| County: | Boone County |
| State: | Kentucky |
| Flag: | Flag of Boone County, Kentucky.png |
| Seal: | Seal of Boone County, Kentucky.png |
| Founded Year: | 1798 |
| Seat Wl: | Burlington |
| Largest City Wl: | Florence |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 256 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 246 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 10 |
| Area Percentage: | 3.9% |
| Census Yr: | 2020 |
| Pop: | 135968 |
| Pop Est As Of: | 2023 |
| Population Est: | 140496 |
| Density Sq Mi: | auto |
| Time Zone: | Eastern |
| Web: | http://www.boonecountyky.org/ |
| Ex Image: | Boone county courthouse.jpg |
| Ex Image Cap: | The old Boone County courthouse in Burlington |
| District: | 4th |
Boone County is a county located on the Ohio River in the northernmost part of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 135,968,[1] making it the fourth-most populous county in Kentucky. Its county seat is Burlington.[2] The county was formed in 1798 from a portion of Campbell County[3] and was named for frontiersman Daniel Boone.[4] Boone County, with Kenton and Campbell Counties, is of the Northern Kentucky metro area, and the Cincinnati-Middletown, OH-KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area. It is the location of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which serves Cincinnati and the tri-state area.
Native Americans had once inhabited a large late historic village in Petersburg that contained "at least two periods of habitation dating to 1150 A.D. and 1400 A.D."[5]
In 1729, an unknown Frenchman sketched an area on his chart at what is now Big Bone Lick State Park with a note that it was "where they found the bones of an elephant."[5] Another Frenchman, Charles le Moyne de Longueuil (1687–1755), would later be credited with being the first to investigate the Big Bone Lick area.[5]
In 1789, 10-year-old John Tanner was captured by Ojibwe Indians across from the mouth of the Great Miami River, while his Baptist minister father, brother, and their slaves were planting corn.
Boone County was created in 1798, and named after Daniel Boone.
On January 28, 1856, Robert and a pregnant Margaret "Peggy" Garner, together with family members, escaped and fled to Cincinnati, Ohio, along with several other slave families. Seventeen people were reported to have been in their party. In the coldest winter in 60 years, the Ohio River had frozen. The group crossed the ice just west of Covington, Kentucky at daybreak, and escaped to Cincinnati, then divided to avoid detection. They set out for Joseph Kite's house in Cincinnati.[6]
Margaret Garner would become famous for slitting her own daughter's throat (Mary) to prevent her from going back into slavery when Archibald K. Gaines and his posse, along with Federal Marshals, caught up to the fleeing slaves at Joseph Kite's house.[6]
Margaret Garner was first owned by, and may have been the daughter of, the plantation owner John Pollard Gaines himself.[7] In December 1849, the plantation was given along with all the slaves to John P. Gaines' younger brother, Archibald K. Gaines.[7] The Gaines family lived on a farm called Maplewood in Boone County, Kentucky, just west of Richwood Presbyterian Church, of which Archibald K. Gaines was a member.[8] Three of Margaret Garner's children, including Mary, the daughter whose throat Margaret Garner slashed, were likely the children of Archibald K. Gaines, the only adult white male at Maplewood. The timing suggests they were each conceived after his wife had become pregnant and was unavailable to him.[9]
Margaret Garner's story was the inspiration for the novel Beloved (1987) by Nobel Prize winner Toni Morrison (that later was adapted into a film of the same name starring Oprah Winfrey), as well as for her libretto for the early 21st century opera Margaret Garner (2005), composed by Richard Danielpour.
According to the United States Census Bureau, the county has a total area of, of which is land and (3.9%) is water.[10] Its location along the Ohio River was key to its early development, as the river was the major transportation route.
Boone County's climate is hot-summer humid continental (Dfa) bordering on humid subtropical (Cfa).
As of the census[11] of 2000, there were 85,991 people, 31,258 households, and 23,443 families residing in the county. The population density was 349/sqmi. There were 33,351 housing units at an average density of 135/sqmi. The racial makeup of the county was 85.3% White, 5% Black or African American, 0.23% Native American, 2.6% Asian, 0.2% Pacific Islander, 0.75% from other races, and 2.3% from two or more races. 4.98% of the population were Hispanic or Latino of any race.
There were 31,258 households, out of which 39.80% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 61.60% were married couples living together, 9.80% had a female householder with no husband present, and 25.00% were non-families. 20.20% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.20% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.73 and the average family size was 3.17.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 28.70% under the age of 18, 8.50% from 18 to 24, 33.50% from 25 to 44, 21.30% from 45 to 64, and 8.10% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 97.70 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 94.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $53,593, and the median income for a family was $61,114. Males had a median income of $42,105 versus $27,414 for females. The per capita income for the county was $23,535. About 4.40% of families and 5.60% of the population were below the poverty line, including 6.40% of those under age 18 and 7.70% of those age 65 or over.
Boone County is a solidly Republican county in presidential elections; the last time it voted Democratic was in 1964, when Lyndon B. Johnson won in a national landslide. In 1976, however, the county gave exactly the same number of votes to Democrat Jimmy Carter and Republican Gerald Ford.
Before 2001, Boone County had a county police department providing general-service law enforcement to the unincorporated areas of the county. The police department was merged with the county sheriff's department in 2001, and the sheriff's department now serves that role.[12] the sheriff is Michael A. Helmig.[13]
The Boone County Jail is a short-term incarceration facility serving all law enforcement agencies in Boone County, including the Kentucky State Police, the Florence Police Department, the Boone County Sheriff's Office, and the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport Police Department. The Boone County Jail system consists of the main jail and a workcamp facility. The Main Jail has the capacity of housing 424 maximum, medium, and minimum security inmates. The workcamp houses 76 minimum security inmates. the Jailer, who in Kentucky is elected separately from the Sheriff, is Jason Maydak.[14]
Boone County is the location of the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport, which includes the headquarters of DHL Express and Southern Air.
The Creation Museum (Petersburg), operated by the apologetics ministry Answers in Genesis, as well as Big Bone Lick State Park, "birthplace of American paleontology", and Boone County Arboretum are located in Boone County.[15]
Most of the county is within Boone County Schools. A portion is in Walton-Verona Independent School District.[16]
In the novel The Disunited States of America, written by Harry Turtledove, the county of Boone is its own separate state.