Middlesboro, Kentucky Middlesboro, Kentucky Queen City of the Cumberlands, Location of Middlesboro, Kentucky Location of Middlesboro, Kentucky Middlesboro (local / m d lzb r /) is a home rule-class town/city in Bell County, Kentucky, United States.
It is positioned 1 mile west of the Cumberland Gap and is the biggest city in southeastern Kentucky. It is positioned entirely between Pine Mountain and the Cumberland Mountains in the Middlesboro Basin, an enormous meteor crater (one of three known astroblemes in the state).
The town/city claims to be the only one in the United States assembled entirely inside such a crater, as well as the home of ragtime music and the earliest continuously-played golf course in the country. Originally funded by English businessmen, the town opened its first postal service on September 14, 1888, under the name Middlesborough, presumably with respect to the English town of almost the same name. The town/city was formally incorporated under that spelling on March 14 two years later, but the postal service switched to "Middlesboro" in 1894 and that spelling has since been adopted by the town/city itself, the Kentucky Land Office, and the U.S.
He then traveled to England, where he was able to find interested backers for his "Magic City" of 250,000 inhabitants appreciateing running water, electricity, a large sporting commons, and electric trams in the middle of Appalachia. Simultaneously, he funded and began assembly on the Powell's Valley Railroad, with the aim of connecting the Cumberland Gap region to Knoxville. By 1888, the new town was platted and titled "Middlesborough", presumably after the English city, either after a small-town contest chose it as the best entry or after the hometown of the brothers who owned the small-town English Hotel. The Middlesboro Country Club was established as part of Arthur's initial development.
Its nine-hole course is one of the earliest in the United States and it claims to be the earliest continuously-played course in the country. Pianist Ben Harney is also claimed to have originated ragtime music in Middlesboro, where he played in small-town saloons in the early 1890s. Just south of the Cumberland Gap in the region of the present-day Lincoln Memorial University, a $1-million Four Seasons Hotel was assembled in 1892 with 500 rooms, a 200-room spa, and a sanitarium. The Cumberland Gap had turned out to be too steep for locomotives and, in order to connect Middlesboro to the Tennessee line, an expensive tunnel needed to be constructed from 1888 to 1889, ultimately necessitating the dissolution of the Powell Valley Railroad and its recapitalization as the Knoxville, Cumberland Gap, & Louisville. Rebuilding from a devastating fire in 1890 used up more capital and time and the poor character of small-town ore meant that revenue from Arthur's steel mills was insufficient to weather the Panic of 1893 on Wall Street. Arthur's evolution of the region finished, the postal service was retitled the following year after the already-prevalent small-town spelling "Middlesboro". The Knoxville, Cumberland Pass, & Louisville was bought out by the L&N in 1896. The small-town newspaper, the Middlesboro Daily News, was established in 1911. Even with being the biggest city in the county, the evolution of Middlesboro came too late to avoid Pineville's being the seat of the small-town courthouse.
The two metros/cities have remained friendly rivals since Middlesboro's founding.
Middlesboro installed the first electric street cars west of Washington, D.C., to help locals and tourists visiting the town/city which became known as "Little Las Vegas" in the 1930s.
The town, under rule of the continuing Simpson brothers, was featured in newspapers athwart the nation as one of the deadliest, wildest metros/cities in the United States.
By the 1950s, Middlesboro had a populace of roughly 15,000 residents.
It was one of the several metros/cities in the Eastern Coal Fields to boast a grand opera home and it hosted one of the finest school districts in the state. The first shopping mall was assembled in the town/city during the 1960s.
The town/city was titled an "All Kentucky City"[clarification needed] in 1964, '65, '66, '67, and '69, a huge honor for such a small city.[why?] The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park was also established amid this time.
During the 1970s, the area's coal trade revived and the town/city prospered again.
A grand centennial celebration was held in 1990 that encompassed a ball, air show, and beauty pageant, as well as the dedication of a new town/city park.
View of Middlesboro from Cumberland Gap National Historical Park Currently, Middlesboro is investing in downtown revitalization to help problematic new company and give the town/city a better image.
In 2004, Discover Downtown Middlesboro, Inc.
Since its inception, Discover Downtown Middlesboro has helped various businesses receive a facelift and has restored the historic Fountain Square in downtown.
Numerous large-scaled sepia murals are placed throughout downtown, paying homage to the founder of Middlesboro, his wife, and other historic points in the history of Middlesboro.
This plan, once complete, will outline the plans for the revitalization of downtown Middlesboro, help problematic a brand for the downtown area, as well help lay a foundation to preserve the rich architectural details in the downtown historic district.
The downtown region was one of the hardest hit areas in the city.
For many hours after the flood, travel in and around the town/city was very difficult due to large amounts of standing water in the watershed that Middlesboro is assembled in.
In April 2012, Middlesboro became the first town/city in the United States to have a community-wide organic garden, which features 60 raised-bed plant nurseries that will be used to expanded food for citizens in the community.
