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Saturday, March 28, 2020
Harlan Enterprise
HERITAGE 2020
Heritage: Showing what Harlan is all about
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ake a deep breath and repeat after me: Harlan County is thriving! With a combination of community support and love for the mountains we call home, I couldn’t imagine a more welcoming place on earth than right here in Harlan County. From grabbing a quick bite at Verda Grill to exploring the depths of a coal mine at Portal 31, this county has so much to
offer other than the coal outsiders might see as “the only thing we’re good for.” I don’t believe that for one second. So, for Heritage 2020, we’re going back in time to take a look at the rich history our ancestors were a part of and fast forward to the work we’re accomplishing today – making a bright future for generations to come. Although we’re in the mid-
dle of a global pandemic called COVID-19, we’re making it through this thing together! With that being said, the Harlan Enterprise staff wishes everyone good health during these uncertain times by offering you a textual escape while you practice social distancing. This too shall pass. We appreciate all of our amazing readers for taking the time to dive into the content we cre-
ate and share. It will always be an honor to be your local newspaper. Emily Sargent is the news reporter for the Harlan Enterprise. She can be reached at 606-909-4132 or emily.sargent@ harlandaily.com. You can also find her on Facebook with @ EmilyHarlanEnterprise.
Emily Perkins
Creating a bright future for Harlan By Emily Sargent emily.sargent@ harlandaily.com
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ause for a moment and open your eyes to the work going on right under your noses as people passionate about Harlan County push to diversify our hometown and make something new. A number of things are developing throughout the area as times change, from new local businesses to a huge wildlife facility estimated to open in May 2022. One of the projects, the Harlan County Business Park, is the first certified build-ready site south of I-64 and east of I-75 at the Veterans’ Memorial Trail Entrance in Cumberland, which first broke ground on April 15, 2019. During a speech given by Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley, the difficulty in finding a property located outside of a flood plain, not on top of a mountain without utilities, inaccessible to broadband or a proper highway to reach it seemed to be the end of the story. Luckily, it wasn’t. After consideration, Mosley said the EDA identified the 150-acre piece of land as “a place to start to try and recruit companies to Harlan County.” Mosley said the property was the only piece of land to “check all of the boxes,” by being out of the flood plain, more than 50 acres, accessible to multiple utilities and broadband and “right off one of the only four-lane sections of road that are in our county.” Mosley went on to say that the golf course will not be closed, only that the layout of the ninth hole would be affected. Mosley said the golf course board has been very cooperative and he greatly appreciates their work. Mosley also spoke about the need to diversify the county in a way that guarantees a future for coming generations as they look to the future and celebrate the county’s bicentennial
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throughout 2019. Another large project lies right outside of the county line in Bell County, made possible by the Appalachian Wildlife Foundation. David Ledford, president and CEO of Boone’s Ridge, gave an update on the progress being made on the site during a Harlan County Chamber of Commerce meeting recently. Ledford said the site is on track to open in May 2022 with potential employment beginning in late summer of 2021. Ledford said the 80,000 square foot building is estimated to create roughly 2,900 new jobs, bring in $174 million in regular spending and bring a need for new local businesses and places to stay. The property will also include a variety of other things, such as picnic areas, a petting zoo, visitor center, museum, artisan hall for craftsman to display and sell their works, gift shops and restaurant. Ledford said discussion has also taken place to consider an RV park toward the front of the acreage, with additional educational program and seminars to take place inside the buildings gathering space. Ledford said for those wishing to know more about Boone’s Ridge, an updated website with new information is available at www.boonesridge. com. Last, but definitely not
least, Harlan Tourism Executive Director Brandon Pennington and his team at the Harlan Center have been working tirelessly to promote Harlan County and the downtown area – showing what being passionate about home is all about. Earlier this year, HGTV announced they were looking for a U.S. town in need of a complete makeover as part of its new series called “Home Town Takeover,” which will star TV personalities Ben and Erin Napier – well-known for “flipping” homes in need of a little love. Pennington jumped on the opportunity to showcase what Harlan has to offer and suggested Harlan for the nomination, complete with a five-toeight minute long video with drone footage and community engagement. He said there are numerous revitalization efforts taking place in downtown Harlan alone, with multiple new businesses, such as Moonbow Tipple Coffee & Sweets, opening their doors to a community they care about. “If we were the winner, that would be fantastic, but we have to remember that change starts with us. We do have small businesses and entrepreneurs opening in downtown Harlan, so part of being a citizen who wants Harlan to be the best version of itself is spending money locally,” he said. “There are ways outside of this competition
that we can help ourselves and be that better version of Harlan County. If you happen to be walking on the street and find trash, pick it up. If you see a need, try to fulfill that need. It’s part of our responsibility to this community to do that. “With me saying that, I’m not trying to say anything negative about our community. I love our community and I’m proud of it, but we all have our parts to do to work toward a better future for Harlan.”
