J. Harold Utley

Hopkins County (Images of America) J. Harold Utley

Hopkins County was created in 1806 and named for Gen. Samuel Hopkins, a Revolutionary War veteran and surveyor. The Evansville, Henderson, and Nashville Railroad was completed through the county in 1871, opening transportation for the coalfield. The county became the first to produce more than one million tons of coal per year and has remained one of the top producers ever since. The employment base today is farming, mining, and manufacturing. Hopkins County has also been home to many well-known celebrities, including two Kentucky governors; Frank Ramsey of the Boston Celtics; Jim Roberts, vocalist on the Lawrence Welk Show; former Miss Kentucky Mitzi Jones; basketball player and coach Travis Ford; actress Addie Dukes McPhail; artist Charles Sebree; the Happy Goodman Family; the Rambos; and Oliver Loving, creator of the Texas Cattle Drive.