The improve organic garden was made possible through the City of Middlesboro, Bell County Health Department, and a several donors and volunteers.
Middlesboro is presently working to turn into one of the first metros/cities in Kentucky to be a certified Trail Town.
The Mayor, along with the City Council, showed support and took initiative in becoming a certified Trail Town.
This feat will be a collaboration between the Bell County Tourism Commission, Bell County Adventure Tourism, Discover Downtown Middlesboro, Bell County Chamber of Commerce, and the City of Middlesboro.
Middlesboro was featured on the History Channel's tv series How the States Got Their Shapes in the episode "Forces of Nature".
The town/city also featured in one of the BBC's Wonders of the Solar System episodes. ABC's Good Morning America honored the Middlesboro-Bell County Library for participating in the "52 Weeks of Giving" program on May 27, 2013.
On September 15, 2015 Middlesboro held an election to allow alcohol manufacturing and retail in the town/city limits.
Previously, all of Bell County had been dry except for the special circumstance of a state park in Pineville, Kentucky.
Allowing alcohol in the town/city would make Bell County a Moist County.
Beginning in the summer of 2015, Discover Downtown Middlesboro is the recipient of a grant from the Levitt Foundation of California.
Middlesboro is one of 15 metros/cities athwart the country to be chosen for the Levitt AMP series. Middlesboro is positioned at 36 36 37 N 83 43 24 W (36.610146, -83.723230). The town/city sits just inside the Cumberland Gap, along U.S.
According to the United States Enumeration Bureau, the town/city has a total region of 7.6 square miles (20 km2), all but 0.09 square miles (0.23 km2) of which is land.
Climate data for Middlesboro, Kentucky As of the census of 2000, there were 10,384 citizens , 4,443 homeholds, and 2,927 families residing in the city.
In the city, the populace was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 26.6% from 25 to 44, 23.9% from 45 to 64, and 17.0% who were 65 years of age or older.
The median income for a homehold in the town/city was $19,565, and the median income for a family was $25,016.
The city's chief thoroughfare is U.S.
The Cumberland Gap Tunnel) is a .87-mile (1.40 km) tunnel that travels underneath the famous Cumberland Gap.
The northern end is positioned in Middlesboro and the southern end is in Cumberland Gap, Tennessee. Middlesboro is one of the several metros/cities in Kentucky that was not assembled on or near a momentous waterway, so it is not reachable by water.
The canal channels Yellow Creek from the part of the town/city through downtown and then heads north, northeast out of the city.
The Middlesboro Canal was assembled by a large number of immigrants soon after the town/city was founded.
The canal is home to various populations and species of ducks, all of which are considered to be honorary people of the city, despite the traffic headaches they may cause.
Due to Middlesboro being known around the region for the large duck population, the canal serves as the "raceway" for the Downtown Ducky Dash rubber duck race held annually in August by Discover Downtown Middlesboro.
Middlesboro is served by the Middlesboro-Bell County Airport, which is a single runway, general aviation airport and is the second earliest airport still in use in Kentucky, ranking behind Bowman Field in Louisville..
The airport was established in 1944, however, the first recorded flight into the town/city was in 1912.
The closest primary airport to Middlesboro is the Mc - Ghee Tyson Airport in Knoxville, Tennessee, which is 75.5 miles (121.5 km) or about 1 hour 40 minutes away.
Unlike many other American cities, Middlesboro does not have a traditionally titled Main Street.
The city's equivalent street is titled Cumberland Avenue, which runs through Middlesboro's historic downtown district.
Discover Downtown Middlesboro, Inc.
(DDM) is a non-profit downtown revitalization accomplishment charged with the restoration of the downtown area.
DDM has been around since 2004 and since then, has restored Middlesboro's famed Fountain Square, instead of many historical murals in town, started and formed a farmer's market, updated signage in the downtown area, and received grants for new plantings for the various planters that line Cumberland Avenue.
Middlesboro is home to Middlesboro Mall, the only enclosed shopping mall in the area.
The region also features Middlesboro Crossing, a recently constructed strip mall on the north end of the city.
Middlesboro crater a b c Commonwealth of Kentucky.
"Middlesboro, Kentucky".
Kentucky Place Names, University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987, p.
"Summary and Reference Guide to House Bill 331 City Classification Reform" (PDF).
Kentucky League of Cities.
City of Middlesboro.
City of Middlesboro.
"History of Middlesboro, Kentucky".
Middlesboro Daily News.
Middlesboro, Kentucky.
"Middlesboro votes 'yes' to turn into a moist town.".
"Monthly Averages for Middlesboro, KY".
The Magic City: Footnotes to the History of Middlesborough, Kentucky, and the Yellow Creek Valley.
Middlesboro, KY: Bell County Historical Society, 2003.
City of Middlesboro The Middlesboro Daily News Municipalities and communities of Bell County, Kentucky, United States 50 most crowded cities of Kentucky
Categories:
Cities in Bell County, Kentucky - Cities in Kentucky - Populated places established in 1890
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