The use of “Hoptown” — Hopkinsville’s longtime nickname and this publication’s namesake — dates back to the late 19th Century.
A search of historic newspapers reveals one of the earliest references appeared in the Dec. 1, 1888, edition of the Clarksville (Tennessee) Daily Chronicle, when the newspaper attributed a social item to the “Hoptown New Era” (rather than the paper’s proper name at the time, the Daily Kentucky New Era).
One of the earliest uses of the nickname by a Kentucky newspaper was in the July 21, 1892, issue of The (Earlington) Bee. A sports brief in the paper read:
The game which was played last Thursday was hotly contested. It can truthfully be said of the Hoptown nine that they did the very best under the adverse circumstances. With Ed Killebrew in the box, Will Radford behind, it is hard to beat the Earlington nine. The score stood: Earlington 28, Hoptown 20.
The nickname has many deep-seated sports ties, including what is likely the first official reference to the moniker: The Hoptown Hoppers, a Kitty League baseball team, adopted the name in 1903.
‘Hoptown’ origin
In 1977, Christian County Historian William T. Turner gave the following explanation for the nickname in Robert M. Rennick’s book “Kentucky Place Names:”
Back in the 1890s, Hopkinsville and Christian County were the only legally voted wet city and county on the L&N Railroad between Evansville and Nashville. Tradition has it that as the railway coaches would approach Hopkinsville the passengers would encounter of the conductor, “How soon would we be to Hopkinsville? I want to hop off and get a drink.”
In 2002, Turner told Kentucky New Era staff writer Mary D. Ferguson that the military often used Hoptown, and the migration of Fort Campbell soldiers and families all over the world probably fueled the use of the nickname. Ferguson was researching the name’s origin after giving consideration to naming her column “Here in Hoptown.”
Julia Hunter is the engagement editor for Hoptown Chronicle. Reach her at julia@hoptownchronicle.org.