Emily Sargent | Harlan Enterprise
Harlan County Judge-Executive Dan Mosley, along with One Harlan County members and Harlan County Economic Development Authority members, held a groundbreaking ceremony for the Harlan County Business Park located at Veterans’ Memorial Trail Entrance in Cumberland on April 15, 2019.
Harlan Enterprise
Saturday, March 28, 2020 B3
HERITAGE 2020
HARLAN: A look over decades of history Compiled by Emily Sargent emily.sargent@harlandaily.com
1900s
According to the 1900 census, there were 9,838 people in Harlan County at the start of the decade, which would rise by almost 1,000 by the 1910 census, which totaled 10,566 people. The Harlan Enterprise, serving Harlan County, Kentucky, was first published in 1901 as the Harlan Enterprise and began publishing in 1928 as the Harlan Daily Enterprise. In 2018, the paper returned to the original name of Harlan Enterprise.
1910s
Before founding Doss Fuelco Incorporated in 1984, Rayburn Doss started with Standard Oil Company in 1961, driving a delivery truck and working inside the office and warehouse. He was later hired by Standard Oil of Kentucky as a commission agent, operating two locations in Harlan County: One in Cumberland and the other in Harlan. Standard Oil Company came to Harlan County in 1917 to sell lubricants and kerosene to Peabody Coal Company, U.S. Steel and other coal mines. In 1972, Chevron purchased the company in Kentucky and combined the Harlan and Cumberland locations, building a new plant in Rosspoint in 1974. Coal mining did not prosper in Harlan County until the coming of the Wasioto & Black Mountain Railroad (a subsidiary of L & N) in 1911, with Terry Fork Coal Company shipping the first load of coal from the county in the same year. As the coal industry took off, local residents persuaded the Kentucky General Assembly to pass a law changing the name of the town to Harlan to make it a fifth-class city, requiring it to have a mayor. George B. Turner would later be elected to serve as the first mayor of the city of Harlan.
1920s
Harlan County’s population nearly doubled over the course of the ‘20s as echoed by the 1930 census, showing the 1920 population of 34,546 rising to 64,697. Cities throughout the county also saw exponential growth, with Harlan’s population increasing by 65 percent to 4,377, Cumberland’s jumping from 300 to 2,647 people in 1930, Evarts growing from 502 residents to 1,438 by the decade’s end and Loyall reaching 1,468 as well. Organized in 1920, Liggett Baptist Church was embedded in one of the many “hollers” in Harlan County where coal mines were formed and coal camps were established to house the mass of workers. The building was heated by a pot-bellied coal stove and had wooden benches for seating. Electric cords also fell from the ceiling with small light bulbs to provide lighting for church services. The city of Harlan unemployment level was record at 83 people through a preliminary census report – ever-soslightly less than the national unemployment rate of 2 percent given by the U.S. Census Bureau. By 1930, Harlan County was the largest county in the region, thought to be the largest growth of any county in the U.S., according to John Feather, supervisor of the Census for the 13th District in the state. While population grew, the number of farms in the county decreased to 502 from its astonishing 1,452. The Harlan Enterprise also grew during this time when J.M. Alverson, of Paris, bought the newspaper in May 1922. He served as owner, manager and publisher, with the paper running every Friday until Aug. 1, 1928. This date also marks when the paper’s name was changed to the Harlan Daily Enterprise because the paper was available every day of the week except on Monday. In August 1929, it was published every afternoon except for Saturday and Sunday when it was a morning edition. At the time, the Enterprise was the only morning daily in southeastern Kentucky.
