remains have been discovered near the area's mineral springs or salt licks, where big game such as the mammoth, bison and ground sloth once gathered. Native Americans were their descendants, including the Shawnee people, who probably considered this region part of their homeland and certainly valued it as a hunting ground. [5] [6]
Both France and Britain had traders and colonists who encountered the Shawnee. European colonization of the Americas led to competing claims between those nations to the lands west of the Appalachians and east of the Mississippi River. After suffering defeat by Great Britain in the Seven Years' War (known as the French and Indian War in its North American front), France ceded control in 1763 of its claimed territories.
For thousands of years before the county's formation, nutrient-rich salt licks attracted large herds of bison and other game to the area. Native American tribes made it their hunting grounds, as did the 18th century longhunter. In 1773, after the French and Indian War, the Virginia governor sent Captain Thomas Bullitt (uncle to Alexander Scott Bullitt) into the area to survey for land grants. The most historic of the county's salt licks, Bullitt's Lick, is named after him. As the Revolutionary War led to widespread salt shortages, the Lick became the site of Kentucky's first industry, attracting many settlers to the area. [7] [8]
Colonial veterans of the war were promised land in what was later called Kentucky. Bullitt's Lick became an important saltwork to the region; its salt was harvested and sent by pack train and flatboat as far off as Illinois to the west. The Bullitt's Lick saltwork was Kentucky's first industry and in production until around 1830. By that time, the steamboat and importing of salt brought access to less expensive sources.
The first settlement of the area was also the first station on the Wilderness Road between Harrodsburg and the Falls of the Ohio. It was a fort called Brashear's Station or the Salt River Garrison, built in 1779 at the mouth of Floyd's Fork. Most of the county was settled after the American Revolutionary War. Shepherdsville, named after Adam Shepherd, a prosperous business man who purchased the land near the Falls of Salt River in 1793, is the oldest town and became the county seat.
In December 1796 [3] the county of Bullitt, named after Thomas Bullitt's nephew and Kentucky's first Lieutenant Governor Alexander Scott Bullitt, [9] was organized from land taken from Jefferson and Nelson counties through an act approved on December 13, 1796, by the Kentucky General Assembly. In 1811, the northwestern area of the county expanded to include land given by Jefferson County. In 1824, an eastern area of the county was given to help form Spencer County. [10]
BE it enacted by the General Assembly, That from and after the first day of January next, all that part of the counties of Jefferson and Nelson included in the following bounds.. shall be one distinct county and called and known by the name of Bullitt.
— Kentucky General Assembly, December 13, 1796
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of 300 square miles (780 km2), of which 297 square miles (770 km2) is land and 3.2 square miles (8.3 km2) (1.1%) is water. [11] The county is located in the far western Bluegrass region known as the Knobs.
Census | Pop. | Note | %± |
---|---|---|---|
1800 | 3,542 | — | |
1810 | 4,311 | 21.7% | |
1820 | 5,831 | 35.3% | |
1830 | 5,652 | −3.1% | |
1840 | 6,334 | 12.1% | |
1850 | 6,774 | 6.9% | |
1860 | 7,289 | 7.6% | |
1870 | 7,781 | 6.7% | |
1880 | 8,521 | 9.5% | |
1890 | 8,291 | −2.7% | |
1900 | 9,602 | 15.8% | |
1910 | 9,487 | −1.2% | |
1920 | 9,328 | −1.7% | |
1930 | 8,868 | −4.9% | |
1940 | 9,511 | 7.3% | |
1950 | 11,349 | 19.3% | |
1960 | 15,726 | 38.6% | |
1970 | 26,090 | 65.9% | |
1980 | 43,346 | 66.1% | |
1990 | 47,567 | 9.7% | |
2000 | 61,236 | 28.7% | |
2010 | 74,319 | 21.4% | |
2020 | 82,217 | 10.6% | |
2023 (est.) | 84,863 | [12] | 3.2% |
U.S. Decennial Census [13] 1790-1960 [14] 1900-1990 [15] 1990-2000 [16] 2010-2020 [1] |
As of the census [17] of 2000, there were 61,236 people, 22,171 households, and 17,736 families residing in the county. The population density was 205 per square mile (79/km2). There were 23,160 housing units at an average density of 77 per square mile (30/km2). The racial makeup of the county was 98.07% White, 0.38% Black or African American, 0.34% Native American, 0.27% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.16% from other races, and 0.77% from two or more races. 0.63% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race.
