History of Warsaw

    Warsaw began as a landing on the Ohio River in 1798.  In 1805, founder Colonel   Robert Johnson surveyed and built a road from this landing to his former home in Scott County.  This Ohio River landing soon became a busy shipping port and was referred to as Great Landing.

     In 1814, Colonel Johnson and Henry Yates purchased 200 acres to establish a river town to be named Fredericksburg, after Johnson's hometown in Virginia.  By 1815 the town plat was completed.  The town extended from the Ohio River to Market Street and included 172 numbered lots, each 28 by 99 feet. 

     In 1831 the town was renamed Warsaw after it was found that there was already a Fredericksburg in Kentucky.  In 1837 the Gallatin County seat moved from Port William to Warsaw.

    In 1837 the Gallatin County Court House was built.  An addition was built on in 1868 and the Court House was remodeled in 1939.  Today it stands as the oldest Court House in the state of Kentucky in continuous use.