1930s
In the 1930s, the county was in the middle of a national economic depression, with Harlan miners taking a 10 percent wage reduction to their already low income on Feb. 16, 1931. Local relief funds to help those who were hungry had been depleted soon after and 84 children died as a result of malnutrition. The Banner Fork Ford Mines in Wallins then closed on March 13, 1931 and businesses across the county began to close one after another, such Citizens National Bank of Harlan closing on Jan. 12, 1932. Other mines soon cut miners’ hours as well, eventually leading to
only two mines being operational three days a week or more. According to William D. Forester’s book, “Harlan County: The Turbulent Thirties,” a mine at Verda would dump its slack coal into the river when the coal markets continued to rapidly decline. The Great Depression had also impacted Harlan Independent and it was forced to cut 13 teaching positions and shorten its term in 1932. The city of Harlan had been compensating its residents with vouchers instead of currency because of severe fiscal turmoil, and Kentucky Utilities (KU) threatened to shut off the city’s street lights because of a $14,624 debt dating back to 1929. Poverty continued to rear its head with lagging commerce and decreasing wages, and several local organizations were formed to aid those suffering from starvation. By Dec. 2, 1932, The Harlan County Relief Committee reported a staggering 7,447 residents had requested food or other assistance. The Harlan Enterprise held a contest in an attempt to ease economic pressure. Attractive, young women were drawn to compete against each other to sell highest amount of subscriptions with the winners receiving new cars. Another contest awarded younger competitors who signed up the most people with gold.
1940s
The “Bloody Harlan” stigma and violence from the high homicide rates in the 20s and 30s, which at one point distinguished Harlan as the most violent county in the nation, was reduced but still very prevalent. According to John Hevener’s book, “Power and Powerlessness,” the violence for which the county had become infamous was due to the instability of an ever-changing economy and social structure, which included the struggles of organized labor during the period. Although most of the mines were unionized at that time, there were still a handful that operated as nonunion businesses. Strikes became a regular event during this time as United Mine Workers’ (UMWA) contracts expired, leading to an “invasion” at Mary Helen Coal Company in Coalgood that left one night watchman dead. According Louisville Courier-Journal reporter Joe Register, who was present at what was later called “The Invasion of Mary Helen,” the day didn’t stop with the killing of a night watchman. The picketers parked a car with a portable loudspeaker on top and began giving speeches to convince non-union miners to join the union work stoppage that was sweeping the coal fields. When company officials ordered the miners back to work, Register said, “That was when all hell broke loose.” Register, who was taking pictures of two gun-bearing union organizers, was beaten and had his camera destroyed. The labor violence would intensify the following day during the Battle of Crummies, where four unionizers were killed and no one was convicted. Radio came to Harlan on May 30, 1941, when WHLN hit the airwaves. The new radio station and the Enterprise would be the main platforms for the political battles that marked the decade. Nearly every political race in the county during the 1940s was shrouded in controversy and corruption. Political ads were also very popular, often featuring full page spreads slamming political opponents. On March 28, 1949, Harlan County voted to ban the legal sale of alcohol by more than 1,500 votes in one of the few non-contested elections of the period. The vote was hailed as a victory for prohibitionist forces, which included the influential Citizens League of Harlan County. According to “Harlan County Goes to War,” the Citizens League of Harlan County had been established in the spring of 1946 to pressure law enforcement officials
to subdue shootings and stop illegal slot machine gambling and drunkenness. Aside from the violence of the year, Harlan experienced one of the worst floods in its history on Jan. 8, 1946. The flood left more than 500 homeless and nearly destroyed the community of Georgetown.
