Fort Jefferson (Kentucky)



Fort Jefferson was a town on the Mississippi River about one mile south of Wickliffe, Kentucky in southwestern Ballard County. The formal town was founded in 1858; however, in 1779, George Rogers Clark built a stronghold of the same name at the intersection of the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers in order to consolidate his forces and to control access to the Ohio.

The original fort was occupied until 1781, and while the town itself no longer exists, the site is now home of the Westvaco paper factory.