The name was suggested by a riverboat captain, who was reading Thaddeus of Warsaw, by Jane Porter, when the city was being founded.

In 1805, founder Colonel Robert Johnson surveyed and built a road from this landing to his former home in Scott County, Kentucky.

The town extended from the river to Market Street and included 172 numbered lots, each 28.5 by 99 feet (8.7 by 30.2 m).

In 1831, the town was renamed as "Warsaw", as the US Postal Service did not want it to have the same name as the Virginia city.

In 1837, the Gallatin County seat was moved from Port William (now Carrollton) to Warsaw.

On December 4, 1868, 80 people died in the Ohio River steamboat collision of the United States and the America near Warsaw.

It is roughly bounded by W. High, E. Franklin, Washington, Market, Main, 3rd, 4th and Cross streets.

Warsaw is located in north-central Gallatin County, along the south bank of the Ohio River.