Located in southwestern Kentucky, Calloway County was established in 1822. Calloway County was one of eight counties formed from the Jackson Purchase, which is the area west of the Tennessee River that was bought from the Chickasaw Indian Nation in 1818. The county was named for early Kentucky settler Richard Callaway (spelled differently), who was killed in a Native American attack at Fort Boonesborough in 1780.

The history of Calloway County that is explored here, and is on the county's highway markers, includes people and places that have influenced the county's past. Here you can learn about a significant literary figure and an intriguing inventor. Calloway County's dedication to education is also examined. There are stories about the county's early educational efforts at Calloway Normal School and Water's Schoolhouse, as well as a look at what became Murray State University and that institution's integration in the 1950s. Here are also some places that may be well known by the county's citizens, like the courthouse, and some places that may sound familiar but whose stories are more obscure like, Civil War Fort Heiman, Gerard Furnace, and Murray's First Baptist Church.

We hope you will use this app to learn more about Calloway County's noteworthy and interesting history.