Editing Hazard, Kentucky (section)

==History==
[[File:Hazard Kentucky bridge2.jpg|left|thumb|Coal miners' children cross a footbridge into Hazard, Kentucky, July 1940.  Photograph by [[Marion Post Wolcott]].]]

Local landowner [[Elijah Combs|Elijah Combs Sr.]] laid out the town in 1824 as the planned seat of the newly established [[Perry County, Kentucky|Perry County]]. Both the town and the county were named for [[Commodore (U.S.)|Cdre]]. [[Oliver Hazard Perry]], a commander in the 1813 [[Battle of Lake Erie]] in the [[War of 1812]].<ref>{{cite news | url=https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=1AksAAAAIBAJ&sjid=cG0FAAAAIBAJ&pg=3595%2C5275109 | title=Origins of place names are traced | work=Kentucky New Era | date=December 11, 1984 | access-date=29 April 2015 | author=Bergstrom, Bill | pages=2B}}</ref> The post office was initially known as '''Perry Court House''' but the name was officially changed to Hazard in 1854.<ref>{{cite book | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lac2FUSj_oC&pg=PA134 | title=Kentucky Place Names | publisher=University Press of Kentucky | year=1987 | access-date=28 April 2013 | author=Rennick, Robert M. | pages=134–135| isbn=0813126312 }}</ref> The city was formally incorporated by the [[Kentucky Assembly|state assembly]] in 1884.<ref name=sos>Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "Hazard, Kentucky". Accessed 29 July 2013.</ref>

Long isolated by the surrounding mountains, Hazard was opened to the outside world by the arrival of the railroad in 1912. The only access to the valley had previously been 45 miles down the [[North Fork Kentucky River|North Fork of the Kentucky River]] or a two-week trip over the surrounding mountains.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://hazardky.gov/history.html|title=History|publisher=City of Hazard|accessdate=1 July 2023|archive-date=July 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230701182846/https://hazardky.gov/history.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> The railroad brought prosperity to the town, which ended up on the start of the [[Great Depression]].

The song "High Sheriff of Hazard" was written by [[Tom Paxton]] in reference to a coal miner's strike in 1964.

In 1981, several cast members of the television series ''[[The Dukes of Hazzard]]'', including [[Catherine Bach]], [[James Best]], [[Sorrell Booke]] and [[Rick Hurst]], visited Hazard during its Black Gold Festival.<ref name="Hensley">{{cite news|url=http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/59675622.html|title=A look back at the 1981 Black Gold Festival|last=Hensley|first=Steve|date=2009-09-17|publisher=[[WYMT-TV]]|access-date=2009-09-17|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110505012802/http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/59675622.html|archive-date=2011-05-05}}</ref> Soon afterwards, the series' stars [[Tom Wopat]] and [[John Schneider (screen actor)|John Schneider]] made appearances in Hazard.

After several decades of population decline, the city has seen a rapid increase of new residents as the growth rate approached 20% between 2010 and 2020. In July 1999, Hazard was the first stop on [[President of the United States|President]] [[Bill Clinton]]'s tour of poverty-stricken communities that had failed to share in the boom of the 1990s.  [[Hillary Clinton]] visited Hazard on November 2, 2008, at a political rally for [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic]] [[United States Senate|U.S. Senate]] candidate [[Bruce Lunsford]].<ref>"[http://polwatchers.typepad.com/pol_watchers/2008/11/hillary-makes-pick-in-ky-house-speaker-race.html Hillary makes pick in KY House speaker race?]{{dead link|date=January 2018 |bot=Willking1979 |fix-attempted=yes }}" ''Pol Watchers''. Accessed 2 November 2008.</ref><ref>"[http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/33722949.html Hillary Clinton Stumps for Bruce Lunsford] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110523084603/http://www.wkyt.com/wymtnews/headlines/33722949.html |date=2011-05-23 }}". [[WYMT-TV]]. Accessed 2 November 2008.</ref>

One of the two [[ZIP Code|ZIP codes]] serving Hazard is 41702; as of 2024, there are precisely 41,702 ZIP codes in the United States.
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