1950s
Two new buildings were developed to bring more access to health care and education in the area. One of the buildings, which broke ground in September of 1953, was the Harlan Memorial Hospital that was built by the Miners Memorial Hospital Association — a division of the United Mine Workers Welfare and Retirement Fund. Between 10,000 and 15,000 miners and their families came from across the region to attend the groundbreaking ceremony of the 179-bed hospital later built in Browning Acres and opened on March 21, 1956. Governor A.B. Chandler would later visit the county to give a speech on the importance of college education and to break ground for the future site of the University of Kentucky Southeastern Extension Center in May of 1959 in Cumberland. The two-year, $500,000 college would later serve 400 students. During the ‘50s, the county was hit with flooding throughout its communities in January 1957. Rising levels of the Cumberland and Poor Fork rivers contributed to the worst flooding Cumberland had ever faced. One man drowned and 170 homes and business buildings were damaged by the floods.
Few people elsewhere in Harlan County were aware of how much damage was done to Cumberland and the surrounding areas. Telephone communications from Harlan to Cumberland were down, keeping the Cumberland area isolated. Other areas throughout the county were not spared by the waters. Georgetown was evacuated as the Cumberland River continued rising. Residents of Sunshine who lived near the river were evacuated after water was hip-deep on Short and Duffield streets. The bottom sections of Dressen were also reported to be under water. Approximately 1,100 people had to be provided temporary shelter and food in Harlan and Cumberland, according to Dr. Robert Marks, disaster chairman for the local Red Cross chapter. Harlan suffered around $1 million in damages and around 1,000 people were left homeless, said Col F.E. Smyser Jr., Ohio River division chief engineer. The Enterprise had changing leadership as J. Springer Robinson, president of the Enterprise Publishing Co., announced on Jan. 4, 1952, that Vance Johnson was promoted to news editor. Johnson replaced Kyle Whitehead, who had resigned to work as a freelance writer.
1960s
By 1960, the county’s population had steadily decreased to just over 50,000 people from the 75,275 totals of 1940, which had doubled from the ‘30s. Locals in this decade, although they saw positives such as new roads and changes in education, faced more unemployment due to the loss of mining-related jobs. Harlan County was ranked first in the state during the ‘60s when it lost almost 27 percent of its residents, which dropped the population even more to just 37,370 people by 1970. Perry County (25 percent) and Letcher County (23 percent) were the only other counties to come close to Harlan’s percentage. Harlan County experienced a total of seven floods over the course of the decade, the two largest occurring in 1963 and 1969. One person was killed as approximately 2,000 families were evacuated when the Cumberland River crested 29.2 feet at Baxter (13 feet above flood stage).
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Saturday, March 28, 2020
HISTORY Continued from B3
This flooding left many without clean water, caused roughly $2 million and $3 million worth of damages and called for discussion of flood control programs throughout southeastern and eastern Kentucky that would later be established in the ‘70s. In the early 1960s, the Army Corps of Engineers recommended the construction of a dam and development of a lake below Smith on Martins Fork as the best means of controlling severe local flooding of the Cumberland River and its tributary forks. The dam and lake were completed in the ‘70s and a floodwall in Harlan was finished several years later, easing the danger of flooding for Harlan Countians. A report in the Dec. 3, 1969, issue of the Enterprise also described the overwhelming public support for a proposed four-lane U.S. 421 bypass. The cost of the project was estimated at $10 million, which included new bridges at Catrons Creek and Baxter. The project rose to over $11 million and was completed in the late 1970s.
