Adair County, Kentucky

Adair County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2010 census, the population was 18,656. Its county seat is Columbia. The county was founded in 1801 and named for John Adair, then Speaker of the House in Kentucky and later Governor of Kentucky (1820 – 1824).Adair County has one of the few surviving American Chestnut trees in the United States.Adair County is a wet county as of March 23, 2016.HistoryAdair County was formed on December 11, 1801, from sections of Green County. Columbia was chosen as the county seat the following year and the first courthouse was built in 1806.The county was named in honor of John Adair, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. Later he commanded Kentucky troops in the Battle of New Orleans. He served as the eighth Governor of Kentucky. This was the 44th of Kentucky's 120 counties to be organized.After the American Civil War, a gang of five men, believed to include Frank and Jesse James from Missouri, robbed the Bank of Columbia of $600 on April 29, 1872. They killed the cashier, R.A.C. Martin, in the course of the robbery.