Biohazard Cleanup Near Downtown Greenup Greenup, KY

Greenup is a home rule-class city and the county seat of Greenup County, Kentucky, located at the confluence of the Little Sandy River with the Ohio River.

The town was laid out in 1803 and 1804 by Robert Johnson, a pioneer and legislator who owned the land, and was chosen as the seat of the newly formed Greenup County under the original name Greenupsburg.

Greenup County, carved out of Mason County, was named for Christopher Greenup, a former congressman who later served as governor of Kentucky.

Greenup's post office was erected on July 1, 1811, the town was formally established by the state assembly on February 4, 1818, and the city was incorporated on February 29, 1848.

The name was shortened from Greenupsburg to Greenup on March 13, 1872, partly to avoid confusion with Greensburg, Kentucky.

Greenup is one of only three county seats in Kentucky that share their name with their county, the others being Harlan and Henderson.

The 2020 census counted 1,095 residents in Greenup, down from 1,188 in 2010; at the 2000 census the city had 1,198 people in 478 households.

Greenup is part of the Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area, and U.S. Route 23 runs through the city, leading about 19 miles northwest to Portsmouth, Ohio, and 13 miles southeast to Ashland, Kentucky.

The Ohio River flood of 1937 devastated Greenup, and some residents left permanently, with the city's population declining 5.5 percent by the 1940 census.

Around 1865, the Eastern Kentucky Railway Company established its headquarters, rail yard, and depot at Riverton, in the eastern part of Greenup.