Hopkins County is a
county
A county () is a geographic region of a country used for administrative or other purposesL. Brookes (ed.) '' Chambers Dictionary''. Edinburgh: Chambers Harrap Publishers Ltd, 2005. in some nations. The term is derived from the Old French denoti ...
located in the western part of the
U.S. state
In the United States, a state is a constituent political entity, of which there are 50. Bound together in a political union, each state holds governmental jurisdiction over a separate and defined geographic territory where it shares its so ...
of
Kentucky
Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...
. As of the
2020 census, the population was 45,423.
Its
county seat
A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...
is
Madisonville.
Hopkins County was created December 9, 1806, from Henderson County. It was named for
General
A general officer is an Officer (armed forces), officer of high rank in the army, armies, and in some nations' air force, air and space forces, marines or naval infantry.
In some usages, the term "general officer" refers to a rank above colone ...
Samuel Hopkins, an
officer
An officer is a person who has a position of authority in a hierarchical organization. The term derives from Old French ''oficier'' "officer, official" (early 14c., Modern French ''officier''), from Medieval Latin ''officiarius'' "an officer," fro ...
in both the
American Revolutionary War
The American Revolutionary War (April 19, 1775 – September 3, 1783), also known as the Revolutionary War or American War of Independence, was the armed conflict that comprised the final eight years of the broader American Revolution, in which Am ...
and
War of 1812
The War of 1812 was fought by the United States and its allies against the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, United Kingdom and its allies in North America. It began when the United States United States declaration of war on the Uni ...
, and later a Kentucky legislator and
U.S. Congressman.
The Madisonville, Kentucky
Micropolitan Statistical Area includes all of Hopkins County.
The topography ranges from flatlands along the broad river valleys of the
Pond River,
Tradewater River, and
Green River, to hilly and rolling land in the southern and central parts of the county.
Coal mines
Coal mining is the process of resource extraction, extracting coal from the ground or from a mine. Coal is valued for its Energy value of coal, energy content and since the 1880s has been widely used to Electricity generation, generate electr ...
operate in the southern part of Hopkins County and agriculture is a mainstay in the northern part. Major crops are soybeans, corn, and tobacco. Along with coal, resources include oil and natural gas.
History
The earliest inhabitants were prehistoric Native Americans who lived, hunted, and farmed in the region. One of their settlements was a rough stone structure on Fort Ridge, which has since been destroyed by strip mining for coal. Some of the early settlers were
Revolutionary War veterans who received land grants for their service from
Virginia
Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern and Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States between the East Coast of the United States ...
in the area southwest of the Green River. Among these was
Baron Von Steuben
Friedrich Wilhelm August Heinrich Ferdinand Freiherr von Steuben ( , ; born Friedrich Wilhelm Ludolf Gerhard Augustin Louis Freiherr von Steuben; September 17, 1730 – November 28, 1794), also referred to as Baron von Steuben, was a German-b ...
, a
Prussia
Prussia (; ; Old Prussian: ''Prūsija'') was a Germans, German state centred on the North European Plain that originated from the 1525 secularization of the Prussia (region), Prussian part of the State of the Teutonic Order. For centuries, ...
n officer who had trained
George Washington
George Washington (, 1799) was a Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the first president of the United States, serving from 1789 to 1797. As commander of the Continental Army, Washington led Patriot (American Revoluti ...
's
Continental Army
The Continental Army was the army of the United Colonies representing the Thirteen Colonies and later the United States during the American Revolutionary War. It was formed on June 14, 1775, by a resolution passed by the Second Continental Co ...
at
Valley Forge
Valley Forge was the winter encampment of the Continental Army, under the command of George Washington, during the American Revolutionary War. The Valley Forge encampment lasted six months, from December 19, 1777, to June 19, 1778. It was the t ...
during the winter of 1776–77. He had received a grant of several thousand acres in the northwest part of the county. According to tradition, Von Steuben was wounded in an Indian attack on his first visit to Kentucky. He then quit-claimed his property. Nevertheless, a salt spring on his grant came to be known as Steuben's Lick. By the 1880s, the community that grew up around the lick was known as
Manitou
Manitou () is the fundamental life force in the theologies of Algonquian peoples. It is said to be omnipresent and manifests everywhere: organisms, the environment, events, etc. ''Aashaa monetoo'' means "good spirit", while ''otshee monetoo ...
.