1970s
Both national and local mining strikes appeared on a regular basis in nearly every copy of the Harlan Enterprise during the ‘70s, with the Brookside strike shedding light on the women involved in the strikes as critical organizers. The documentary “Harlan County U.S.A.” continues to portray this time period, as well as preserve the “Bloody Harlan” entity generations while continue to learn about. Massive flooding also took locals by surprise and many Harlan Countians today still refer to it as “the Great Flood of ‘77.” On April 3, 1977, the Army Corps of Engineers calculated a flood that could only occur once in 100 years hit Harlan with rain showering 6 inches over the land in a 26-hour period – its water claiming the lives of people across the county. “The flood waters reached heights previously unrecorded. Homes untouched by earlier floods were inundated. Some were moved off their foundations by the turbulent, swirling water. Others were completely washed away, broken into bits and splinters when they crashed against river banks and bridges,” stated an April 4 Enterprise article. The Red Cross estimated 2,193 Harlan Countians were directly affected by the flood in one way or another. Approximately 1,500 to 1,800 were left homeless. On March 9, 1976, the Harlan Enterprise reported on an apparent methane gas explosion which was said to have killed nine miners upon the blast around 11:30 a.m., while another six suffocated and rigged a brattice – a heavy material used during such an explosion to form a safe air pocket — as they awaited rescue. The bodies of the miners, who had been working on laying rail track in a section branching from the main passage when the explosion occurred in the passageway itself, were found around midnight. The site was located five and a half miles underground. Two days after the first, a second deadly methane gas explosion took the lives of 11 other men, including three federal mine inspectors. The group was conducting repairs on the ventilation system to allow for a safer inspection of the scene when they were trapped and killed by the second disaster. A handful of the men survived the entrapment for a short period of time, sending six clicks on the telephone line twice before they passed. The tragedies that occurred at Scotia Mine eventually led to the passage of the Federal Mine Safety and Health Act of 1977, calling for stricter safety requirements and more training for miners. The law not only strengthened a previous act passed in 1969, but also moved the Mine Safety and Health Administration from the Department of the Interior to the Department of Labor.
1980s
One of the most important projects worth more than $73 million was the U.S. 421 to U.S. 119 bypass in Harlan and Cumberland that was completed during this timeframe. The 4.5-mile road east of Cumberland would later be finished in the 1990s. The Harlan County Detention Center was also finished and opened for inmates on Aug. 2, 1982, after spending $3 million over the course of five years. The six-story brick structure was built to house 74 inmates and was considered to be “state of the art.” The Village Center Mall, Belk and Rax constructions followed in the early 1980s and construction on Cinema 4 began on June 20, 1984 after the closing of the Margie Grand Theater in downtown Harlan in December 1981. The New York Times Company also assumed ownership of the Enterprise from the Worrell group during the ‘80s before selling it to American Publishing on Nov. 27, 1990. Ewell Balltip, who was editor the first half of the decade and publisher the second half, moved to a newspaper in Tennessee after the paper was sold. The Enterprise was moved from downtown Harlan to the site where Family Dollar now stands. Construction of the 14,000 square foot building began in 1983, costing the New York Times Company $2.3 million. Designed to house all the necessities for a newspaper, the facility contained a newsroom, business and production offices, composing rooms and printing machines. Several bridges were also replaced, and after a fire destroyed the Harlan
Harlan Enterprise
HERITAGE 2020
Elementary School in 1980, work to build another school was finished in 1983. The Harlan County School Board also moved into its present location beside Cawood High School, with new elementary schools being built at Cumberland, Black Mountain and Cawood locations. Sheriff Paul Browning was elected on Nov. 4, 1981, and presented a tough stand on crime and bootlegging. The locals who voted for him considered him to be a “breath of fresh air.” Early the next year, Browning began a campaign to train a volunteer deputy program with the help of Commonwealth Attorney Ron Johnson and Kentucky State Police troopers. The numbers rapidly increased to more than 70 people, but the Enterprise later reported that magistrates Elijah Buell and Eldon Fox threatened to withhold funds from the sheriff’s office if the force wasn’t disbanded. The disagreement would continue to heat up between the two entities when Browning’s was reportedly ambushed