Tuscola, Kentucky was 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 ...

located on Little Cat Fork in

Lawrence County, Kentucky Lawrence County is a county located in the U.S. state of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 16,293. Its county seat is Louisa. The county is named for James Lawrence, and co-founded by Isaac Bolt, who served as a Lawrence ...

, identified with a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

by that name established in 1902.Robert M. Rennick., "Lawrence County - Place Names" (2016). Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection. 90. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/90, retrieved 11 Nov 2020.Robert M. Rennick, "Lawrence County - Post Offices & Place Names" (2000). County Histories of Kentucky. 244. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/244, retrieved 11 Nov 2020.

History

A post office was first established at or close to the mouth of Spring Branch on Little Cat Fork in 1885 as "Cat P.O.," but was discontinued in March 1891. A 1902 petition to establish the post office as Tuscola located it two and three quarter miles northwest of Olioville, three and a quarter miles southeast of Glenwood, and three and three quarter miles west of Vessie. Little Cat Fork, also called Little Catt or Catts, is a fork of Cat Creek, a tributary of Blaine Creek in the Big Sandy River

watershed Watershed may refer to: Hydrology * Drainage divide, the line that separates neighbouring drainage basins * Drainage basin, an area of land where surface water converges (North American usage) Music * Watershed Music Festival, an annual country ...

. In 1940, a site change was petitioned for, relocating it one mile east to a point 100 yards north of Little Catt Creek five miles west of Fallsburg. The post office was again discontinued in 1941, and the name fell into disuse, with the former name "Cat" returning to prominence due to the location on Little Cat Fork. The name "Tuscola" is thought to be derived from the

Muskogean Muskogean ( ; also Muskhogean) is a language family spoken in the Southeastern United States. Members of the family are Indigenous Languages of the Americas. Typologically, Muskogean languages are highly synthetic and agglutinative. One docume ...

word ''tushka'', meaning "warrior."Works Progress Administration, "Lawrence County - Brief History" (1939). County Histories of Kentucky. 349. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/kentucky_county_histories/349, retrieved 11 Nov 2020.

References

Unincorporated communities in Kentucky Lawrence County, Kentucky {{LawrenceCountyKY-geo-stub