page_title: Pikeville, Kentucky
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Pikeville, Kentucky / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Front and northern side of the York House, located at 223 Main Street in Pikeville, Kentucky, United States. Built in 1864, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
context_page_description: Pikeville is a city in and the county seat of Pike County, Kentucky, United States. During the 2010 U.S. Census, the population within Pikeville's city limits was 6,903.
  In Kentucky's current city classification system, Pikeville is a home rule-class city, a category that includes all of the state's more than 400 cities except for the two largest, Louisville and Lexington.
context_section_description: On March 25, 1822, state officials decided to build a new county seat named "Liberty", 1.5 miles (2.4 km) below the mouth of the Russell Fork River. Public disapproval of the site led a new decision on December 24, 1823, to establish the county seat on land donated by local farmer Elijah Adkins. This settlement was established as the town of Pike after the county in 1824. This was changed in 1829 to Piketon and the town was incorporated under that name in 1848. In 1850, this was changed to the present Pikeville. Pikeville was host to a part of the Hatfield-McCoy feud, and patriarch Randall McCoy as well as his wife and daughter are buried on a hillside overlooking the town.
  The National Civic League designated Pikeville as an All-American City in 1965.
  From 1973 to 1987, the Pikeville Cut-Through was constructed immediately west of downtown. The massive rock cut is one of the largest civil engineering projects in the western hemisphere, moving nearly 18,000,000 cubic yards (14,000,000 m³) of soil and rock. The project alleviated traffic congestion in downtown and eliminated flooding by rerouting the Levisa Fork River.
  From 1982 to 1984, Pikeville was home to the Pikeville Cubs and Pikeville Brewers. Pikeville played as a member of the Rookie level Appalachian League. Pikeville was an affiliate of the Milwaukee Brewers (1982) and Chicago Cubs (1983–1984). Baseball Hall of Fame member Greg Maddux played for the 1984 Pikeville Cubs in his first professional season.
  The city has been a center of rapid development in Eastern Kentucky since the 1990s. Pikeville College (now the University of Pikeville) opened the Kentucky College of Osteopathic Medicine in 1997. The university also opened the Kentucky College of Optometry, the first optometry school in Central Appalachia, in the fall of 2016. In October 2005, the 7,000 seat, multi-purpose Appalachian Wireless Arena opened in downtown. Pikeville Medical Center has established itself as a regional healthcare center. In 2014, a new 11-story clinic and a 10-story parking structure was completed at a cost of $150 million. The hospital has also become a member of the Mayo Clinic Care Network. In 2013, construction began on a shopping center known as Pikeville Commons. The first stores opened in the shopping center in October 2014.
  Late 2017 saw several announcements regarding tenants for the recently opened Kentucky Enterprise Industrial Park. Following an announcement on October 27, 2017, construction has begun on a 60,000 square foot manufacturing facility to be owned and operated by SilverLiner, whose primary business is expected to be the manufacture and assembly of tanks for tanker trucks. They are expected to begin production in December 2018. A second tenant in the park was announced on December 15, 2017 with an announcement by EnerBlu, Inc. that they would be investing nearly $400 million in Pikeville with the construction of a facility to manufacture advanced batteries for use in power grids, commercial and military transportation units, and other equipment. In addition, the manufacturing facility will assemble the batteries into proprietary equipment. It is anticipated that EnerBlu will supply approximately 875 jobs soon after construction of the facility is completed in 2020.
  In September 2018, Pikeville's City government was named 2018 KLC City Government of the Year by the Kentucky League of Cities. This was the inaugural year for the award and was intended to recognize "a city that has done something transformational and our first ever recipient certainly demonstrates a city making a huge impact on its region."
caption: The historic York House, built 1864
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