Wickliffe, the seat of Ballard county, is located on the Mississippi River in the southwest of the county. It was founded in 1880 at the site of an earlier settlement and named for Col. Charles A. Wickliffe, legislator, Confederate officer, and nephew and namesake of Kentucky's fifteenth governor. Wickliffe replaced Blandville, the previous county seat, in 1882. The Wickliffe post office opened in 1879 after moving from its previous location at nearby Fort Jefferson. The population in 1990 was 851.
