By Rebecca Wishnevski
Historical Marker #2579 in Clay, Kentucky recognizes the catastrophic explosion in the Western Kentucky Coal Company’s mine No.7 at about 7:40 AM on August 4th, 1917. This event led to the death of 62 of the 153 men underground at the time. 91 men…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Marker #2359 in Leslie County remembers the Finley Mine disaster at Hurricane Creek in December 1970. Located four miles east of Hyden, Kentucky, the mine loaded an average of 1,500 tons of coal per day. Exactly one year prior to the…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Marker #2130 in Pike County commemorates the connection of the Chesapeake & Ohio (C&O) Railroad and the Carolina, Clinchfield & Ohio Railroad (later Clinchfield) at Elkhorn City. When the junction was completed in 1915, Elkhorn…

By Tim Talbott
Historical Marker #2109 in Lynch, Kentucky (Harlan County) commemorates the history of the Lynch Colored School, a segregation-era school that educated the community's African American students. When the coal boom hit eastern Kentucky in the…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Marker #1803 in Harlan County commemorates Lynch, the largest company-owned town in Kentucky through World War II. Lynch was established by the U.S. Coal and Coke Company, a subsidiary of the United States Steel Company, in 1917. The…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Marker #1338 in Hopkins County celebrates Earlington, a western Kentucky coal town. Founded in 1870 by the St. Bernard Coal Co., Earlington was named for John B. Earle, who was credited with having stuck the first pick into the…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Marker #1272 commemorates Wallsend Coal Mine, the first to begin operation in Bell County. Commercial enterprises expanded in Bell County when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad was extended from Corbin to Pineville in 1888. The…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Markers #1178 and #1978 in Greenup County commemorate the Eastern Kentucky Railway, which played an important part in developing the area's coal, iron, and timber resources. The Eastern Kentucky Railway was originally chartered…

By McKenzie Martin
Historical Marker #743 in Daviess County commemorates Robert Triplett, a coal magnate who constructed the first railway in the state. Triplett was a Virginian who arrived in the Owensboro area around 1817. He was employed to survey land claims,…