on his way to work along U.S. 119. Browning told reporters, “Bushwhacking just isn’t right,” when he suffered a .22 caliber wound to the left arm, yet he attended a fiscal court meeting the next day in a hospital robe to request more funds for his department. Buell told the sheriff he needed to live within his means. The conflict came to a head in August. Shortly after Browning and two deputies were sued for false arrest by a county resident, five indictments were leveled against the sheriff by a grand jury. Browning was arrested and lodged in the new Harlan County Detention Center on a number of charges, including two counts of conspiracy to commit murder. Later he was placed in protective custody, pending trial due to several threats he claimed were made on his life. Browning was later found guilty of the charges and sentenced to 10 years in prison. In a special interview with the Enterprise, he said he had become a political prisoner and feared for his life. The Enterprise reported on April 14, 1983, that Browning’s attorney, Lester Burns, had made a motion to have the conviction set aside after Napier came forward and said that the whole story wasn’t told during the original trial. The motion was rejected and Browning’s first appeal was turned down. He was moved to a protective correctional institution after several hundred threats on his life were reported. “Being a cop in prison is like being in a lion’s den,” he said. Browning appeared on television in August of that year holding firm to his story and claiming that he was framed by the bootleggers in Harlan who operate a $2 million to $3 million racket each year, he said. In September he was officially removed as sheriff by Gov. John Y. Brown and replaced by Bill Redwine. It was discovered that the sheriff’s department was more than $100,000 in debt from operations for the year 1982. Browning would serve a little over two years in prison before being cleared of murder conspiracy charges by the Kentucky Supreme Court. He was paroled Oct. 30, 1985, and returned to Lynch where he worked as a mechanic.
1990s
By the end of the 1980s, vinyl chloride, a cancer-causing compound, was found in a well at the Holiday Mobile Home Park in Dayhoit, which was next to what had been the National Coil plant once owned by Cooper Industries. It was named one of the worst contaminated sites in the country by the Environmental Protection Agency, later drawing federal funds for its clean up after a suit was filed by nearby residents and former plant workers. In October 1998, more than 100 Wallins Elementary School students descended unannounced upon the Department of Surface Mining’s regional offices to protest strip mining on Black Mountain in order to save its reputation as the highest point in Kentucky and home to other rare and endangered species. The visit was part of the “Save Black Mountain” project created by Judy Bryson’s seventh-grade class. In December 1998, the environmental group Kentuckians for the Commonwealth filed a petition asking the state to declare 12,000 acres of land on the mountain unsuitable for mining. The cities of Cumberland, Benham and Lynch rescinded a resolution to support the petition as residents were concerned coal mining jobs could be lost. Four months later, the environmental group and the coal companies worked out a settlement. Deep mining would still be allowed on the mountain, but 1,850 acres would be protected from logging and mining. Also, strip mining would not be allowed on an additional 2,000 acres. The agreement also called for the creation of a nearly 19,000-acre timber conservation area above the elevation of 3,000 feet. The state bought the mineral and timber rights above 3,800 feet on the mountain for $4.2 million. The state also bought the surface mining rights from 2,200-3,500 feet. The summit was also restricted to researchers from public institutions as part of the settlement. In September 1992, one part of the Harlan flood project was completed as four tunnels under Ivy Hill were finished. The tunnels would direct the flow of the Clover Fork River away from Harlan and toward the Cumberland River near North Main Street. The building of the floodwall between the Cumberland River and U.S. 421 in Harlan began in November 1992. T.L. Bayne, Inc., a furniture factory at Dressen, was set to begin production in November 1994. The management’s goal was to eventually employ 150 to 300 people in the future. In October 1995, Sunshine Valley Farms, a pastry factory, opened. Preparations for the United Glove factory at Gulston were under way in July 1996. In October 1996, the Bluegrass Hosiery factory in Cumberland celebrated its grand opening. The $5.5 million factory had been expected to bring in 165 jobs. By 1998, however, most of the employees were laid off and employment had peaked with 35 workers. A year later, the state declared the county and the hosiery company to be in default on a $100,000 economic development loan. In 2000, the Harlan Fiscal Court was still repaying money it borrowed for the closed business.