Monterey, Kentucky

Monterey is an Owen county city near the Kentucky River on Cedar Creek about ten miles south of Owenton. The area was settled around 1805 by James and Alexander Williams and the site was first known as Williamsburg. It was later renamed for the Mexican War battle

Monterey was officially established in 1847 and incorporated in 1874 and 1955.

A Mouth of Cedar Creek post office opened in 1817 and was renamed Cedar Creek in 1825 and might have moved to the site of the town at that time. In 1847 it was renamed Monterey and it closed in 1865.

The population in 2020 was 111.

About two miles south of Monterey along Cedar Creek was the Karsner Air Field. The airstrip and hanger were built after World War II by Harry Clark Karsner, born in 1914 in Owen county. Karsner was a pilot and aeronautics instructor and state commissioner of aeronautics. He also operated the Gospel Plane, playing sermons and music from speakers on his plane as he flew through the region. Karsner died in 1971. He had a neon sign on his hanger that read "Christ is the answer." The hanger is gone, but the sign is now displayed in front of the nearby Old Cedar Baptist Church, where Karsner had been a deacon.

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© 2024 David C. Elbon