Whitesburg, Kentucky

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Coordinates: 37°7′4″N 82°49′16″W / 37.11778, -82.82111
Whitesburg, Kentucky
Location of Whitesburg, Kentucky
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
County	Letcher
Area
- Total	3.1 sq mi (8.0 km²)
- Land	3.1 sq mi (8.0 km²)
- Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km²)
Elevation	1,171 ft (357 m)
Population (2000)
- Total	1,600
- Density	516.9/sq mi (199.6/km²)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
- Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
ZIP code	41858
Area code(s)	606
FIPS code	21-82776
GNIS feature ID	0506678

Whitesburg is a fourth-class city in Letcher County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 1,600 at the 2000 census. It is the county seat of Letcher County^[1].

1 Geography
2 Demographics
3 Culture
4 Famous residents
5 Events
6 Humor and Odd Facts
7 References
8 External links

[edit] Geography

Whitesburg is located at 37°7′4″N, 82°49′16″W (37.117867, -82.821068)^[2].

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 3.1 square miles (8.0 km²), all of it land.

[edit] Demographics

According to the census^[3] of 2000, there were 1,600 people, 642 households, and 412 families residing in the city. The population density was 516.9 people per square mile (199.3/km²). There were 733 housing units at an average density of 236.8/sq mi (91.3/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 96.19% White, 0.62% African American, 2.62% Asian, 0.06% from other races, and 0.50% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 0.56% of the population.

There were 642 households out of which 27.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 48.6% were married couples living together, 12.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 34.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 15.1% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.21 and the average family size was 2.82.

In the city the population was spread out with 18.6% under the age of 18, 7.8% from 18 to 24, 24.2% from 25 to 44, 25.4% from 45 to 64, and 24.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 79.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 76.1 males.

As a result of a survey taken subsequent to the census it was established that the city's population was made up of 3,100 residents. 1,241 households were left out of the census because neither the residents of Whitesburg's Housing Project nor residents of the Letcher Manor Nursing Home were counted in the census. When these facilities are included in the population count the number of city residents climbs to 3,100.^[4]

The median income for a household in the city was $28,750, and the median income for a family was $35,714. Males had a median income of $31,339 versus $25,478 for females. The per capita income for the city was $20,202. About 22.0% of families and 23.1% of the population were below the poverty line, including 27.2% of those under age 18 and 13.9% of those age 65 or over.

[edit] Culture

Facade of the Graham Memorial Presbyterian Church in Whitesburg, Kentucky (built in 1934 by Italian immigrant stonemasons), featuring the outline of a map of Italy

Whitesburg is home to Appalshop, a multi-disciplinary arts and education center founded in 1969 which produces original films, video, theater, music and spoken-word recordings, radio, photography, multimedia, and books. WMMT 88.7 FM (Mountain Community Radio), also located in Whitesburg, was founded by Appalshop in 1985.

Whitesburg's major newspaper is the Mountain Eagle. The Mountain Eagle has been directed by the Gish family of Letcher County for almost 50 years.

Whitesburg is known for its ubiquitous cut stone. The city was home to a community of Italian stone masons who moved there with the coming of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1911-1912. Those masons left their mark on the city and the surrounding county of Letcher. The city includes numerous ashlar stone retaining walls, foundations and bridge abutments, as well as several buildings covered entirely in sandstone pulled from the Kentucky River.

One of its best-known features is an arched stone bridge designed by Roy Crawford, a local mining and civil engineer and land surveyor who was educated through the International Correspondence School and in about 1925 founded R. R. Crawford Engineering, a company that remains family owned and operated. The bridge was built in 1938 across the North Fork of the Kentucky River. The downtown historic district includes many buildings built between 1914 and 1925, a time of incredible expansion in the town. By 1921, all of the pre-Civil War buildings had been razed to make way for new, brick-and-stone edifices. Among the oldest commercial buildings are the former Lewis Wholesale building, built in 1914, which is now used as City Hall; the Fields Building, built 1911-1914, which now houses a restaurant, bookstore and law offices; and the Daniel Boone Hotel, a fine brick building with stone foundations and pressed metal cornice thought to have been built about 1915. It includes several distinctive residences such as the Judge Ira Fields home (1897); the cut stone Palumbo House, and Italian villa-inspired house built by master stone mason John Palumbo; the stately Salyers House Bed and Breakfast, built for Confederate States of America Col. Logan Henry Neal Salyer in the early 20th century; and a Dutch Colonial style home ordered from the Sears Modern Home Catalog and delivered to its owner, in pieces, by railcar in 1928.

Whitesburg's streets were paved for the first time in 1924 and some of those original concrete streets are still in use. Broadway, one of those streets, is marked with the hoofprints of a cow, the footprints of chickens and of a barefoot child who ran across the street while the concrete was still wet.

