BY JOE CLARK
Martin County has never lacked history. What it has lacked is the willingness to fully embrace one of the greatest economic opportunities sitting in its own backyard.
According to recent statistics, Martin County ranks among Kentucky’s poorest counties, with nearly one out of every three residents living below the poverty line. Childhood poverty remains among the highest in the Commonwealth. Those numbers should concern every resident and every community leader.
But they should also inspire action.
Few places in America can claim a story like Himlerville. In the early 1900s, Hungarian immigrant Martin Himler came to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky with a bold vision. Through the Himler Coal Company, he established Himlerville, a coal town unlike any other in Appalachia. Rather than the traditional company-town model, Himler sought to create a community where immigrant miners could own homes, build businesses, worship freely, and build better lives for their families.
For a time, it worked.
Today, that community is known as Beauty, Kentucky. While much of Himlerville has disappeared into history, important reminders remain, including the historic Himler House and the Himlerville Hungarian Cemetery. They are more than old buildings and gravestones—they are tangible pieces of an internationally significant story of immigration, coal mining, and the American Dream.
The Save the Himler House project deserves more than good wishes. It deserves community support.
The house was not simply abandoned to decay. To preserve as much of the original structure as possible, it was carefully dismantled in accordance with nationally recognized historic preservation guidelines, with the goal of rebuilding it using those same standards. That work represents an enormous undertaking—one that a small historical society simply cannot complete alone.
This is where the broader community should step forward.
Historic preservation is often viewed as an expense. In reality, it is an investment. Heritage tourism has become one of the fastest-growing sectors of the travel industry. Visitors routinely travel hundreds of miles to tour historic homes, cemeteries, museums, and restored communities. Those visitors buy gasoline, eat in local restaurants, stay in local lodging, and shop at local businesses.
Tourism creates jobs. It generates tax revenue. Most importantly, it gives communities something priceless—a reason for people to come.
Martin County already has the story. What it needs is the commitment.
The members of the Martin County Historical & Genealogy Society have carried this project as far as their resources will allow. They deserve recognition for protecting an irreplaceable piece of Martin County’s past. But preserving a landmark of this significance should not rest on the shoulders of a handful of dedicated volunteers.
Business leaders, elected officials, community organizations, philanthropists, and anyone who has prospered because of Martin County should ask a simple question: If not us, then who? And if not now, when?
Every year that passes makes preservation more difficult and more expensive. Once these landmarks are gone, they are gone forever. No grant, no fundraising campaign, and no amount of regret can bring them back.
Future generations deserve the opportunity to stand where Martin Himler stood, to walk through the home that helped shape one of Appalachia’s most fascinating communities, and to understand that Martin County’s history extends far beyond coal—it includes courage, vision, immigration, and perseverance.
Martin County cannot change its poverty statistics overnight. But it can choose to invest in a future built on one of its greatest assets: its own remarkable history.
The opportunity is still there. The only question is whether the community will seize it before it is too late.
Joe Clark is an author and historian based in Morehead.