eclink Pikeville

Welcome

Mountain Heritage

City of Pikeville, Kentucky

Pikeville, has twice been recognized as one of the best small towns in America by Norm Crampton in his book The 100 Best Small Towns in America. Pikeville is the site of one of the largest earth-moving projects in history, the Pikeville Cut-Through. Fast-growing and recognized as an epicenter of change and innovation, Pikeville is led by a city commission/city manager form of government. The commission is composed of Mayor Frankie Justice and four commissioners, all elected every two years. The day-to-day operations are under the direction of a city manager.

In addition to being the center of county and city government, Pikeville is the regional legal and judicial headquarters, holding federal, district, and circuit courts. With well over 100 attorneys, 30 CPA's, and more than 1400 businesses, Pikeville is the undisputed financial, industrial, and retail marketplace of the mountains.

We are currently in the process of building the Eastern Kentucky Exposition Center - a 126,000 square foot facility has an arena floor approximately 24,000 square feet and will provide concert seating of 7,000. The center is designed as a multi-purpose facility, complete with approximately 5,000 square feet of ballroom space overlooking the arena floor adequate for banquet-style entertaining. The facility will

host a variety of events: concerts, athletics, car shows, rodeos, circuses - a list limited only by your imagination.

Plus, we host Hillbilly Days, the Hatfield/McCoy Festival, and the 2004 Kentucky Senior Games. We have sports action from Pikeville College and Pikeville Independent Schools.

2005 City of Pikeville, Kentucky. All Rights



*The History of Pikeville, Kentucky*

Pikeville is a Third Class City located in the beautiful mountains of southeastern Kentucky and serves as county seat to the largest county in Kentucky, Pike County. With a population of just under 6400, Pikeville is the major trade and service center in the region. Pikeville is home to a newly expanded Pikeville Medical Center, regional library facility, six local financial institutions, Appalacian News-Express, a tri-weekly newspaper, Pikeville Independent School District. Pikeville College, a four-year liberal arts college with an Osteopathic Medical School, a newly completed 680 vehicle parking garage, and Pikeville serves as the headquarters for several major coal companies.

Pikeville Cut-Thru Project Pikeville was officially chartered by the State of Kentucky as a city on May 6, 1893, by Governor John Young Brown, however the town has been around since 1824. Pikeville has been known simply as Pike, as Piketon, and since 1850, Pikeville. Pikeville was named in honor of the western explorer and U.S. Army officer Zebulon Montgomery Pike, for whom the county and Pikeville’s northeast suburb of Zebulon was also named.

Because of its location along U.S. 23/460 and U.S. 119 on the Levisa Fork of the Big Sandy River, the citizens of Pikeville were often plagued by spring flood waters which caused millions of dollars in damage. In October 1987 Pikeville completed one of the most ambitious engineering efforts east of the Mississippi River - a $77.6 million federally funded cut-through project designed to eliminate frequent flooding, relieve traffic congestions, and alleviate the critical shortage of level land in the downtown area. The Levisa Fork was diverted from its looping course through the city into a half-mile-long cut through Peach Orchard Mountain. Railroad tracks and streets were rerouted from the area and bridges were removed. The former river channel was filled in with dirt and rock from the cut-through, the end result giving the city nearly four hundred acres of new level land for commercial and institutional development.

Pikeville City Hall is located at 118 College Street in the former Pikeville Collegiate Institute Building. Constructed from bricks made on site in 1889, the building may be one of the oldest structures within the city limits.