Editing Nortonville, Kentucky (section)

==History==
Nortonville owes its existence to the railroad industry and is named for Eckstein Norton, a Kentucky-born [[investment banker]] who started as a clerk in a country store in [[Russellville, Kentucky]], in 1846. Norton participated in the creation of the [[Elizabethtown and Paducah Railroad]] in the late 1860s (east-west tracks). He then purchased {{convert|2000|acre|sqkm}} of land in what would become "Norton Village", later changed to "Nortonville" around 1900. Norton became a shipping agent for the [[Illinois Central Railroad]], which eventually acquired the Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad. The north–south railroad, named the Evansville, Henderson and Nashville, was completed through Nortonville in 1872. It was purchased in a foreclosure sale in 1879 by the [[Louisville and Nashville Railroad]]. Norton became president of the L&N Railroad on October 6, 1886.<ref>{{cite book |last=Klein |first=Maury |title=History of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad |url=https://archive.org/details/historyoflouisvi0000klei |url-access=registration |date=1972 |publisher=Macmillan}}</ref> By 1886, Nortonville was one of only nine towns in the L&N system to have a [[winding engine|steam hoist]] to unload and transfer freight. By then, the city was concentrated around a junction of the IC and L&N Railroads. Nortonville saw growth after 1902, when investors purchased land from the Norton heirs and opened a shaft coal mine as the Nortonville Coal Company. They also operated an electric power plant.

Nortonville implemented its first water system in 1936 and paved its streets in 1956. A centralized sewage treatment system was built in the late 1970s, opening an opportunity for continued growth.<ref>{{cite book |last=Hopkins County |first=Historical Society |title=Heritage of Hopkins County |date=1988 |publisher=Turner Publishing |location=Paducah, KY}}</ref> The Nortonville City Hall occupies the well-maintained 1930s high school building, which was built by the [[Works Progress Administration|WPA]].