Editing Paintsville, Kentucky (section)

==History==
A '''Paint Lick Station''' was referred to in [[United States Army|military]] dispatches as early as 1780.{{citation needed|date=September 2013}} The site was named for [[Native Americans in the United States|Indian]] [[tribal art|art]] painted on the debarked trees near a local [[salt lick]] when the first [[European American|white]] settlers arrived and was originally part of a {{convert|19050|acre|adj=on|sp=us}} tract belonging to George Lewis.<ref name=ren/> The trading post was purchased by the [[North Carolina|Carolinian]] Rev.Henery Dixon in 1812 and laid out as the town of Paint Lick Station in 1826.<ref name=ren>Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names'', [https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lac2FUSj_oC&pg=PA225 p. 225]. University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987. Retrieved September 25, 2013.</ref> The town was formally established under that name in 1834,<ref name=sos/> although the post office was probably named '''Paint Creek'''.<ref name=ren/> It was incorporated as a city under its present name of Paintsville in 1843,<ref name=sos/> the same year it became the [[county seat|seat]] of [[Johnson County, Kentucky|Johnson County]].

The [[American Civil War|Civil War]] found Johnson County Fiscal Court passing an ordinance barring ''both'' [[Union (U.S.)|Union]] and [[Confederate States of America|Confederate]] flags from being flown in its jurisdiction. This was quickly repealed when then-[[colonel (U.S.)|Col]]. [[James A. Garfield]] marched his brigade into the city.

During the early twentieth century, Paintsville began to transform into a modern American city. In 1902, the city's first bank {{ndash}} [[First National Bank Building (Paintsville, Kentucky)|First National]] {{ndash}} opened for business. In 1906, the city received telephone service and, two years later, all of its streets were paved. In 1912, Paintsville received electricity and natural gas services. In 1926, Paintsville residents received public water and the city's fire department was established.<ref>''Johnson County, Kentucky, History''. "{{usurped|1=[https://web.archive.org/web/20080509141420/http://www.johnsoncountykyhistory.com/index.html Johnson Co. History]}}". Retrieved November 13, 2009.</ref> Library services were originally provided through the [[Pack Horse Library Project]].<ref name=":9">{{Cite news|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/13530822/|title='Pack Horse Library' Aids Cumberland Mountain Folk|last=Blackstone|first=Lillian|date=September 25, 1938|work=Tampa Bay Times|access-date=September 3, 2017|via=Newspapers.com}}</ref>

Since the 1990s, Paintsville has seen a steady loss of population (4,345 in 1990 to 3,459 in 2010<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=US Census Bureau Publications – Census of Population and Housing|website=census.gov|access-date=April 9, 2016}}</ref>), in part due to a downturn in the economy, and the loss of coal jobs.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.maced.org/coal/documents/Economics_of_Coal.pdf|title=The Economics of Coal in Kentucky: Current Impacts and Future Prospects|date=June 25, 2009|publisher=Mountain Association for Community Economic Development|access-date=April 8, 2016}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.mcclatchydc.com/news/nation-world/national/economy/article24733363.html|title=Coal industry sheds jobs, leaving Eastern Kentucky economy in tatters|website=mcclatchydc|access-date=April 9, 2016}}</ref> Despite this, there have been some business developments in the past few years, as well as growing tourist interest. Paintsville has been in the process of revitalizing the downtown area to rejuvenate its original business district. On June 9, 2009, Paintsville became a "wet" city for the first time since March 14, 1945, permitting stores located within the [[city limits]] to sell alcoholic beverages.<ref>Commonwealth of Kentucky. "[http://abc.ky.gov/ Kentucky Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control]". Retrieved June 11, 2009.</ref>