Crab Orchard is a home rule-class city in Lincoln County,

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 ...

, United States. The population was 841 at the 2010 census. It is part of the

Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area The Danville Micropolitan Statistical Area, as defined by the United States Census Bureau, is an area consisting of Boyle and Lincoln counties in Kentucky, anchored by the city of Danville. As of the 2000 census, the μSA had a population of 51, ...

History

Crab Orchard was near the end of the Logan Trace of the

Wilderness Road The Wilderness Road was one of two principal routes used by colonial and early national era settlers to reach Kentucky from the East. Although this road goes through the Cumberland Gap into southern Kentucky and northern Tennessee, the other ...

and was an early pioneer station. There are several

mineral spring Mineral springs are naturally occurring springs that produce hard water, water that contains dissolved minerals. Salts, sulfur compounds, and gases are among the substances that can be dissolved in the spring water during its passage un ...

s in the area, and from 1827 until 1922, taverns and hotels were located at Crab Orchard Springs. The post office was established in 1815, with Archibald Shanks its first postmaster. Crab Orchard was a station on the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

. Crab Orchard was the birthplace of

Thomas L. Smith Thomas Long "Pegleg" Smith (October 10, 1801 – October 1866) was a mountain man who, serving as a guide for many early expeditions into the American Southwest, helped explore parts of present-day New Mexico. He is also known as a fur trapper, p ...

, a

mountain man A mountain man is an Geographical exploration, explorer who lives in the wilderness and makes his living from hunting, fishing and trapping. Mountain men were most common in the North American Rocky Mountains from about 1810 through to the 1880s ...

also known as "Pegleg" Smith.

Geography

Crab Orchard is located in eastern Lincoln County in the Knobs 3 miles west of the Rockcastle County line.

U.S. Route 150 U.S. Route 150 (US 150) is a 571-mile (919 km) long northwest–southeast United States highway, signed as east–west. It runs from U.S. Route 6 outside of Moline, Illinois, to U.S. Route 25 in Mount Vernon, Kentucky. Route descripti ...

passes around the southern and western edges of the city, leading northwest to

Stanford Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University, is a private research university in Stanford, California, United States. It was founded in 1885 by railroad magnate Leland Stanford (the eighth governor of and th ...

, the

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 ...

, and southeast to

Mount Vernon Mount Vernon is the former residence and plantation of George Washington, a Founding Father, commander of the Continental Army in the Revolutionary War, and the first president of the United States, and his wife, Martha. An American landmar ...

Kentucky Route 39 Kentucky Route 39 (KY 39) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky. The route, part of the State Secondary System, exists in two segments, separated at the Madison- Jessamine county line by the Kentucky River. While there is a boat ramp ...

passes through Crab Orchard as Main Street, leading north to

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

and south to

Somerset Somerset ( , ), Archaism, archaically Somersetshire ( , , ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel, Gloucestershire, and Bristol to the north, Wiltshire to the east ...

. 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 ...

, Crab Orchard has a total area of , of which , or 0.66%, are water. The city is southwest of the

Dix River The Dix River is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map , accessed June 13, 2011 tributary of the Kentucky River in central Kentucky in the United States. It begins in western Rockcastl ...

, a northwest-flowing tributary of the

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River in Kentucky, United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of eastern and central Kentucky, passing through the Eastern Coalfield, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Bluegrass re ...

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 842 people, 373 households, and 227 families residing in the city. 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 435 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.15%

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 ...

, 1.54%

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 ...

, 0.24% Native American, 0.24% from other races, and 0.83% from two or more races.

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 were 0.59% of the population. There were 373 households, out of which 29.5% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 42.4% 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, 12.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 38.9% were non-families. 36.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 21.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.26 and the average family size was 2.93. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.9% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 24.5% from 25 to 44, 20.8% from 45 to 64, and 20.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 89.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 77.3 males. The median income for a household in the city was $21,184, and the median income for a family was $31,111. Males had a median income of $26,607 versus $18,889 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 city was $11,706. About 17.7% of families and 27.9% 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 35.1% of those under age 18 and 27.8% of those age 65 or over.

References

{{authority control Cities in Kentucky Cities in Lincoln County, Kentucky Danville, Kentucky micropolitan area