Nortonville, Kentucky

Nortonville is a home rule-class city in Hopkins County, Kentucky, in the United States. The population was 1,204 as of the 2010 census.HistoryNortonville was incorporated by the state legislature in 1873 under the name of "Norton". Nortonville celebrated its centennial in 1972, having established a post office in 1871 and requested incorporation in 1872. Nortonville owes its existence to the railroad industry and is named for Eckstein Norton, a Kentucky-born investment banker who started as a clerk in a country store in Russellville, Kentucky, in 1846. Norton participated in the creation of the Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad in the late 1860s (east-west tracks). He then purchased 2000acre of land in what would become "Norton Village", later changed to "Nortonville" around 1900. Norton became a shipping agent for the Illinois Central Railroad, which eventually acquired the Elizabethtown & Paducah Railroad. The north-south railroad, named the Evansville, Henderson and Nashville, was completed through Nortonville in 1872. It was purchased in a foreclosure sale in 1879 by the Louisville & Nashville Railroad. Norton became president of the L&N Railroad on October 6, 1886. Nortonville in 1886 was one of only nine towns to have a steam hoist operated in the L&N Railroad's system to unload and transfer freight. By then Nortonville was a junction of the IC and L&N Railroads. Nortonville saw growth after 1902, when investors purchased land from the Norton heirs and opened a shaft coal mine as the Nortonville Coal Company. They also operated an electric power plant.