Elko was an unincorporated community in eastern

Edmonson County Edmonson County is a County (United States), county located in the south central portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population was 12,126. Its county seat and only municipality is Browns ...

in south-central

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 ...

, United States. It was one of a few settlements in eastern Edmonson County that were displaced for the area to become a portion of

Mammoth Cave National Park Mammoth Cave National Park is a national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the longest known cave system in the world. The park's are located primarily in Edmonson County, with sma ...

History

The first settlers to have lived in the community, consisting of at least five families, arrived in the early 1800s. The first building was a log schoolhouse, which doubled as a church, that was completed in 1861; the original building was demolished to make way for its current building, which was completed in 1900. Prior to 1934, Elko was a thriving farming community that was home to several houses, a school, and a post office, along with a few businesses such as a general store as well as a church, the Pleasant Union United Baptist Church (later renamed as the Joppa Missionary Baptist Church). The community may have previously been known as Joppa because of the name of the church, or because of its location within the area known as Joppa Ridge. Between 1934 and 1936, the

National Park Service The National Park Service (NPS) is an List of federal agencies in the United States, agency of the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government, within the US Department of the Interior. The service manages all List ...

(NPS) began purchasing the farmsteads in the areas using funds donated by the Mammoth Cave National Park Association, a private organization that was formed in

Bowling Green A bowling green is a finely laid, close-mown and rolled stretch of turf for playing the game of bowls. Before 1830, when Edwin Beard Budding of Thrupp, near Stroud, UK, invented the lawnmower, lawns were often kept cropped by grazing sheep ...

by private wealthy citizens in 1925; other tracts were acquired by means of

eminent domain Eminent domain, also known as land acquisition, compulsory purchase, resumption, resumption/compulsory acquisition, or expropriation, is the compulsory acquisition of private property for public use. It does not include the power to take and t ...

. All of Elko's residents were relocated by around 1938. The area officially became a portion of

upon its dedication on July 1, 1941.

Historical legacy

While most residences and businesses were destroyed after its citizens relocated in anticipation of the Mammoth Cave area becoming a national park in 1941, the Joppa Baptist Church and Cemetery was one of three historical church buildings within park boundaries (the other two were the

Mammoth Cave Mammoth Cave National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States in south-central Kentucky. It encompasses portions of Mammoth Cave, the List of longest caves, longest known cave system in the worl ...

and Good Spring Baptist Churches) that were kept intact for preserving as reminders of the estimated 600 people who lived in the areas now a part of the national park. Special use permits can be granted by the NPS to area congregations who wish to provide maintenance to the church property; the congregation of Joppa Church continued to hold services in the building on a regular basis as late as the early 1970s, with occasional revival meetings being held there as late as 2015. The church was one of 14 locations within the park that were added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

on May 8, 1991. A few historical cemeteries nearby were also preserved; cemeteries along the roadways remain to be manicured, but some cemeteries in other areas within the park's boundaries are no longer accessible as they were overtaken by the woodlands to become isolated from the remainder of the park.

Geography

Elko was located in the Joppa Ridge area along the present-day

Kentucky Route 70 Kentucky Route 70 (KY 70) is a long east–west state highway that originates at a junction with U.S. Route 60 in Kentucky, U.S. Route 60 (US 60) in Smithland, Kentucky, Smithland in Livingston County, Kentucky, Livingston County, just ...

(KY 70) in eastern Edmonson County within the present-day boundaries of Mammoth Cave National Park. The town stood approximately east-southeast of Brownsville, the Edmonson

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 ...

, or about southwest of the Mammoth Cave Visitors Center. However, some maps of Edmonson County still lists Elko as an existing community.

References

{{Edmonson County, Kentucky Mammoth Cave National Park Ghost towns in Kentucky Geography of Edmonson County, Kentucky