Knox 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

Appalachia Appalachia ( ) is a geographic region located in the Appalachian Mountains#Regions, central and southern sections of the Appalachian Mountains in the east of North America. In the north, its boundaries stretch from the western Catskill Mountai ...

near the southeastern corner 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 ...

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 30,193. 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 Barbourville. The county is 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 ...

Henry Knox Henry Knox (July 25, 1750 – October 25, 1806) was an American military officer, politician, bookseller, and a Founding Father of the United States. Knox, born in Boston, became a senior general of the Continental Army during the Revolutionar ...

. It is one of the few coal-producing counties in Kentucky that has not suffered massive population loss. Knox County is included in the Corbin, KY Micropolitan Statistical Area.

History

Knox County was formed on December 19, 1799, from portions of Lincoln County. It is usually assumed to be named for

of Massachusetts, a Revolutionary War general and the first

United States Secretary of War The secretary of war was a member of the President of the United States, U.S. president's United States Cabinet, Cabinet, beginning with George Washington's Presidency of George Washington, administration. A similar position, called either "Sec ...

. However, there is strong evidence that it was actually named for James Knox. Knox was a pre-war explorer and long hunter, a veteran of Dunmore's War and the Revolutionary War, a pioneer guide, road-builder, and legislator. Knox had used 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 ...

, which traverses the county, as an explorer and later oversaw its improvement into a wagon road. The

Civil War A civil war is a war between organized groups within the same Sovereign state, state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies.J ...

Battle of Barbourville was fought on September 19, 1861, between 800 Confederate soldiers from General Felix Zollicoffer's command and 300 Union troops who attempted to defend the Union's Camp Andrew Johnson. The Union men tore up the planks on the bridge in an attempt to keep the Confederates from crossing, but the more numerous Confederates succeeded anyway. They destroyed the camp and seized the arms and equipment it contained. The present courthouse, completed in 1964, is the fifth courthouse to serve the county. The county has historically had

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

mining as the driver of its economy. Unlike other areas of southeastern Kentucky, it has continued to maintain jobs and much of its population.

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 (0.4%) is water.

Adjacent counties

* Clay County (northeast) * Bell County (southeast) * Whitley County (southwest) * Laurel County (northwest)

Economy

The largest employers in Knox County are Health Care & Social Assistance (1,406 people), Retail Trade (1,331 people), and Educational Services (1,226 people). But the highest-paying jobs are with mining, quarrying, and oil and gas extraction. Real estate sales, and rental and leasing also pay well, followed by finance and insurance.

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 31,795 people, 12,416 households, and 8,939 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 13,999 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the county was 97.84%

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 ...

, 0.82%

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 ...

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 ...

, 0.25% Native American, 0.17% 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 ...

, 0.08% from other races, and 0.82% from two or more races. 0.57% 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 12,416 households, out of which 34.40% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 54.30% 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, 13.60% had a female householder with no husband present, and 28.00% were non-families. 25.70% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.60% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.51 and the average family size was 3.01. In the county, the population was spread out, with 26.20% under the age of 18, 9.70% from 18 to 24, 28.10% from 25 to 44, 23.20% from 45 to 64, and 12.80% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.90 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 88.70 males. The median income for a household in the county was $18,294, and the median income for a family was $23,136. Males had a median income of $24,833 versus $18,390 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 $10,660. About 29.60% of families and 34.80% 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 42.40% of those under age 18 and 28.90% of those age 65 or over.

Politics

Knox County is part of the Unionist bloc of counties covering the eastern

Pennyroyal Plateau The Pennyroyal Plateau or Pennyroyal Region, often spelled Pennyrile, is a large physiographic region of Kentucky that features rolling hills, caves, and karst topography in general. It is named for '' Hedeoma pulegioides'' (the American pennyroy ...

and the western part of the Eastern Coalfield. Like all counties in this bloc, Knox County is majority white by a high proportion, strongly opposed secession, and has been rock-ribbed Republican ever since the Civil War. The only Democrat to carry Knox County since then has been

Lyndon Johnson Lyndon Baines Johnson (; August 27, 1908January 22, 1973), also known as LBJ, was the 36th president of the United States, serving from 1963 to 1969. He became president after assassination of John F. Kennedy, the assassination of John F. Ken ...

during his 1964 landslide. On the state level, Knox County has historically been strongly Republican, having only voted for the Democratic candidate for

