Russell County, Kentucky

Russell County
County
Russell County courthouse in Jamestown
Location within the U.S. state of Kentucky
Kentucky's location within the U.S.
Coordinates: 36°59′N 85°04′W / 36.99°N 85.06°W / 36.99; -85.06
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
Founded	December 14, 1825
Named for	William Russell
Seat	Jamestown
Largest city	Russell Springs
Area
• Total	283 sq mi (730 km2)
• Land	254 sq mi (660 km2)
• Water	29 sq mi (80 km2)  10%
Population  (2020)
• Total	17,991
• Estimate  (2023)	18,279
• Density	64/sq mi (25/km2)
Time zone	UTC−6 (Central)
• Summer (DST)	UTC−5 (CDT)
Congressional district	1st
Website	www.russellcountyky.com

Russell County is a county located in the U.S. Commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 17,991.^[1] Its county seat is Jamestown and its largest city is Russell Springs.^[2] The county was formed on December 14, 1825, from portions of Adair, Cumberland and Wayne Counties and is named for William Russell.^[3]

In 2015, the cities of Jamestown and Russell Springs became two of the first gigabit Internet communities in Kentucky with the completion of a state-of-the-art optical fiber network by the local telephone cooperative.^[4]

Wolf Creek Dam is located in southern Russell County. The dam impounds Cumberland River to form Lake Cumberland, a major tourism attraction for the county. Wolf Creek National Fish Hatchery is also located in Russell County just below the dam.

Until relatively recently Russell County was a dry county, meaning that the sale of alcohol was prohibited. It voted to go "wet" in a referendum held on January 19, 2016, by a margin of 3,833 to 3,423 votes.^[5][6]