There were 22,171 households, out of which 39.00% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 65.40% were married couples living together, 10.40% had a female householder with no husband present, and 20.00% were non-families. 16.40% of all households were made up of individuals, and 5.40% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.75 and the average family size was 3.07.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 27.20% under the age of 18, 8.60% from 18 to 24, 32.70% from 25 to 44, 23.70% from 45 to 64, and 7.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 98.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 97.20 males. It can be noted in the chart, the population surge in the 1970s. The few years of forced school racial integration in adjoining Jefferson County, known locally as 'bussing', had many with school age children relocating to Bullitt County in order to prevent their children from being 'bussed'.
The median income for a household in the county was $50,058 (2005), and the median income for a family was $49,481. Males had a median income of $35,851 versus $24,098 for females. The per capita income for the county was $18,339. About 6.20% of families and 7.90% of the population were below the poverty line, including 11.40% of those under age 18 and 7.60% of those age 65 or over.
Year | Republican | Democratic | Third party | |||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
No. | % | No. | % | No. | % | |
2020 | 30,708 | 73.12% | 10,552 | 25.13% | 738 | 1.76% |
2016 | 26,210 | 72.67% | 8,255 | 22.89% | 1,604 | 4.45% |
2012 | 21,306 | 67.04% | 9,971 | 31.38% | 502 | 1.58% |
2008 | 20,102 | 65.42% | 10,177 | 33.12% | 447 | 1.45% |
2004 | 19,433 | 67.88% | 9,043 | 31.59% | 151 | 0.53% |
2000 | 14,054 | 61.91% | 8,195 | 36.10% | 452 | 1.99% |
1996 | 8,697 | 47.28% | 7,651 | 41.59% | 2,047 | 11.13% |
1992 | 7,745 | 40.83% | 7,830 | 41.28% | 3,394 | 17.89% |
1988 | 8,859 | 59.01% | 6,005 | 40.00% | 149 | 0.99% |
1984 | 9,556 | 65.11% | 5,005 | 34.10% | 115 | 0.78% |
1980 | 6,364 | 50.60% | 5,884 | 46.79% | 328 | 2.61% |
1976 | 3,639 | 38.40% | 5,623 | 59.33% | 215 | 2.27% |
1972 | 4,517 | 59.80% | 2,827 | 37.43% | 209 | 2.77% |
1968 | 1,965 | 31.14% | 2,135 | 33.84% | 2,210 | 35.02% |
1964 | 1,417 | 26.59% | 3,900 | 73.17% | 13 | 0.24% |
1960 | 2,683 | 52.40% | 2,437 | 47.60% | 0 | 0.00% |
1956 | 2,007 | 46.78% | 2,279 | 53.12% | 4 | 0.09% |
1952 | 1,292 | 37.80% | 2,121 | 62.05% | 5 | 0.15% |
1948 | 673 | 27.86% | 1,681 | 69.58% | 62 | 2.57% |
1944 | 876 | 29.44% | 2,092 | 70.30% | 8 | 0.27% |
1940 | 813 | 25.35% | 2,388 | 74.46% | 6 | 0.19% |
1936 | 647 | 20.63% | 2,474 | 78.89% | 15 | 0.48% |
1932 | 1,088 | 27.11% | 2,918 | 72.70% | 8 | 0.20% |
1928 | 1,793 | 50.45% | 1,758 | 49.47% | 3 | 0.08% |
1924 | 946 | 33.04% | 1,789 | 62.49% | 128 | 4.47% |
1920 | 1,393 | 35.23% | 2,548 | 64.44% | 13 | 0.33% |
1916 | 826 | 35.27% | 1,508 | 64.39% | 8 | 0.34% |
1912 | 209 | 10.48% | 1,299 | 65.11% | 487 | 24.41% |
1908 | 726 | 33.36% | 1,409 | 64.75% | 41 | 1.88% |
1904 | 593 | 30.92% | 1,284 | 66.94% | 41 | 2.14% |
1900 | 772 | 34.63% | 1,442 | 64.69% | 15 | 0.67% |
1896 | 799 | 39.01% | 1,168 | 57.03% | 81 | 3.96% |
1892 | 398 | 28.05% | 862 | 60.75% | 159 | 11.21% |
1888 | 429 | 29.63% | 996 | 68.78% | 23 | 1.59% |
1884 | 302 | 31.66% | 632 | 66.25% | 20 | 2.10% |
1880 | 275 | 24.86% | 788 | 71.25% | 43 | 3.89% |
This section needs additional citations for verification .(July 2010) |
