Campbell County was founded December 17, 1794, two years after the creation of the Commonwealth of Kentucky, becoming the state's 19th county. Campbell County was carved out of Scott, Harrison and Mason counties. The original county included all of present Boone, Kenton, Pendleton, and most of Bracken and Grant counties. Campbell County is named in honor of John Campbell, an Irish immigrant who was a soldier, explorer, statesman and one of the drafters of the Kentucky Constitution. The first courthouse, built of logs, was replaced in 1815 by a brick structure. The present courthouse dates from 1884.
County seat
, a pioneer settlement, was the original county seat of Campbell County from 1794 until 1797. The original justices in the Campbell County Court were John Roberts, Thomas Kennedy, Samuel Bryan, John Cook, James Little, Robert Benham and John Bush. Newport was designated as the county seat until 1823, when it was moved to Visalia, at that time closer to the geographical center of the county. This was an unpopular action, however, as the overwhelming majority of residents lived in the north, along the Ohio River. The county court returned to Newport in 1824 and remained there until 1840. In 1840, Kenton County was created, primarily out of a significant portion of Campbell. The Kentucky General Assembly forced the county to move its seat to Alexandria, closer to the center of the new, smaller Campbell County. In 1883, after years of lobbying, the General Assembly established a special provision to allow Newport to designate a Court House District separate from the offices in Alexandria. The special Courthouse Commission legislation led to the misconception that the county was dual seated, but Alexandria remained the sole de jure county seat. It was not until November 24, 2010, that a court ruling granted Newport equal status as a county seat.
Geography
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and is water. It is the fourth-smallest county in Kentucky by land area and fifth-smallest by total area. It lies along the Ohio and Licking Rivers.
As of the census of 2000, there were 88,616 people, 34,742 households, and 23,103 families residing in the county. The population density was. There were 36,898 housing units at an average density of. The racial makeup of the county was 96.64% White, 1.57% Black or African American, 0.17% Native American, 0.54% Asian, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.31% from other races, and 0.76% from two or more races. 0.86% of the population were Hispanics or Latinos of any race. This number has decreased to about 0.2% based on a 2006 Census Estimate by the United States Census Bureau. There were 34,742 households out of which 32.50% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 50.30% were married couples living together, 12.30% had a female householder with no husband present, and 33.50% were non-families. 28.60% of all households were made up of individuals and 9.90% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.49 and the average family size was 3.09. The age distribution was 25.60% under 18, 9.80% from 18 to 24, 30.60% from 25 to 44, 21.30% from 45 to 64, and 12.60% who were 65 or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females there were 93.20 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 89.10 males. The median income for a household in the county was $41,903, and the median income for a family was $51,481. Males had a median income of $37,931 versus $27,646 for females. The per capita income for the county was $20,637. About 7.30% of families and 9.30% of the population were below the poverty line, including 12.20% of those under age 18 and 7.90% of those age 65 or over.
