GLASGOW — Years ago, a journalist visiting Glasgow referred to it as the “biggest little town in Kentucky,” an expression that made its way to at least one billboard just outside the city limits.

“I think that says a lot about Glasgow and about Barren County as a whole,” said local historian Sam Terry, a past president of the Barren County Historical Society. “We could do anything we decided to do; we might not do it the way another county or community did it, but we’ll find a way or create it if we have to, so there’s a lot of spunk to Barren County.”

It’s a can-do spirit that persists into the present day, as county leaders seek ways to buttress existing assets while positioning Barren County to prosper in the midst of development in other areas of southcentral Kentucky.

The 2020 U.S. Census lists Barren County’s population at 44,485, and steady growth over the past three decades has made the county the 23rd-most populous in Kentucky.

Barren County was formed in 1798 from land taken from Green and Warren counties, with the county’s name being derived from a section known as The Barrens that had been a hunting ground for indigenous people.

Several Revolutionary War veterans made their way to Barren County to claim land that had been granted to them, and Glasgow was established in 1799 on land donated by war veteran John Gorin that was situated near a large spring.

Early residents were descendants of Scottish and Irish natives who came to colonial-era America, and Terry said a number of people resettled here from a Virginia city also known as Glasgow.

Farming of tobacco, cotton and hemp helped to build and sustain a local economy in the county’s early decades, and agriculture remains an economic driver in the county today.

According to statistics from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, Barren County is the top dairy-producing county in the state, with the milk and other dairy products produced on Barren County farms in 2017 selling for a total market value of slightly more than $22 million.

The nearest thing to a household name in that sector may be Kenny — Kenny Mattingly, that is, whose dairy cattle operation in Austin has been the source of artisanal cheeses sold under the Kenny’s Farmhouse Cheese brand.

Barren County Judge-Executive Jamie Bewley Byrd identifies agriculture as one of the county’s strongest assets, and hopes to strike a balance between farming and residential development in an area poised to experience more growth as industries locate to the area.

“We have to continue to keep our ag heritage here, so our growth has to be strategic,” Byrd said. “We have to make sure we’re not sacrificing good farmland to grow, so we’ve really tried to work with Planning and Zoning to look at areas in the county where we can say, ‘hey, we need to develop this area’ and going to those developers and saying this is a good area we need you to develop.”

The county’s economy is diverse, with TJ Samson Regional Health, Barren County Schools, automotive suppliers Akebono and Nemak, and Barren River Lake Resort counted among its largest employers.

The Barren County Economic Authority announced a partnership last year to construct two speculative buildings of 50,000 and 100,000 square feet, respectively, at Glasgow’s South Cooper Industrial Park.

The larger building can be expanded to 240,000 square feet, and leaders hope that puts the county in a good position to attract industry.

“Barren County has the workforce,” Byrd said. “The amount of people leaving Barren County to work in Bowling Green, we have the same amount that come into Barren County to work, coming from Metcalfe, Monroe and Green and these surrounding counties. If we have the right opportunities, we can supply the workers.”

Since 1988, Barren County has been served by the Western Kentucky University Glasgow campus, offering higher education opportunities and regional degree programs in business, education and other fields.

Two Southcentral Kentucky Community and Technical College campuses in Glasgow – one offering programs in nursing and other health fields, and the other focusing on computer, industrial maintenance and information technology – also help to build a knowledge base that can be put to use in the county.

“We’ve got to make sure that what we do as a city is very conducive to people looking at us as a positive place to put an industry or raise a family,” said Glasgow Mayor Henry Royse. “I think we have the opportunities. We just haven’t maxed out our potential … but I get the most encouragement by talking to people who don’t live here, but who come here and say ‘I can’t believe what all you have here.’ “

Major transportation projects – Interstate 65 in the 1960s, the Louie B. Nunn Cumberland Parkway that opened in the succeeding decade and the Veterans Outer Loop that rings around Glasgow and opened in this millennium – have helped to shuttle people and goods throughout the county.

Visitors to the county leave in awe having taken in the natural splendor offered at places like Mammoth Cave National Park and Barren River Lake State Resort Park.

