Emergency Biohazard Cleanup Services in Blackey, KY

Blackey is an unincorporated community in western Letcher County, Kentucky, set in the valley of the North Fork of the Kentucky River near the early settlement of Indian Bottom.

Blackey was an incorporated city for more than a century — it was incorporated on January 27, 1915 — before the city government was formally dissolved on July 19, 2022.

The community began in 1908, when local resident Jim Brown was given permission to establish a post office on Elk Creek and named it 'Blackey' after his brother, Joseph 'Blackey' Brown.

The Lexington and Eastern Railroad ran a line through Blackey in November 1912, and the area's massive coal deposits transformed the sleepy mountain settlement into a bustling modern town.

From 1913 until 1957, Blackey was home to the Stuart Robinson School, a Presbyterian settlement school.

The Blackey Coal Company, established in 1917 as the community's first coal company, constructed thirty houses and employed eighty miners.

In May 1927 a flash flood raised the North Fork of the Kentucky River 18 feet in one hour, and devastating fires in December 1927 and February 1928 destroyed most of the business district, ending Blackey's boom years.

The 2020 census counted 109 residents in Blackey, down from a peak of 545 at the 1940 census.

Just across a small bridge from the center of town stands the C. B. Caudill Store & History Center, a former general store converted into a history and community center.

Blackey has a lending library that is a branch of the Letcher County Library, and recent revitalization has added a Head Start program and a new water system.