Ballard County Courthouse - Wickliffe, KY - U.S. National Register of Historic Places on Waymarking.com

County of courthouse: Ballard County
Location of courthouse: Court St., 4th St., & Ohio St., Wickliffe
Built: between 1900-1905

"Constructed between 1900 and 1905, the Ballard County Courthouse is rectangular in form. Each facade of the structure has a pedimented, projecting, central pavilion. Unusual stone "capitals" top the brick pilasters that flank each projection. They are an unacademic variety, probably dating from the earliest period of construction. The entablature has an architrave with egg and dart molding, and a frieze with a denticulated cornice.

"The Ballard County Courthouse, the county's symbol of government, had more attention lavished on its design than any other structure in the county. In an area which contains few surviving buildings of outstanding architectural significance, the courthouse is an exceptionally well-planned structure. A county courthouse is meant to be imposing and its physical presence felt in a community. The Ballard County Courthouse accomplishes this through its large scale, imposing volume, well-executed detail, portico-porches and the placement of an octagonal cupola that towers above the entire composition. The apparent architect for the building, Jerome B. Legg, had his office in St. Louis and seems to have been selected because of his design for the Mississippi County, Missouri courthouse, completed in 1900 and located directly across the river. When Ballard County was officially formed in 1842, the town of Blandville (approximately 12 miles from present-day Wickliffe) became the official seat of government. The first courthouse was completed in 1844 at a cost of $6,000. On February 2, 1880, either by accident or otherwise, the Blandville courthouse burned. There ensued a rather heated contest which, after four years, two county elections, and a court battle that reached the Kentucky Court of Appeals, resulted in the establishment of the seat of justice in the new town of Wickliffe." ~ NRHP Nomination Form

Text of Marker:

COUNTY NAMED, 1842
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For Capt. Bland Ballard, 1759~1853.
Born in Va, Came to Ky. in 1779.
Devoted life protecting frontier.
Scout for George Rogers Clark's Ohio expedition, 1780, '82; Wabash campaign, 1786.
In the battles of Fallen Timbers, 1793; Tippecanoe, 1811; River Raisin, 1813.
In Ky. Legis. five terms.
Legis. directed burial in Frankfort Cemetery.
County from McCracken, Hickman.