Blackey is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a parcel of land that is not governed by a local general-purpose municipal corporation. (At p. 178.) They may be governed or serviced by an encompassing unit (such as a county) or another branch of the state (such as th ...

Letcher County Letcher County is a County (United States), county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 21,548. Its county seat is Whitesburg, Kentucky, Whitesburg. It was created in 1842 f ...

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, in the United States. As of the 2010 census, the population was 120. It is located near the early settlement of Indian Bottom. Blackey is thought to have been named after Blackey Brown, one of its citizens.

History

The history of Blackey began in 1908, after local resident Jim Brown was given permission to establish a post office on Elk Creek. He decided to name the post office "Blackey", after his brother Joseph "Blackey" Brown. Due to the area's massive

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

deposits, the Lexington and Eastern Railroad ran a line through Blackey in November 1912. Over the next fifteen years, Blackey was transformed from a sleepy mountain town to a bustling modern city. It was chartered in November 1912 and incorporated on January 27, 1915. In 1913, the community became the home of the

Stuart Robinson School Stuart Robinson School was a settlement school in Blackey, Kentucky, Blackey, Letcher County, Kentucky, established in 1913 as a Presbyterian mission. It closed in 1957, after graduating its last class in 1956. Establishment Stuart Robinson Schoo ...

, a

Presbyterian Presbyterianism is a historically Reformed Protestant tradition named for its form of church government by representative assemblies of elders, known as "presbyters". Though other Reformed churches are structurally similar, the word ''Pr ...

settlement school Settlement schools are social reform institutions established in rural Appalachia in the early 20th century with the purpose of educating Mountain whites, mountain children and improving their isolated rural communities. Settlement schools have p ...

that was to operate there until 1957. In 1917, the Blackey Coal Company was established as the first coal company in the community. The company constructed thirty houses and employed eighty miners.History of Blackey, Kentucky
Retrieved on 2010-04-10 In May 1927, a

flash flood A flash flood is a rapid flooding of low-lying areas: washes, rivers, dry lakes and depressions. It may be caused by heavy rain associated with a severe thunderstorm, hurricane, or tropical storm, or by meltwater from ice and snow. Flash f ...

devastated the city. In one hour, the North Fork of the

Kentucky River The Kentucky River is a tributary of the Ohio River in Kentucky, United States. The river and its tributaries drain much of eastern and central Kentucky, passing through the Eastern Coalfield, the Cumberland Mountains, and the Bluegrass re ...

rose , killing 26 people in Letcher County alone. Later in December a fire broke out, destroying most of the city's

business district Business is the practice of making one's living or making money by producing or buying and selling products (such as goods and services). It is also "any activity or enterprise entered into for profit." A business entity is not necessar ...

. Then in February 1928, another fire broke out and destroyed the rest of the town. Shortly afterwards, Blackey State Bank failed and the

Great Depression The Great Depression was a severe global economic downturn from 1929 to 1939. The period was characterized by high rates of unemployment and poverty, drastic reductions in industrial production and international trade, and widespread bank and ...

ended the prosperity of the boom town. Today, Blackey is home to just over 150 people, with only a few abandoned buildings and a few occupied homes on Main Street. Within the last few years, the city has seen some revitalization consisting of a Head Start, a new city water system, and a public

library A library is a collection of Book, books, and possibly other Document, materials and Media (communication), media, that is accessible for use by its members and members of allied institutions. Libraries provide physical (hard copies) or electron ...

Geography

Blackey is located in western Letcher County at (37.140413, -82.979368), in the valley of the North Fork of the Kentucky River.

Kentucky Route 7 Kentucky Route 7 (KY 7) is a state highway in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Route description Kentucky Route 7 begins at a junction with KY 15 at Jeff in Perry County. The route continues through the cities of Blackey in Letcher County, W ...

passes through the town, leading west and northwest down the North Fork valley to

Jeff Jeff is a masculine name, often a short form (hypocorism) of the English given name Jefferson or Jeffrey, which comes from a medieval variant of Geoffrey. Music * DJ Jazzy Jeff, American DJ/turntablist record producer Jeffrey Allen Townes ...

, and northeast up the valley of Rockhouse Creek then north down the valley of the Right Fork of Beaver Creek to Wayland. Kentucky Route 588 leads south and east up the North Fork of the Kentucky to Whitesburg, the Letcher

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

. According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city of Blackey has a total area of , of which , or 2.72%, are water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 153 people, 65 households, and 49 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 73 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 98.69%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

and 1.31% from two or more races. There were 65 households, out of which 23.1% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.0% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 10.8% had a female householder with no husband present, and 23.1% were non-families. 21.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 6.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.35 and the average family size was 2.66. In the city, the population was spread out, with 17.0% under the age of 18, 11.8% from 18 to 24, 24.8% from 25 to 44, 34.0% from 45 to 64, and 12.4% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 42 years. For every 100 females, there were 86.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.4 males. The median income for a household in the city was $19,250, and the median income for a family was $20,625. Males had a median income of $30,536 versus $21,875 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $11,278. About 22.9% of families and 24.3% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 28.1% of those under the age of eighteen and 33.3% of those 65 or over.

Education

Blackey has a

lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a librar ...

, a branch of the Letcher County Library.

Arts and culture

Just across a small bridge is the C. B. Caudill Store & History Center, which was operated by Joe Begley (1919–2000) and his wife Gaynell (1917–2008). It was formerly a

general store A general merchant store (also known as general merchandise store, general dealer, village shop, or country store) is a rural or small-town store that carries a general line of merchandise. It carries a broad selection of merchandise, someti ...

but has been converted into a history and community center.https://www.themountaineagle.com/articles/gaynell-begley-dies-at-91-was-storekeeper-leader/

References

External links

Blackey page
from Appalshop site
C. B. Caudill Store & History Center
from Appalshop site {{authority control Cities in Letcher County, Kentucky Cities in Kentucky Populated places established in 1915 Company towns in Kentucky Coal towns in Kentucky 1915 establishments in Kentucky