David is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

and

coal town A coal town, also known as a coal camp or patch, is a type of company town or mining community established by the employer, a mining company, which imports workers to the site to work the mineral find. The company develops it and provides reside ...

in Floyd 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 along County Route 404. Located in the

Appalachian Mountains The Appalachian Mountains, often called the Appalachians, are a mountain range in eastern to northeastern North America. The term "Appalachian" refers to several different regions associated with the mountain range, and its surrounding terrain ...

, it lies approximately southeast of Lexington. The town was named for David L. Francis, president of Princess Elkhorn Coal Company which originally built and owned the town. Retrieved on 2010-12-14 It bears the postal ZIP code 41616. The U.S. Census of 2000 recorded a population of 435.Zip Code Tabulation Area 41616
U.S. Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2010-12-14 Although it was formerly a

company town A company town is a place where all or most of the stores and housing in the town are owned by the same company that is also the main employer. Company towns are often planned with a suite of amenities such as stores, houses of worship, schoo ...

, it was in many ways a model coal community with many amenities not typical of the region at the time including a swimming pool, central water and sewer, and cable TV service. The company also supported a children's choir which toured nationally. When Princess-Elkhorn sold the community in the late 1960s, many of these amenities fell into disrepair and the housing stock deteriorated from over 100 units to slightly more than 30. The town rallied around a hepatitis outbreak and ended up purchasing the entire town from the investor who owned it. The mechanism for this purchase was the creation of the David Community Development Corporation, which went on to secure funding for a new water and sewer system, a fire station, a new park and several dozen new homes. The David School is featured in the six-hour

documentary film A documentary film (often described simply as a documentary) is a nonfiction Film, motion picture intended to "document reality, primarily for instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". The American author and ...

Country Boys ''Country Boys'' is a six-hour documentary film centered on Cody Perkins and Chris Johnson, two teenage boys from David, Kentucky. They attended the David School, a non-denominational alternative high school with a mission to serve underprivileg ...

'' which was broadcast in '' Frontline'' on

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

, about two residents, Chris and Cody, and their life in a poor, rural mountain town.

References

External links

David ON kyhometown.com
{{authority control Unincorporated communities in Floyd County, Kentucky Unincorporated communities in Kentucky Company towns in Kentucky Coal towns in Kentucky