Hopkinsville took a progressive leap in 1895 with the addition of two modern conveniences — long-distance telephone service and the town’s first water utility.
The long-distance phone connection was established in April of that year, wrote Charles Meacham, a Hopkinsville mayor and newspaper journalist, in “A History of Christian County,” published in 1930.
Telephones had been in Hopkinsville for less than a decade. The first service, established by S.H. Turner in 1887, had just 31 local subscribers who could make calls within the city and only during the day.
Turner sold his service to a forerunner of Cumberland Telephone Co. Then lines to Nashville and Henderson extended the service beyond the city limits, Meacham wrote.
The city’s first water plant was established following Hopkinsville City Council’s approval in August 1895 for construction by two contractors — Samuel Bullock, of New York, and Wilkerson and Smallhouse, of Bowling Green, according to Meacham’s history.
The contract called for construction of 9.5 miles of pipe, ranging from 6 to 12 inches, and 100 hydrants. Water was pulled from Little River.
The plant, costing an estimated $60,000 to $75,000, was the forerunner of today’s Hopkinsville Water Environment Authority.
Prior to the establishment of the water utility, local homes and businesses had cisterns or wells. For example, Hotel Latham, built in 1984, had its own well, Christian County Historian William T. Turner told Hoptown Chronicle.
Also in 1895, Hopkinsville was host to a meeting of the Kentucky Press Association.
Meacham, who had served as the press association president in 1892, wrote this about the Hopkinsville convention:
“The entertainment included a visit to the Asylum (now Western State Hospital) and to Bethel Female College … Following a banquet at Hotel Latham, the second night, the Association left on a visit to the Atlanta Exposition, a special train carrying 150 members and ladies.”
Jennifer P. Brown is co-founder, publisher and editor of Hoptown Chronicle. You can reach her at editor@hoptownchronicle.org. She spent 30 years as a reporter and editor at the Kentucky New Era. She is a co-chair of the national advisory board to the Institute for Rural Journalism and Community Issues, governing board president for the Kentucky Historical Society, and co-founder of the Kentucky Open Government Coalition.
