Town of the Week

Hazard, Kentucky
October 16, 1999

Today's town sits in a valley at the headwaters of the Kentucky River in the southeastern part of the state. After the War of 1812, the population of this area of Kentucky grew rapidly and in 1820 a new county was created here. It was named for war hero Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry, and the county seat was called Hazard.

The economic potential of this area of the Appalachian Mountains was realized when railroad tracks arrived in 1912. Coal began being hauled out in loads of 30 cars, along with timber from the mountainous hillsides. Visitors can see exhibits of the town's history in the Bobby Davis Museum. Coal mining is also celebrated each September with the Black Gold Festival, one of the state's two largest festivals.

Hazard Community College was founded in 1968, and will eventually include the Challenger Learning Center which was created in Hazard in 1986. The first in a network of 30 such learning centers in the country where students and teachers learn to "fly" missions in space.

This town of 5,600 has a unique community indoor recreation center called the Pavilion, which includes a Swedish Sauna. For outdoor recreation Buckhorn Lake State Resort Park is just 25 miles away.

It's the Queen City of the Mountains, and our Town of the Week, Hazard, Kentucky.

Take a trip to Hazard, Kentucky; just listen in.

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