The earliest European-American settlers, Luke Kelly and his family, and May Keyser, settled at Hanging Rock along the Ohio River in 1796, having migrated from the east. Lawrence County was formed on December 20, 1816 from parts of Gallia and Scioto counties, with the county seat named as Burlington. In 1851 the county seat was moved from Burlington to Ironton. A new courthouse was built at that time. It burned in 1857. The present Lawrence County Courthouse was built in 1908.