Business View Magazine | July 2020

175 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE JULY 2020 ADA I R COUNTY , KENTUCKY educational and quality of life opportunities for residents. Lindsey Wilson College, a four-year liberal arts college and home of the beautiful Begley Chapel continues to grow and enhance the area, and the addition of Lindsey Wilson Sports Park and Doris and Bob Holloway Health and Wellness Center in 2010 has been an asset to the entire community. Adair County’s high school students pursuing careers in counseling and nursing have also been able to take advantage of the Fugitte Science Center and the Goodin Nursing and Counseling Center. Gale B. Cowan has been Judge Executive of Adair County for one year, although she’s worked in the office for almost 25 years, so she knows the area well from a local government perspective. Speaking to ongoing projects, Cowan reports, “The tax base is mostly residential and rural and most of the businesses are located within the city limits of Columbia, the county seat. The City of Columbia is now in the process of trying to expand their natural gas company and was chosen as the county seat the following year. The county’s town square in the city of Columbia is a cornerstone of the community with an abundance of history, featuring a central courthouse (completed in 1884 to replace the original 1806 structure) and charming 19th- century buildings and churches. The county was named in honor of General John Adair, a veteran of the Revolutionary War and Northwest Indian War. Later, he commanded Kentucky troops in the Battle of New Orleans and served as the eighth Governor of Kentucky. Adair was the 44th of Kentucky’s 120 counties to be organized. A historical footnote from early crime annals: after the American Civil War, a gang of five men, believed to include notorious outlaws Frank and Jesse James from Missouri, robbed the Bank of Columbia of $600 on April 29, 1872. They killed the cashier, R.A.C. Martin, in the course of the robbery. With a population expected to top 20,000 in the 2020 census, Adair County offers prime