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Jenkins is a home rule-class city in
Letcher County Letcher County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 21,548. Its county seat is Whitesburg, Kentucky, Whitesburg. It was created in 1842 f ...
,
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 2,203 as of the 2010 census.


History

In autumn of 1911, the Consolidation Coal Company purchased the current location of Jenkins as part of a tract of land in Pike, Letcher, and Floyd
counties 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 ...
from the Northern Coal and Coke Company. After the acquisition was finalized, plans were made to extend the Lexington and Eastern Railroad from
Jackson Jackson may refer to: Places Australia * Jackson, Queensland, a town in the Maranoa Region * Jackson North, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson South, Queensland, a locality in the Maranoa Region * Jackson oil field in Durham, ...
to a town named McRoberts. The plans also included the establishment of the town of Jenkins for George C. Jenkins, one of the Consolidation Coal Company's directors.History of Jenkins, Kentucky
Retrieved on 2010-2-7
Because of the need of hundreds of homes and other structures, nine sawmills and two brickyards were erected. A dynamo was built to temporarily generate power for the houses. Next, a temporary narrow-gauge railroad was built over Pine Mountain from Glamorgan, Virginia, in order to carry supplies to further the development of the town. Jenkins's city government was established as soon as the businesses and land were put up for sale. The company even went as far to supply the town with its own marshals to enforce the law. Jenkins was finally incorporated as a sixth-class city on January 9, 1912.Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "Jenkins, Kentucky". Accessed 1 August 2013. Jenkins was home to
minor league baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...
from 1948 to 1951. The Jenkins Cavaliers played as members of the Class D level Mountain States League. Jenkins played home games at the Jenkins Athletic Field. In 1956, Consolidation Coal sold Jenkins to
Bethlehem Steel The Bethlehem Steel Corporation was an American steelmaking company headquartered in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Until its closure in 2003, it was one of the world's largest steel-producing and shipbuilding companies. At the height of its success ...
. Bethlehem Steel closed the mine in 1988. Diana Baldwin and Anita Cherry, hired as miners in 1973, are believed to have been the first women to work in an underground coal mine in the United States. They were the first female members of
United Mine Workers of America The United Mine Workers of America (UMW or UMWA) is a North American labor union best known for representing coal miners. Today, the Union also represents health care workers, truck drivers, manufacturing workers and public employees in the Unit ...
to work inside a mine. Cherry and Baldwin were hired by the Beth-Elkhorn Coal Company in Jenkins. During the Southeast Kentucky floods of 2020, water spilled over the top of the Elkhorn Lake dam above Jenkins, which is considered one of Kentucky's most dangerous. About 30 percent of Jenkins is vulnerable to flooding in the event of a dam break, and the town lacks a comprehensive emergency plan.


Geography

Jenkins is located in eastern Letcher County at (37.179914, -82.632148). Its southern border is the Kentucky–
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 ...
state line, following the crest of Pine Mountain. U.S. Route 23 passes through Jenkins, leading north to Pikeville and south over Pine Mountain to Norton, Virginia. U.S. Route 119 leads southwest from Jenkins to Whitesburg, the Letcher
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 north with US 23 to Pikeville. 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 city has a total area of , of which are land and , or 0.34%, are water. The city is in the valley of Elkhorn Creek, a northeast-flowing tributary of the
Russell Fork The Russell Fork, 1975 Board on Geographic Names decision is a U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 13, 2011 tributary of the Levisa Fork in southwestern Virginia and sout ...
, part of the
Levisa Fork The Levisa Fork (also known as the Levisa Fork River or the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River) is a tributary of the Big Sandy River, approximately long,U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe Nat ...
Big Sandy River watershed flowing north to the
Ohio River The Ohio River () is a river in the United States. It is located at the boundary of the Midwestern and Southern United States, flowing in a southwesterly direction from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, to its river mouth, mouth on the Mississippi Riv ...
.


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 2,401 people, 968 households, and 671 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 1,122 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 97.96%
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 ...
, 1.08%
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 ...
, 0.08% Native American, 0.33% Asian, 0.08%
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 ...
, and 0.46% 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 0.29% of the population. There were 968 households, out of which 31.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 52.9% 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, 13.2% had a female householder with no husband present, and 30.6% were non-families. 27.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.9% 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 2.97. In the city, the population was spread out, with 25.4% under the age of 18, 8.4% from 18 to 24, 26.8% from 25 to 44, 24.7% from 45 to 64, and 14.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 38 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 83.7 males. The median income for a household in the city was $20,143, and the median income for a family was $25,985. Males had a median income of $31,087 versus $21,333 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 $11,358. About 24.6% of families and 29.9% 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 43.3% of those under age 18 and 14.6% of those age 65 or over.


Education

Jenkins has a
lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a librar ...
, a branch of the Letcher County Library. Jenkins Independent Schools operates in the city. The district includes Jenkins and the nearby community of Burdine. The district operates two schools, Jenkins Middle High School and Burdine Elementary. The current superintendent is Damian Johnson.


Arts and culture

The David A. Zegeer Coal-Railroad Museum is housed in town in a historic railroad depot. Jenkins Homecoming Days is an annual festival usually celebrated in August.


Notable people

* Kenny Baker,
fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...
player and member of Bluegrass Boys * Matt Figger, basketball head coach at Austin Peay University * Darwin K. Kyle,
Medal of Honor The Medal of Honor (MOH) is the United States Armed Forces' highest Awards and decorations of the United States Armed Forces, military decoration and is awarded to recognize American United States Army, soldiers, United States Navy, sailors, Un ...
recipient *
Francis Gary Powers Francis Gary Powers (August 17, 1929August 1, 1977) was an American pilot who served as a United States Air Force officer and a CIA employee. Powers is best known for his involvement in the 1960 U-2 incident, when he was shot down while fly ...
,
pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its Aircraft flight control system, directional flight controls. Some other aircrew, aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are al ...
whose
CIA The Central Intelligence Agency (CIA; ) is a civilian foreign intelligence service of the federal government of the United States tasked with advancing national security through collecting and analyzing intelligence from around the world and ...
U-2 spy plane was shot down while flying a reconnaissance mission over
Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...
airspace; dramatized in
Steven Spielberg Steven Allan Spielberg ( ; born December 18, 1946) is an American filmmaker. A major figure of the New Hollywood era and pioneer of the modern blockbuster, Spielberg is widely regarded as one of the greatest film directors of all time and is ...
's film '' Bridge of Spies'' * Gary Stewart,
country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...
ian and
songwriter A songwriter is a person who creates musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music genre and film scoring. ...
* Milt Ticco, All-American basketball player at
University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...
and early professional in National Basketball League


References


External links


Thayer's Gazetteer: Jenkins, Kentucky

The Guide to the Jenkins, Kentucky Photographic collection, 1911–1930
housed at the University of Kentucky Archives. {{authority control * Cities in Kentucky Cities in Letcher County, Kentucky Populated places established in 1912 Company towns in Kentucky Mining communities in Kentucky 1912 establishments in Kentucky