There are several police agencies in Bullitt County. The primary law enforcement agency in the county is the Bullitt County Sheriff. The Sheriff's Office is an elected position and is staffed by 34 deputy sheriffs, and four office staff. There are also 9 deputies and court certified security officers who provide courthouse security. The Sheriff's Office provides patrol, crime prevention, criminal investigation; and all other police related functions in the county. The primary areas for the sheriff's patrol division are the unincorporated areas in Bullitt County they also provide backup for the various city police agencies. Since 1989 the Sheriff's Office has been contracted by the County Fiscal Court to provide the county police force to the citizens of Bullitt County after the County Police Department was folded. The County Sheriff's Office has deputies assigned to the drug task force, arson task force, accident reconstruction team, rapid response team, technical operations, ATV squad, boat patrol, hostage negotiations, and an incident command team.
Fire protection is provided by both Kentucky Chapter 75 and 95 Districts and Departments. Zoneton Fire Protection District, Mt Washington Fire District, and the Shepherdsville Fire Department are currently staffed with a 24-hour professional firefighting staff. Nichols, Southeast Bullitt, and Lebanon Junction are all volunteer-based.
The Bullitt County Emergency Medical Service (BCEMS) provides emergency medical care and transport in Bullitt County.
Mount Washington Fire and EMS was founded in 2021 and provides EMS services to the Mount Washington Fire Protection District. They staff two ALS ambulances 24/7. They also provide mutual aid to the remainder of Bullitt County.
Bullitt County, which is bisected by I-65, the main north–south transportation corridor, has grown into a thriving distribution hub, and several of its major business parks are approximately 16 miles (26 km) from Louisville International Airport and UPS' global air-freight hub Worldport. More than 6,000,000 square feet (560,000 m2) of distribution, warehousing and other complexes have been built and absorbed in Bullitt County since 2000, and additional construction is ongoing.
Bullitt County residents have easy access to major job centers such as Elizabethtown, Fort Knox, and Louisville.
Bullitt County is served by Bullitt County Public Schools, except for parts in Fort Knox, which are served by the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA). [19]
There are six county middle schools:
There are four county high schools:
Fort Knox Middle High School is the high school for Fort Knox.
Although large-scale residential development has not made its way south of Shepherdsville, the growth is apparent in and around that town and in Mount Washington, as well as points north along I-65 towards Hillview. Both Shepherdsville and Mount Washington have stretched their boundaries such that they are nearly touching each other. The 10-mile (16 km) stretch of Kentucky 44 that connects the two towns has homes through nearly the entire expanse.
Fort Knox is a United States Army installation in Kentucky, south of Louisville and north of Elizabethtown. It is adjacent to the United States Bullion Depository, which is used to house a large portion of the United States' official gold reserves, and with which it is often conflated. The 109,000-acre base covers parts of Bullitt, Hardin and Meade counties. It currently holds the Army Human Resources Center of Excellence, including the Army Human Resources Command. It is named in honor of Henry Knox, Chief of Artillery in the American Revolutionary War and the first United States Secretary of War.
Dickenson County is a county located in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of the 2020 census, the population was 14,124. Its county seat is Clintwood.
Spencer County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the total population was 19,490. Its county seat is Taylorsville. The county was founded in 1824 and named for Spier Spencer.
