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Hungarian national monument could put Martin County on destination map
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — The Himler House in Beauty could become the nation’s only Hungarian national monument and create a unique tourism destination in Martin County, said Martin County Historical & Genealogy Society president Charlotte Anderson. During a Kiwanis Club luncheon in Inez, she described the long-running Himler House restoration as the…
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Warfield backs caboose project tied to Himlerville legacy
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN WARFIELD — The Warfield City Council approved an interlocal agreement Monday allowing Martin County Fiscal Court to install signage at the city’s caboose. The project is part of the county’s “Himler Heritage Caboose” initiative, a small step in preserving the legacy of Martin Himler and the immigrant coal town he…
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State announces $20,000 for Martin County heritage exhibits
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN Martin County Fiscal Court will receive $20,000 in state grant funding to create interpretive exhibits on President Lyndon B. Johnson’s historic “War on Poverty” visit to Inez in 1964, the Kentucky Heritage Council (KHC) announced Friday. The KHC said the second and final round of America250KY Sub-Grant Awards will provide…
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Children’s books celebrate Martin Himler and legacy of Himlerville
INEZ — Eastern Kentucky author and historian Joe Clark has released two beautifully illustrated children’s books that shine a light on one of Martin County’s most remarkable stories — the life of Martin Himler and the Hungarian immigrant community of Himlerville. The first book, “Martin Himler: The Boy with Big Dreams,” tells the inspiring true…
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Fulbright Scholar documentary to put Martin Himler legacy on international stage
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ, Ky. — The story of Martin Himler and the historic coal town of Himlerville is gaining international attention with the announcement of a new documentary project led by award-winning filmmaker and East Tennessee State University professor Stokes Piercy. ETSU announced in a press release that Piercy has been named…
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Why Kentucky should help restore the Martin Himler House
Hidden in the hills of Martin County, Himlerville (now Beauty) stands alone in Kentucky as the only location with a direct and authentic connection to Holocaust history and Jewish immigrant heritage on Kentucky soil. It deserves a prominent place in Kentucky’s cultural memory—and as efforts continue to restore the Himler House, the Commonwealth of Kentucky…
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Martin County Historical & Genealogical Society hosts scholars for coal mining research collaboration
INEZ — On Sept. 24, the Martin County Historical & Genealogical Society welcomed Anna Fenyvesi from Hungary and Briane Turley and his wife Anne from West Virginia State University. Professor Turley has done extensive research on the effects of coal mining in rural areas of Kentucky and West Virginia. He has also examined the influence…
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How We Owned a Mine, or A Brief History of Kentucky’s Mining Cooperative
A Hungarian immigrant created a collectively owned coal mine that, for a brief moment, proved an alternative to ruthless and exploitative mining operations of Appalachia in the early 20th century. by Anya Petrone Slepyan July 10, 2024 For over 100 years, Himler House stood on a hill overlooking Beauty, formerly Himlerville, in Martin County, Kentucky. Once the…
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Martin County Historical Society to host book signing at Holocaust Memorial Museum
BY ROGER SMITH MOUNTAIN CITIZEN INEZ — The Martin County Historical and Genealogical Society invites the public to a special book signing event at the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum Bookstore in Washington, May 31 to June 1, from noon to 5 p.m. each day. The event will celebrate the life of Hungarian-American Martin Himler…
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Himler House reconstruction will cost $1.7 million
CITIZEN STAFF REPORT INEZ — Evelyn Cassady from the Martin County Historical Society updated the Martin County Tourism Board on the Himler House project in a tourism meeting Monday. Cassady said the historical society is constantly pursuing government and private funding to reach the $1.7 million needed to reconstruct the Himler House and restore the…
