6
Historical Sketch `
Educational facilities in Knox County have been restricted until recent-
ly by the isolation of the various parts of the county from one another and
from the state as a whole, Union College was organized at Barbourville in
1880 under the auspices of the different denominations, thus acquiring its
name. The history of this school is the story of the determined efforts of
the citizens of this section for an institution of higher learning under
- Christian influences. In 1886, it was purchased by the Kentucky Conference
of the Methodist Episcopal Church, Maintained at first by a small endowment
fund and popular subscription, the endowment was later substantially in-
creased and modern buildings erected (Hamlett, History of Education in Ken-
— tucky, p. 510; see Board of Education, p. 114),
The 1950 census listed Knox County as having a population of 26,266,
with Barbourville, the county seat and a city of the fourth class, having a
population of 2,580. The natural resources of the county are coal and timber.
About half of the county's inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, about a
tenth in coal mining, and the balance in lumbering, manufacturing, and other
industries (United States Population Census of 1950).
In 1951 a deed to the state park commissioner granted 12.16 acres on
Cumberland River in Knox County for the "Dr. "alker Memorial Park", the site
_ of the cabin erected by Dr, Thomas Walker and his companians, which marked
_ the first white habitation in Kentucky (Deed Book, 1951, entry 50). That
this cabin was the first white dwelling in Kentucky is questioned by other
sections of the state,
Bibliography
Deed Book, entry 28, Knox County Inventory, this volume, -
Deed Book, entry 50, Knox County Inventory, this volume,
Order Book, entry 204, Knox County Inventory, this volume.
Acts of the General Assembly of Kentucky, 1819-20, 1825-24, 1854-55,
1858-59, 1851-52, 1855-56, 1864-G5, 1871-72, 1875-76.
Littell, William, Laws of Kentucky, vols. 2 and 5, Johnston and
Pleasants, Frankfort, Kentucky, 1810 and 1811.
Collins, Richard, History of Kentucky, vol. 5, John F. Morton
_ and Company, Louisville, Kentucky, 1924,
Connelly, W. Iii. E., and Coulter, E. M., History of Kentucky, vol. l,
Charles Kerr, the American Historical Society, Chicago — New York,
1922.
Hamlctt, Barksdale, History of Education in Kentucky, Bulletin of
V Kentucky Department of Education, vol. 7, no. 4, Frankfort, 1914.
Fi-61-9