Carter County, Kentucky: History
Carter County was formed on February 9, 1838, from portions of Greenup County and Lawrence County. It was named after Colonel William Grayson Carter, a Kentucky state Senator. The county seat is named for his uncle, Robert Grayson.
The original courthouse was rebuilt in 1907.
An east–west main line reached Carter County in 1881 when the Elizabethtown, Lexington and Big Sandy Railroad (EL&BS) completed a through route between Lexington and Ashland; the last spike was driven near Denton, where the line met the Ashland Coal & Iron Railway coming east from Ashland. The Chesapeake & Ohio Railway (C&O) soon leased and then acquired the EL&BS, and the corridor became the C&O Lexington Subdivision.
The county's best-known station is the Olive Hill C&O Depot (1910), a Prairie-style brick passenger depot listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992 and noted as the only surviving railroad building in Olive Hill.
A north–south line, the Eastern Kentucky Railway (EK), served the county seat at Grayson and connected with the EL&BS/C&O at Hitchins; the EK's operations ended during the Great Depression.
Rail spurs and sidings in Carter County handled fire clay and refractory brick, which were major local industries in the early to mid-20th century. Facilities included plants at Olive Hill and Hitchins.
Most of the Lexington Subdivision west of Ashland was abandoned in the mid-1980s.