Governor A governor is an politician, administrative leader and head of a polity or Region#Political regions, political region, in some cases, such as governor-general, governors-general, as the head of a state's official representative. Depending on the ...

six times since 1900. Since 2000, Knox County has voted for the Democratic candidate only once, in

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

Elected officials

Education

K–12

Three public school districts serve the county:

Knox County Public Schools serves the entire county, including the cities of Barbourville and Corbin. The following are schools funded by the Knox County Public School District (grades served in parentheses): ** Central Elementary (PS–5) ** Dewitt Elementary (PS–5) ** Flat Lick Elementary (PS–5) ** Girdler Elementary (PS–5) ** G.R. Hampton Elementary (PS–5) ** Jesse D. Lay Elementary (PS–5) ** Lynn Camp Elementary (PS–5) ** Knox County Middle School (6–8) ** Lynn Camp High School (6–12) ** Knox Appalachian School (5–12) ** Knox Central High School (9–12) ** Knox County Learning Academy (9–12)

Barbourville Independent School District serves the city of Barbourville at a single campus with elementary and high school sections (grades PS–12). * The Corbin Independent School District serves the entire city of Corbin, making it one of the few districts in Kentucky whose boundaries cross county lines. The following are schools funded by the Corbin Independent School School District (grades served in parentheses): ** Corbin Primary School (K–2) ** Corbin Elementary (3–4) ** Corbin Intermediate (5–6) ** Corbin Middle School (7–8) ** Corbin High School (9–12)

Higher education

Union College Union College is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Schenectady, New York, United States. Founded in 1795, it was the first institution of higher learning chartered by the New York State Board of Regents, and second in the s ...

, a small

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a Protestant Christianity, Christian Christian tradition, tradition whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's brother ...

-affiliated

liberal arts college A liberal arts college or liberal arts institution of higher education is a college with an emphasis on Undergraduate education, undergraduate study in the Liberal arts education, liberal arts of humanities and science. Such colleges aim to impart ...

, is located in Barbourville.

In popular culture

Knox County serves as the real-life counterpart to the fictional Knox County in the horror game Project Zomboid. In the game, Knox County is where the outbreak begins, before spreading globally in a matter of weeks.

Communities

Cities

* Barbourville (county seat) * Corbin (primarily in Whitley County)

Census-designated places

* Artemus * Flat Lick * North Corbin (primarily in Laurel County)

Other unincorporated places

Gray Grey (more frequent in British English) or gray (more frequent in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning that it has no chroma. It is the color of a cloud-covered s ...

* Kay Jay

Notes

References

The Kentucky Highlands Project
* Bradley, Erwin S., ''Union College: A History, 1889-1954,'' Written in Commemoration of the Seventy-Fifth Anniversary of Its Founding (Barbourville, KY: Union College, 1954). Available online at: https://archive.org/details/unioncollege18791954brad * Decker, Elmer, "Knox County Kentucky History," manuscript by a local attorney from the 1930s and 1940s, containing much in the way of raw historical facts as well as documents, available online on the Bell County YPublic Libraries website www.bellcountypubliclibraries.org/crm/ky/knox/decker.html * Fetterman, John, ''Stinking Creek: The Portrait of a Small Mountain Community in Appalachia'' (E. P. Dutton, 1967; reprint, Plume, 1970). Also available online on the Bell County YPublic Libraries website. See
Bellcountypubliclibraries.org
* Marigold, W. Gordon and Erwin S. Bradley, ''Union College, 1879-1979'' (Barbourville, KY: Union College, 1979). * Mills, Michael C., ''Barbourville and Knox County.'' Arcadia Publishing (August 2, 2000). Also available online at
Arcadia Publishing-Local Interest & American History Books
* Mitchell, Charles Reed, ed., ''History and Families, Knox County, Kentucky, 1799-1994.'' With a History of Knox County, Kentucky by William Sherman Oxendine, Charles Reed Mitchell, and Ron Rosenstiel (Paducah, KY: Turner Pub. Co., 1994). * Warren, King Solomon, ''History of Knox County, Kentucky'' (Barbourville, KY: Daniel Boone Festival, 1976).

External links

* {{Coord, 36.89067, -83.85404, format=dms, display=title, type:adm2nd_region:US-KY_source:wikidata 1799 establishments in Kentucky Kentucky counties London, Kentucky micropolitan area Populated places established in 1799