24/7 Trauma and Biohazard Cleanup in Catlettsburg, KY

Catlettsburg is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Boyd County, Kentucky, located where the Big Sandy River meets the Ohio River, and it is part of the Huntington–Ashland metropolitan area.

Alexander Catlett, the first landowner of the area, came to the site in 1798, and his son Horatio opened a post office on December 5, 1810 — the first official use of the name Catlettsburg, for a place previously known as the Mouth of Sandy.

The Catlett family operated a tavern, post office, trading post, and inn that provided hospitality to frontier travelers including Henry Clay and future U.S. President James Garfield.

The Catlett House, built in 1812, still stands as part of Beechmoor Place on Walnut Street and is cited as the oldest known building within a 300-mile radius.

The spelling of the city's name was shortened from 'Catlett's Burg' to Catlettsburg around 1890, and the city annexed the neighboring communities of Hampton City and Sandy City in the late 19th century.

From the late 19th century until the early 1920s, Catlettsburg was the largest hardwood timber market in the world, thanks to its location at the mouth of the Big Sandy River.

During the Civil War, Catlettsburg served as a Union Army supply depot, and its First Presbyterian Church was used as an army hospital.

The Chesapeake and Ohio Railway bridge across the Big Sandy River, begun in 1885, still carries CSX freight trains and Amtrak's Cardinal passenger train between Chicago and New York City.

The city's 1906 Chesapeake and Ohio passenger depot was sold to the city for one dollar after passenger service moved to Ashland in 1958, and it now serves as the Russell Compton Community Center.

The 2020 census counted 1,780 residents in Catlettsburg, living in 711 households.