Welcome to Calloway County, Kentucky

Created by an act of the General Assembly approved Dec. 15, 1821. Kentucky's seventy-second county was formed on Nov. 3, 1822, from a section of Hickman County. The original boundaries of Calloway County included present day Marshall County. A near perfect rectangle in shape with approcimately 390 square miles or 252,800 acres, its soils were well suited to the growth of "Gold Leaf Tobacco," once the chief product of the county. At one time, as many as 15 tobacco factories operated in Calloway County. Long before the formation of Kentucky Lake, its principal waterways initially included Tennesse River, Blood River, Clarks River, Rockhouse, Bee, and Jonathan Creeks. In 1776 Colonel Richard Callaway, a friend of Kentucky adventurer and explorer Daniel boone, came to Kentucky and became active in the affairs of early settlements. It was in his honor that Calloway County was named. ( There is no explanation for the difference in spelling of the county's name.) In June 1822 the Legislature passed an act authorizing the opening of a land office at Wadesboro, and appointed Edmund Curd receiver. Wadesboro served as the county seat from 1822 to 1842. On Feb. 13, 1823, the first circuit court of Calloway County was held in the courthouse at Wadesboro, with Honorable Benjamin Shackelford acting as circuit judge. John Bearden and Reuben Rowland as associate judges and James Calloway as Clerk, with William Curd his deputy.