The following events occurred during the week of April 22-28

1891: Hotels in Middlesboro: The Middlesboro with 120 large rooms which would accommodate 250, Cumberland Hotel which could “easily accommodate 60 and in a pinch has served 150,” the Tyler could accommodate 50, the Ashbury which had 40 rooms and the Phoenix, which was the smallest.

1898: U. S. Congressman David Colson came home from Washington to “go to the head of the mountain boys in the Spanish-American conflict.”

1902: Berry Howard of Bell County was acquitted of complicity in the assassination of Kentucky Governor William Goebel.

1904: Bolen and Wright added bath rooms to their barber shop and advertised that they were “prepared to furnish hot and cold baths at all times. No matter when you want to take a bath, our tubs are ready.”

1916: Article in the Louisville papers stated,” Ben Harney, who hails from near Middlesboro, is credited with being the father of ‘Rag Time’…Harney used to entertain the moonshiners with his rag-time music…As these songs were just being created by Harney, they made a tremendous hit with the natives.”

1932: The local police department was cut in half in an economy more. The total police force will be just the Chief and one patrolman. (Middlesboro’s population in 1930 was over 10,000—more than it is today.)

1948: Middlesboro was in a building boom which was held back only by the scarcity of material. Over 200 residences and 8 large buildings were under construction.

1959: The Imprescia Hospital at 2129 Cumberland Avenue closed. It was the oldest existing hospital in Bell County, having been started in 1912 by Dr. W. K. Evans. At one time it had 125 beds.

1965: Middlesboro,, “The Most Talked about City in Kentucky,” was featured in an hour long TV show on Lexington’s WLEX. The program was produced and directed by Pascal Constanzo. Glen Denham was the Master of Ceremonies.

To learn more about local history, visit the Bell County Museum, located just north of the Middlesboro Post Office, Tuesday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. and on Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m.