Editing Hopkins County, Kentucky (section)

==History==
The earliest inhabitants were prehistoric Native Americans who lived, hunted, and farmed in the region. One of their settlements was a rough stone structure on Fort Ridge, which has since been destroyed by strip mining for coal. Some of the early settlers were [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]] veterans who received land grants for their service from [[Virginia]] in the area southwest of the Green River. Among these was [[Baron Von Steuben]], a [[Prussia]]n officer who had trained [[George Washington]]'s [[Continental Army]] at [[Valley Forge]] during the winter of 1776–77. He had received a grant of several thousand acres in the northwest part of the county. According to tradition, Von Steuben was wounded in an Indian attack on his first visit to Kentucky. He then quit-claimed his property. Nevertheless, a salt spring on his grant came to be known as Steuben's Lick. By the 1880s, the community that grew up around the lick was known as [[Manitou]].

Roads in the county often followed animal trails that led to salt and mineral springs. The major traces were those which connected the county seat at Madisonville with Henderson to the north, Hopkinsville to the south, and Russellville to the southeast. Numerous other trails led to the mills and ferries on the Pond and Tradewater Rivers and their tributaries.

On January 3, 1829, Ashbyburg in the northeastern part of the county was incorporated. Located on the Green River, it thrived as a steamboat landing during the 19th century. Other antebellum communities included [[Nebo, Kentucky]], northwest of Madisonville, and [[Charleston, Kentucky]], named after "Free Charles," a black freedman who operated a tavern in the southwest part of the county.

Hopkins County was divided by the [[American Civil War]]. Union supporters joined the 35th Kentucky Infantry (Mounted), a regiment recruited locally in late 1863 by [[James M. Shackelford]], while in 1862 [[Adam Rankin Johnson]] had recruited [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] troops for his 10th Kentucky Cavalry Regiment. The courthouse in Madisonville was burned by Kentucky Confederates led by Gen. [[Hylan Benton Lyon]] on December 17, 1864, as they passed through western Kentucky, since it was being used to house Union soldiers.

However, the harsh policies imposed by the occupying Union armies caused much resentment and served to increase the sympathy for the Confederate cause. Because of that, the majority of the white population voted for the Democratic Party well into the 20th century.

Farming was the major occupation in Hopkins County for most of the 19th century, with [[tobacco]] the leading crop. Around 1837 local blacksmith James Woolfolk found an outcropping of coal on his land.

===Post-Civil War===
John Bayless Earle, whom the town of [[Earlington, Kentucky]] was named for, opened the first coal mine in the county in 1869. Mining did not become a major industry until the [[Louisville & Nashville Railroad]] pushed its line southward from Henderson through Madisonville and toward Nashville in 1870.

Two years later, the [[Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad]] (now [[Paducah & Louisville Railway|Paducah and Louisville Railway]]) entered the county from the east. Many new communities were first established as railroad stops, including [[Crofton, Kentucky|Crofton]], [[Hanson, Kentucky|Hanson]], [[Mortons Gap, Kentucky|Mortons Gap]], [[Nortonville, Kentucky|Nortonville]], and [[White Plains, Kentucky|White Plains]]. [[Dawson Springs, Kentucky|Dawson Springs]], in the southwestern part of the county, began to thrive in the 1880s as a health resort, but its popularity had faded by the time of the [[Great Depression]] of the 1930s.

===Economy and politics: late 20th century to present===
Beginning in 1968, the majority white voters began to favor Republican Party presidential candidates. Since 2000, they have consistently voted for Republican candidates for the presidency (see table below), and increasingly so in local and statewide elections as well.

By 1970, Hopkins County was the second-largest producer of coal in the Western Coal Field, after [[Muhlenberg County]], and the third-largest coal producer in the entire state after Muhlenberg and [[Pike County, Kentucky|Pike County]]. In 1971 the county also ranked fifth in Kentucky in oil production.

Coal and oil-related businesses were major county employers by 1990. Development of resources was aided by the construction of the north–south [[Pennyrile Parkway]] and the east–west [[Western Kentucky Parkway]] through the county by the early 1970s. In 1987 farms occupied 41 percent of the land area, with 72 percent of farmland under cultivation.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.genealogyinc.com/kentucky/hopkins-county/ |title=Hopkins County, Kentucky Facts, Genealogy, Records & Links :: Genealogy Inc |publisher=Genealogy Inc. |access-date=May 31, 2012}}</ref>