Ballard County is located in extreme western Kentucky at the confluence of the Ohio and Mississippi Rivers. Ballard County is part of the region known as the Jackson Purchase. Comprising an area of 254 square miles, Ballard County, the ninety-third county in order of formation, was established on February 15, 1842, out of parts of Hickman and McCracken counties and named in honor of Capt. Bland Ballard, a participant in the battle of Fallen Timbers (1793) and the River Raisin (1813), and a member of the Kentucky General Assembly.
Ballard County is bordered by the Ohio River on the north and the Mississippi River on the west. Carlisle and McCracken Counties share its southern and eastern boundaries, respectively. Wickliffe is the county seat.
From The Kentucky Encyclopedia
by John E. Kleber, Thomas D. Clark, Lowell H. Harrison, James C. Klotter