Roads in the county often followed animal trails that led to salt and mineral springs. The major traces were those which connected the county seat at Madisonville with Henderson to the north, Hopkinsville to the south, and Russellville to the southeast. Numerous other trails led to the mills and ferries on the Pond and Tradewater Rivers and their tributaries.
On January 3, 1829, Ashbyburg in the northeastern part of the county was incorporated. Located on the Green River, it thrived as a steamboat landing during the 19th century. Other antebellum communities included
Nebo, Kentucky, northwest of Madisonville, and
Charleston, Kentucky, named after "Free Charles," a black freedman who operated a tavern in the southwest part of the county.
Hopkins County was divided by the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861May 26, 1865; also known by Names of the American Civil War, other names) was a civil war in the United States between the Union (American Civil War), Union ("the North") and the Confederate States of A ...
. Union supporters joined the 35th Kentucky Infantry (Mounted), a regiment recruited locally in late 1863 by
James M. Shackelford, while in 1862
Adam Rankin Johnson had recruited
Confederate
A confederation (also known as a confederacy or league) is a political union of sovereign states united for purposes of common action. Usually created by a treaty, confederations of states tend to be established for dealing with critical issu ...
troops for his 10th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment. The courthouse in Madisonville was burned by Kentucky Confederates led by Gen.
Hylan Benton Lyon on December 17, 1864, as they passed through western Kentucky, since it was being used to house Union soldiers.
However, the harsh policies imposed by the occupying Union armies caused much resentment and served to increase the sympathy for the Confederate cause. Because of that, the majority of the white population voted for the Democratic Party well into the 20th century.
Farming was the major occupation in Hopkins County for most of the 19th century, with
tobacco
Tobacco is the common name of several plants in the genus '' Nicotiana'' of the family Solanaceae, and the general term for any product prepared from the cured leaves of these plants. More than 70 species of tobacco are known, but the ...
the leading crop. Around 1837 local blacksmith James Woolfolk found an outcropping of coal on his land.
Post-Civil War
John Bayless Earle, whom the town of
Earlington, Kentucky was named for, opened the first coal mine in the county in 1869. Mining did not become a major industry until the
Louisville & Nashville Railroad pushed its line southward from Henderson through Madisonville and toward Nashville in 1870.
Two years later, the
Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad (now
Paducah and Louisville Railway) entered the county from the east. Many new communities were first established as railroad stops, including
Crofton,
Hanson,
Mortons Gap,
Nortonville, and
White Plains.
Dawson Springs, in the southwestern part of the county, began to thrive in the 1880s as a health resort, but its popularity had faded by the time of the
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...
of the 1930s.
Economy and politics: late 20th century to present
Beginning in 1968, the majority white voters began to favor Republican Party presidential candidates. Since 2000, they have consistently voted for Republican candidates for the presidency (see table below), and increasingly so in local and statewide elections as well.
By 1970, Hopkins County was the second-largest producer of coal in the Western Coal Field, after
Muhlenberg County, and the third-largest coal producer in the entire state after Muhlenberg and
Pike County. In 1971 the county also ranked fifth in Kentucky in oil production.
Coal and oil-related businesses were major county employers by 1990. Development of resources was aided by the construction of the north–south
Pennyrile Parkway
The Edward T. Breathitt Pennyrile Parkway was the designation for a freeway from Henderson to Hopkinsville, Kentucky. The parkway originally began at an interchange with the Audubon Parkway and US 41 near the city of Henderson. It travelled s ...
and the east–west
Western Kentucky Parkway
The Wendell H. Ford Western Kentucky Parkway is a controlled-access highway, freeway running from Elizabethtown, Kentucky, Elizabethtown to near Nortonville, Kentucky. It intersects with Interstate 65 in Kentucky, Interstate 65 (I-65) at its e ...
through the county by the early 1970s. In 1987 farms occupied 41 percent of the land area, with 72 percent of farmland under cultivation.
Geography
According to the
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...
, the county has a total area of , of which is land and (2.2%) is water.
Adjacent counties
*
Webster County (northwest)
*
McLean County (northeast)
*
Muhlenberg County (southeast)
*
Christian County (south)
*
Caldwell County (southwest)
Demographics
As of the
census
A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...
of 2000, there were 46,519 people, 18,820 households, and 13,399 families residing in the county. The
population density
Population density (in agriculture: Standing stock (disambiguation), standing stock or plant density) is a measurement of population per unit land area. It is mostly applied to humans, but sometimes to other living organisms too. It is a key geog ...
was . There were 20,668 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 92.02%
White
White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...