Nelson County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 48,065. Its county seat is Bardstown. Nelson County comprises the Bardstown, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area, which is also included in the Louisville/Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Madison, KY-IN Combined Statistical Area.
Meade County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,003. Its county seat is Brandenburg. The county was founded December 17, 1823, and named for Captain James M. Meade, who was killed in action at the Battle of River Raisin during the War of 1812. Meade County is part of the Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area, which is included in the Louisville/Jefferson County-Elizabethtown-Madison, KY-IN Combined Statistical Area.
Hopkins County is a county located in the western part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 45,423. Its county seat is Madisonville. Hopkins County was created December 9, 1806 from Henderson County. It was named for General Samuel Hopkins, an officer in both the American Revolutionary War and War of 1812, and later a Kentucky legislator and U.S. Congressman.
Hardin County is a county located in the central part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. Its county seat is Elizabethtown. The county was formed in 1792. Hardin County is part of the Elizabethtown-Fort Knox, KY Metropolitan Statistical Area, as well as the Louisville/Jefferson County—Elizabethtown-Bardstown, KY-IN Combined Statistical Area. As of the 2020 census, the population was 110,702.
Bell County is a county located in the southeast part of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 24,097. Its county seat is Pineville and its largest city is Middlesboro. The county was formed in 1867, during the Reconstruction era from parts of Knox and Harlan counties and augmented from Knox County in 1872. The county is named for Joshua Fry Bell, a US Representative. It was originally called "Josh Bell", but on January 31, 1873, the Kentucky legislature shortened the name to "Bell",
Brooks is a census-designated place (CDP) in Bullitt County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 2,469 as of the 2020 census, stagnant from 2,401 in the 2010 census. Brooks was struck by a tornado in 1996.
Lebanon Junction is a home rule-class city in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 1,746 as of the 2020 census, down from 1,813 as of the 2010 census.
Mount Washington is a home rule-class city in northeast Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 18,090 at the 2020 census. The city is one of several surrounding Louisville that have experienced a sharp rise in population in the past three decades, becoming a commuter town.
Shepherdsville is a home rule-class city on the Salt River in Bullitt County, Kentucky, in the United States. It is the second largest city and seat of its county, located just south of Louisville. The population was 14,201 during the 2020 U.S. Census.
Barbourville is a home rule-class city in Knox County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 3,165 at the 2010 census, down from 3,589 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Knox County. The city was formally established by the state assembly in 1812. It was incorporated in 1854 and then reincorporated in 1856.
The Louisville metropolitan area is the 43rd largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the United States. It had a population of 1,395,855 in 2020 according to the latest official census, and its principal city is Louisville, Kentucky.
The Salt River is a 150-mile-long (240 km) river in the U.S. state of Kentucky that drains 2,920 square miles (7,600 km2). It begins near Parksville, Kentucky, rising from the north slope of Persimmon Knob south of KY 300 between Alum Springs and Wilsonville, and ends at the Ohio River near West Point. Taylorsville Lake is formed from the Salt River, and Guist Creek Lake is also in its drainage basin.
Kentucky Route 44 is a 70.193 mile (112.965 km) long state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky managed and maintained by the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet.
Floyds Fork is a 62-mile-long (100 km) tributary of the Salt River in Kentucky, directly south and east of Louisville. It begins in Henry County, near Smithfield Kentucky, flows through eastern Jefferson County and flows into the Salt River near Shepherdsville in Bullitt County.
Knox County is a county located in Appalachia near the southeastern corner of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 30,193. Its county seat is Barbourville. The county is named for General Henry Knox. It is one of the few coal-producing counties in Kentucky that has not suffered massive population loss. Knox County is included in the London, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Bullitt's Lick is a historic salt lick 3 miles (4.8 km) west of Shepherdsville in Bullitt County, Kentucky. It was the first commercial supplier of salt in Kentucky, and the first industry in Kentucky as well, supplying jobs for many residents but also using slaves.
Bullitt County Public Schools is a school district serving students residing in Bullitt County, Kentucky. Cities served by district include Shepherdsville, Lebanon Junction, Mount Washington, and some small sections of Bullitt County with a Louisville postal address. This district is one of the largest in the state.