Hazard and Perry County have enjoyed a long and colorful history since founder Elijah Combs first settled in the area in 1795. The years have brought a multitude of changes, explored in this engaging visual history.

Contained within these pages are vintage photographs depicting the history of an American small town that has always fancied itself a city. Images were culled from the collection at the Bobby Davis Museum, which includes selected photographs from John Kinner, Hal Cooner, L.O. Davis, and others. This work traces the area’s development from an isolated mountain village to a center of Eastern Kentucky commerce and culture. Recorded in these images are the devastating floods that often threatened the community, as well as the building of the railroad that brought in everything from automobiles and telephones to Sears and Roebuck prefabricated homes. Aerial shots from the 1940s and 1950s are also included, and accompanying captions document the names and places familiar to oldtimers and intriguing to newcomers in Hazard, Perry County.