Four County Seats of Campbell County

Wilmington, Newport, Visalia and Alexandria

The first court in Campbell County was in Wilmington in 1794.  Wilmington no longer exists, but was on what is now the Kenton County side of the Licking, near where the town of Kenton is now.  Keep in mind that what you know as Kenton County wasn't created from Campbell until 1840.  A court house was never erected in Wilmington. 

The first court house was built in Newport.  It was likely a log structure, and was built on a public square at York and Bellevue.  It lasted until1805, when it was rebuilt.  The rebuilt building is also thought to have been a log structure.

A two story brick courthouse was erected in 1815.  It had a brick cornice, and a 10 square foot cupola, 15 feet above the roof.

To complicate things, the Kentucky legislature established the county seat as Visalia from 1827 to 1840, because it was near the center of the county, on the Licking, and on the railroad.  Was the court house in Newport still active at this time?  We don't know. But the establishment of Kenton county in 1840 ended Visalia as the county seat.

In 1840, the courts that were in Visalia moved to Alexandria, the new center of the county.  A court house opened there in 1842, and it still stands today.

The current court house in Newport was erected in 1883