Did You Know Archives

Depression era physician built a swimming pool for black residents of Hopkinsville

by Jennifer P. Brown
June 11, 2020

Patterson Tilford Frazer Jr. was born on a tenant farm at Allensville in 1889. He earned his medical degree in Nashville and later practiced medicine in Hopkinsville, where he installed a swimming pool for black residents.

Music icon Little Richard played for Black clubs in Hopkinsville during the 1950s

by Jennifer P. Brown
June 4, 2020

As part of the Chitlin' Circuit, Hopkinsville was host to Little Richard, Ray Charles, Ike and Tina Turner and many other famous Black musicians from the 1930s through the '60s.

Robert Penn Warren’s short story ‘The Circus in the Attic’ has a Hopkinsville connection

by Jennifer P. Brown
May 28, 2020

An account related to Warren about John Wesley Venable Jr., the Hopkinsville man who assembled a model circus in his home, is believed to have inspired the character Bolton Lovehart in the short story.

Alhambra Theatre constructed in 1928 as part of a municipal building

by Jennifer P. Brown
May 21, 2020

The theater opened in May 1928 to show silent movies accompanied by musicians in the orchestra pit between the stage and the auditorium. It closed within a year to be updated for sound movies.

Philanthropist John C. Latham’s boyhood home became Virginia Park

by Jennifer P. Brown
May 14, 2020

A gift from Latham to the city upon his death in 1909 also resulted in the creation of Peace Park at the opposite downtown corner from Virginia Park.

Riverside Cemetery headstone reveals an interesting piece of Hopkinsville history

by Jennifer P. Brown
May 7, 2020

A search for M. Ted Jacobs Sr. on a popular cemetery research website provides details of his life here after growing up in New Orleans.

Basketball owes its jump shot to a college innovator who graduated from Hopkinsville High School

by Jennifer P. Brown
April 30, 2020

After high school, John Miller Cooper became a basketball star at the University of Missouri.

Round Table Literary Park, tucked into a grove of trees at Hopkinsville Community College, dates to 1974

by Jennifer P. Brown
April 16, 2020

The park features a replica of King Arthur’s sword in a large stone, a Round Table surrounded by 24 stone seats and a Graeco-Roman amphitheater with a sculpture of Melpomene.

Fewer than 200 people lived in Hopkinsville at the start of the 19th century

by Jennifer P. Brown
April 9, 2020

The city has seen varying degrees of growth with each decennial census. The 1950s marked Hopkinsville's largest population jump.

Hopkinsville’s official city seal includes a nod to the Pennyroyal plant

by Jennifer P. Brown
April 2, 2020

The plant has a fragrance similar to spearmint. In certain quanities, the plant's extract is toxic.

Hopkinsville took big steps in 1895 toward modern conveniences

by Jennifer P. Brown
March 26, 2020

Also that year, the Kentucky Press Association met for a convention in Hopkinsville's Hotel Latham.

Susan B. Anthony spoke in 1879 to a Hopkinsville audience that overwhelmingly did not support women’s suffrage

by Jennifer P. Brown
March 20, 2020

The South Kentuckian newspaper reported on Anthony's speech and stated local men "don't want the woman dabbling in politics ..."