Lynch

History

Lynch was plotted in 1917 by the U.S. Coal and Coke Company (a subsidiary of U.S. Steel) as a company town to house workers at the company's nearby coal mines. It was named for then-head of the company, Thomas Lynch. By the 1940s, Lynch had a population of 10,000 and had such amenities as a hospital and movie theater. The population declined dramatically in the 1960s and 1970s as mining techniques shifted to less labor-intensive methods. In 1996, the rails to Lynch and nearby Benham were officially abandoned. In 2012, PBS of Eastern Tennessee created a documentary titled The Eastern Kentucky Social Club dealing with the history of the black community and immigrant community in Lynch.

Geography

Lynch is located in eastern Harlan County at (36.965133, -82.916569), in the valley of Looney Creek. Lynch is the nearest city to Kentucky's highest point, Black Mountain (). Sitting at an elevation of above sea level. Lynch is Kentucky's highest incorporated city. It is bordered by Looney Ridge to the north and Benham Spur to the south. The city of Benham borders the west side of Lynch, and Cumberland is to the west via Kentucky Route 160, the main road through Lynch. KY 160 leads southeast up the valley of Looney Creek to the Virginia border on the crest of Black Mountain at an elevation of , then continues to Appalachia, Virginia, southeast of Lynch. According to the United States Census Bureau, Lynch has a total area of , all of it land.

Race & ethnicity

Most-observed species

• American Crow

  Corvus brachyrhynchos C.L.Brehm, 1822 · Aves
  278
• American Robin

  Turdus migratorius Linnaeus, 1766 · Aves
  261
• Carolina Wren

  Thryothorus ludovicianus (Latham, 1790) · Aves
  245
• Red-eyed Vireo

  Vireo olivaceus (Linnaeus, 1766) · Aves
  235
• Blue Jay

  Cyanocitta cristata (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  228
• Northern Cardinal

  Cardinalis cardinalis (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  225
• Eastern Towhee

  Pipilo erythrophthalmus (Linnaeus, 1758) · Aves
  219
• Hooded Warbler

  Setophaga citrina (Boddaert, 1783) · Aves
  202

Most recent

• M 2.6 — 2026-01-04
  11 km SW of Middlesboro, Kentucky
• M 2.74 — 2024-05-22
  18 km SSE of Hyden, Kentucky
• M 2.57 — 2023-06-25
  Kentucky-Tennessee border region
• M 2.83 — 2023-05-20
  Kentucky-Tennessee border region
• M 2.56 — 2021-11-21
  9 km SSW of Abingdon, Virginia
• M 3.1 — 2021-10-26
  Tennessee-Virginia border region