Residents of Whitesburg voted 2-1 Tuesday April 17th, 2007 in favor of legalizing alcohol sales in restaurants which seat more than 100 people and get 70% of their revenue from food sales. More than 400 people voted in favor of allowing restaurant sales of alcoholic beverages. Fewer than 200 voted no. This wet vote ends more than 60 years of prohibition in Whitesburg, KY.

In recent years, the youth of Whitesburg and Letcher County has had few choices for recreation. The Letcher County Fiscal Court was recently given the green light to purchase the old A&P Supermarket building. They are planning to convert the building into a recreation center[2].

[edit] Famous residents

Harry M. Caudill (author, historian, professor, lawyer, legislator, and environmentalist, 1922-1990)
Emery L. Frazier (Mayor, state representative, Chief Clerk of the U.S. Senate, Secretary of the U.S. Senate, 1896-1973)

[edit] Events

Country Music Highway Road Rally - This antique car rally begins at Greenup, Kentucky, traverses the length of U.S. 23 in Kentucky, and ends at Whitesburg. Held during the peak color season in October, the rally draws sightseers from around the nation. Every county along the route is the home of at least one country music artist.
Cowan Creek Mountain Music School - A set of week-long intensive classes in banjo, guitar, fiddle, square dance, storytelling and singing. The school is held in late June at the community of Cowan and in Whitesburg. It is open to children and adults.
Seedtime on the Cumberland - Festival of arts and crafts held annually in early June. In 2008, the dates for the festival will be June 10-14. The festival is centered at Appalshop and focuses on traditional music, art and crafts. It includes old-time music concerts and jam sessions.
Riverside Days, formally Jenkins Days, is a three-day event held at Riverside Park in Whitesburg, next to the hospital. The festival includes country headliners, sponsored by Jenkins Festival Committee, Inc. and Coca-Cola; Mountain Outreach Idol; local performers; bluegrass; Gospel; Rock; Country; food and craft booths; rides; a mechanical bull; bungee jump; prizes and fun. The dates are Aug. 14, 15 & 16, 2008.
The Heritage 2KX Car Show (http://www.heritageshow.net) - Custom and antique car show held annually in early September. The event attracts hundreds of show cars from around the region, and features a police-escorted drag through Whitesburg.
The Mountain Heritage Festival - Fall Festival held annually the last weekend of September. The festival features talent shows, concerts, arts and crafts, food booths, a parade, and window display competition.

[edit] Humor and Odd Facts

Trivia sections are discouraged under Wikipedia guidelines.
The article could be improved by integrating relevant items and removing inappropriate ones.

Whitesburg has long been a bird sanctuary. Visitors will notice that there are several roadsigns around town featuring the silhouette of a mother duck with a string of ducklings behind her, along with the legend "Duck Xing." The signs were commissioned by local radio host Jim Webb, who at the time hosted a show on WMMT-FM under the alias "The Ducktor." Webb appeared in newspaper photos publicizing the placement of the signs while wearing a rubber duck mask.

Whitesburg's oldest continuously operating radio stations, WTCW-AM/WXKQ-FM, is actually located several miles outside the city near the community of Thornton. The license holder is T.C.W. Broadcasting, Inc., a subsidiary of Forcht Broadcasting, a part of the Forcht Group of Kentucky. Radio station WIFX-FM, which is licensed for Jenkins, Kentucky, (13 miles away) and Pound, Virginia, (about 20 miles away) is located in downtown Whitesburg. It is owned by Gearheart Broadcasting. The public radio station licensed for Whitesburg, WMMT-FM, is located at Appalshop in downtown Whitesburg.

Local legend has it that billiards great Minnesota Fats once played an all-night game of pool at what was then the Southern Hotel in Whitesburg, a 1940s era bootleg, gambling and prostitution joint.

The tongue-in-cheek reason often given as the origin of the city's name is that surveyors laying out the town in 1842 showed up during a heavy snow storm and therefore named the town Whitesburg. It was actually named for state Rep. Daugherty White of Clay County, who championed the creation of the new county. The town of Summit City was selected as the county seat and renamed for White.

The city's longtime tourism slogan, now adopted by the county, is The Heart of the Hills. The slogan was coined by Emery L. Frazier and is a reference to the novel of the same name by John Fox Jr., which was written about the area around Whitesburg.

[edit] References

^ Find a County. National Association of Counties. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ US Gazetteer files: 2000 and 1990. United States Census Bureau (2005-05-03). Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ American FactFinder. United States Census Bureau. Retrieved on 2008-01-31.
^ [1] (2 April 2008), Bill would move Whitesburg from fifth- to fourth-class city, Whitesburg, Kentucky, The Mountain Eagle. Retrieved on 2008-05-13.