, 6.21%
Black
Black is a color that results from the absence or complete absorption of visible light. It is an achromatic color, without chroma, like white and grey. It is often used symbolically or figuratively to represent darkness.Eva Heller, ''P ...
or
African American
African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...
, 0.19%
Native American, 0.34%
Asian, 0.02%
Pacific Islander
Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...
, 0.37% from
other races, and 0.86% from two or more races. 0.91% of the population were
Hispanic
The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...
or
Latino of any race.
There were 18,820 households, out of which 31.60% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 56.30% were
married couples
Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...
living together, 11.90% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.80% were non-families. 25.80% of all households were made up of individuals, and 11.50% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.43 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the county, the population was spread out, with 24.20% under the age of 18, 8.30% from 18 to 24, 28.20% from 25 to 44, 24.60% from 45 to 64, and 14.70% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females there were 91.00 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.70 males.
The median income for a household in the county was $30,868, and the median income for a family was $36,794. Males had a median income of $31,400 versus $20,014 for females. The
per capita income
Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year.
In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...
for the county was $17,382. About 13.60% of families and 16.50% of the population were below the
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...
, including 24.40% of those under age 18 and 10.50% of those age 65 or over.
Education
Two public school districts operate in the county.
Hopkins County Schools serves most of the county, except for most of the city of Dawson Springs, which is covered by the
Dawson Springs Independent School District. The Dawson Springs district operates a single K-12 facility,
Dawson Springs Community School.
As of July 2017, Hopkins County Schools' adopted a tobacco-free policy that stated that all tobacco products, including alternative nicotine products and vapor products were prohibited for use by anyone, anywhere on district grounds. The ban extends to outdoor events and inside vehicles on district grounds. The policy also applies to community groups that use school facilities and to field trips and any school-sponsored activity.
Elementary schools
* Grapevine Elementary
* Hanson Elementary
* Jesse Stuart Elementary
* Pride Elementary
* Southside Elementary
* West Broadway Elementary
* West Hopkins School
* Dawson Springs Community School
* Christ The King Elementary
Middle schools
* Browning Springs Middle School
* James Madison Middle School
* South Hopkins Middle School
* West Hopkins School
* Dawson Springs Community School
High schools
*
Hopkins County Central High School
*
Madisonville North Hopkins High School
*
Dawson Springs Community School
*
Grace Baptist
Community College
*
Madisonville Community College
Media
* The Madisonville Messenger, established in 1917, is the daily newspaper (Tues-Sun) and website (the-messenger.com) serving Hopkins, Webster and Muhlenberg counties.
* SurfKY News Group, Inc. was established in 2008, and served Western Kentucky for several years, but has closed.
Communities
Cities
*
Dawson Springs (partly in
Caldwell County)
*
Earlington
*
Hanson
*
Madisonville (county seat)
*
Mortons Gap
*
Nebo
*
Nortonville
*
St. Charles
*
White Plains
Census-designated place
*
Manitou
Manitou () is the fundamental life force in the theologies of Algonquian peoples. It is said to be omnipresent and manifests everywhere: organisms, the environment, events, etc. ''Aashaa monetoo'' means "good spirit", while ''otshee monetoo ...
Unincorporated communities
*
Anton
*
Ashbyburg
*
Barnsley
Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. It is the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. The town's population was 71,422 in 2021, while the wider boroug ...
*
Charleston
*
Coiltown
*
Dalton
*
Daniel Boone
Daniel Boone (, 1734September 26, 1820) was an American pioneer and frontiersman whose exploits made him one of the first folk heroes of the United States. He became famous for his exploration and settlement of Kentucky, which was then beyo ...
*
Fiddle Bow
*
Fies
*
Grapevine
''Vitis'' (grapevine) is a genus of 81 accepted species of vining plants in the flowering plant family Vitaceae. The genus consists of species predominantly from the Northern Hemisphere. It is economically important as the source of grapes, bot ...
*
Hecla
*
Ilsley
*
Richland
*
Sixth Vein
*
Wicks Well
Politics
Elected officials
See also
*
References
External links
Hopkins County SchoolsDawson Springs Independent School DistrictHopkins County Sheriff's OfficeHistorical Society of Hopkins County
{{authority control
Kentucky counties
1806 establishments in Kentucky
Populated places established in 1806