A National Park Service report published last year showed that Mammoth Cave welcomed about 663,000 visitors in 2022 who spent $62 million in communities near the park and supported 828 local jobs.

Mammoth Cave’s impact on local tourism cannot be overstated, and though it was established as a national park in 1941, the site’s history is tied in with the history of the county at large.

“A lot of people don’t realize there have been tours at Mammoth Cave going on since about 1808,” Terry said. “It’s the oldest tourist attraction in Kentucky, and it’s just a fabulous gem we’re lucky to be able to sit right next door to.”

Cave City, in the northern part of the county, has benefited directly from Mammoth Cave tourism over the years, building a healthy lodging and restaurant industry perched along Interstate 65.

The city’s recently renovated Cave Area Conference Center has been a sought-after venue for trade shows, wedding receptions and other events since opening in 1980.

Over the past several months, a series of focus groups involving Barren and Hart county officials and leaders from the Cave City Tourist and Convention Center Commission have taken place to discuss the possibility of adding an agriculture expo center in Cave City.

Byrd said she envisions an expo center that could seat between 3,000 and 5,000 people and be possibly built as an attachment to the convention center, though discussions so far remain in a preliminary stage and steps have not yet been taken to secure funding.

“If you build something like that can host ag events, concerts, rodeos, what comes after that is more places to stay, more places to eat, more activities for people to do,” Byrd said.

In the county seat, Glasgow is experiencing what Royse calls a “renaissance” of its downtown courthouse square.

The Glasgow Downtown Business Association has sponsored small business crawls around the holidays, and more than 100 vendors have committed to taking part in the Sip, Shop and Stroll event scheduled to take place in the square in April.

The Plaza Theatre, which opened in 1934 and served as the city’s premier entertainment venue for decades, was revived in 2001 after it was purchased by the city, undergoing renovations and retaking its place as an entertainment destination.

“We have people who have invested in developing a retail following on the square,” Royse said. “There’s sort of a charm here, and there’s no one group or one faction that can take credit for that. It’s everybody saying let’s make something out of what we have.”

The Plaza is one of the more notable examples of the efforts to preserve the county’s rich history.

Just off the square, the South Central Kentucky Cultural Center houses a trove of donated artifacts documenting the area’s history, and is itself contained in the former Kentucky Pants Factory building, a reminder of bygone industry.

A new justice center to be located just off the square received state approval last year, and the bidding process for the construction contract is upcoming.

Byrd said local county government offices may move into the courthouse, while the county health department is anticipated to move into the county-owned former U.S. Bank building on the square.

Previous efforts to build up the county have had some checkered results.

Barren County lost out on the chance to have the Louisville and Nashville Railroad built through Glasgow in the 19th century thanks in part to lobbying from Bowling Green officials to have the railroad run through its city.

That led to the establishment of Glasgow Railway Company in 1856, which built a railroad connecting to the L&N line at Park City. It is the oldest continuously running business in the county.

“Suddenly Glasgow had a means of shipping its timber, its cattle, its tobacco and other crops, and people could much more readily travel by train,” Terry said. “It was a huge thing for development in the county.”

The private Glasgow Normal School and Business College opened in 1876 and offered a business program to students, but became a victim of its own success.

Enrollment swelled, and there was not enough available housing to lodge and feed students.

School leaders A.W. Mell and Tom Williams sought money from the community to help build a larger facility, but failed to get the necessary support, prompting them to relocate the school in 1884 to Bowling Green, where it would eventually become part of what is now Western Kentucky University.

“That’s always been a thorn in Glasgow’s side, that Western could have been here, and who knows how that would have worked out,” Terry said.

These days, there seems to be broad consensus on how to guide the county toward long-term prosperity, in part through shoring up infrastructure and building housing to anticipate the people interested in coming here, whether its to work in the county or beyond its borders at one of the two large electric-car battery plants under construction in Bowling Green and Glendale.

“When we focus on economic development, we’re always thinking about how we can get this international company here and we kind of don’t credit ourselves sometimes,” Byrd said. “I like to think that we ourselves can grow something or attract an American company in a big metropolis paying insane wages, we can get them here because the cost of living is so much cheaper that it would save them money to move here.”