Appalachian Community Histories – Hi Hat, Floyd County: Fed, Coal, and a Community Written in the Records
Hi Hat sits where names, roads, rails, and coal records come together in southern Floyd County. On modern maps it appears along Kentucky Route 122, near the southern end of Kentucky Route 979, not far from McDowell, Ligon, Clear Creek, and the old coal communities of Left Beaver Creek. It is not a large town with a courthouse square or a single origin story carved into stone. Like many Appalachian places, its history has to be followed through post office ledgers, mine records, court cases, railroad maps, county newspapers, and the memory of people who knew the old names before the maps settled on the new one.
The name most people know today is Hi Hat. Older records point to another name first: Fed. That earlier name matters because it shows that this community was not created from nothing in the coal boom years. A postal place existed here before the Hi Hat name became attached to the valley. The later name came from the coal company whose work helped shape the community in the twentieth century.
Fed Before Hi Hat
The safest beginning for Hi Hat’s written history is the post office. Postal records are often the best way to trace small Appalachian communities because a post office could give a scattered creek settlement a fixed name in official records. It placed a community in mail routes, government ledgers, local newspapers, and eventually in family records.
Place-name researchers and compiled Floyd County post office lists point to an office connected with this area as early as August 1881. Some lists give the line as Hi Hat beginning on August 17, 1881. Others separate the history into Fed from August 1881 until 1943, and Hi Hat after the mid-1940s. That small difference is important. It does not necessarily mean the sources are wrong. It may mean that one list is treating Hi Hat as the later name of the same postal place, while another is preserving the earlier name, Fed, as a separate entry.
The original National Archives Record of Appointment of Postmasters is the record that should settle the matter. Those ledgers were kept to show when post offices were established, discontinued, renamed, and assigned postmasters. Until the original ledger entry is checked, the most careful wording is this: the community was associated with the postal name Fed by the late nineteenth century, and the Hi Hat name later replaced it in common and official use.
That kind of name change was not unusual in the mountains. A post office name might follow a family, a creek, a company, a railroad stop, a store, or a local nickname. When coal companies, railroads, and highways changed the daily life of a place, the name on the mail could change too.
A Coal Company Name
The most repeated explanation for Hi Hat’s modern name comes from Robert M. Rennick’s Kentucky place-name work. Rennick’s account connects the name to the Hi Hat Elkhorn Mining Company. The usual summary is that the community was once known as Fed and that the coal town took the name Hi Hat in the 1940s from the company.
Local newspaper memory adds more color to that account. A Floyd County Times article from May 4, 1994, reported that both the town and post office names were changed to Hi Hat in 1943 for the Hi Hat Elkhorn Mining Company, which had opened its local mine in 1936. A later Floyd County Times item also described the company’s top-hat trademark. That detail fits the name. Hi Hat was memorable, visual, and easy to print on records, signs, and company material.
Federal records show the company in the same wartime period. The Federal Register for October 12, 1943, included Hi-Hat Elkhorn Mining Company with a Box 570 address in Ashland, Kentucky. A 1945 Federal Register listing also named Hi-Hat Elkhorn Mining Company and its Hi-Hat mine. These records do not tell the whole local story, but they prove that the company name was active in official federal records during the same period when the community name was changing.
The timing matters. The early 1940s were years of war production, rationing, labor tension, and heavy demand for coal. In Floyd County, coal was not just an industry. It shaped settlement, work schedules, schools, stores, roads, churches, and the movement of families. A community name tied to a coal company was more than a label. It was a sign of the power coal had over the landscape.
Ligon, Long Fork, and the Coalfield Around Hi Hat
Hi Hat’s history cannot be separated from the communities around it. Ligon, McDowell, Price, Wheelwright, Weeksbury, and Clear Creek all belonged to the same broad coalfield world. The people who lived in these places often worked in nearby mines, traveled the same roads, followed the same rail lines, and appeared in the same newspapers.
The Floyd County Times summaries from the early 1940s show Hi Hat Elkhorn Mining Company operating Ligon mining properties in 1942. That mention is brief, but it is useful. It places the company in the local mining network just before the name Hi Hat became fixed in the public record. It also shows that the company’s reach was not limited to a single spot on a map.
The geography explains why this area mattered. Hi Hat lies in the coal-bearing Appalachian region of eastern Kentucky. The McDowell quadrangle and nearby geological maps show a landscape of ridges, hollows, coal seams, creek valleys, roads, and old mine workings. To understand Hi Hat, a researcher has to read both the paper records and the land itself. Roads and rails followed the valleys because the mountains left few easy routes. Mines opened where the seams and transportation made work possible.
The Railroad at the Edge of the Story
Coal towns needed a way to move coal. For Hi Hat and the surrounding communities, the railroad is one of the main research trails. The Long Fork line connected this part of Floyd County to the larger rail network. Railroad sources describe the line as reaching into the southern part of the county, with connections to mines and coal camps along the way.
A 1945 Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Ashland Division source includes Hi Hat on the Long Fork route. Later records show the line’s decline. In 2003, the Surface Transportation Board published a notice involving CSX Transportation’s plan to abandon an approximately 13.4 mile railroad line between Salisbury and Clear Creek Junction in Floyd County. The notice said the line crossed ZIP codes including 41636, the Hi Hat ZIP code. That abandonment record is not the beginning of the railroad story, but it helps mark the modern end of regular rail usefulness in the area.
Floyd County’s Mine Land Industrial Reuse GIS map also identifies a Hi Hat railroad tunnel associated with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad. It lists the approximate era as 1920 to 1980 and the status as abandoned. That kind of record is valuable because it connects the landscape people can still see with the transportation system that once served the mines.
In Appalachian history, an abandoned tunnel is rarely just a tunnel. It is evidence of investment, labor, blasting, hauling, and a time when rail lines were built into narrow places because coal made the expense worthwhile.
Surface Rights, Refuse, and the Law
Hi Hat’s coal history also appears in court records. These cases are important because they show the conflicts that could follow when mineral rights and surface ownership were separated. In eastern Kentucky, the coal under the ground and the land above it were often owned or controlled by different parties. That split shaped many disputes.
In Ted Newman v. Hi Hat Elkhorn Coal Company, decided by the Sixth Circuit in 1962, the dispute involved surface land in Floyd County. Newman owned the surface, while mineral rights had been severed earlier through a deed to Elk Horn Coal Corporation. Hi Hat Elkhorn Coal Company held under lease from Elk Horn. The question was whether the company could process coal from other lands and dump refuse on Newman’s surface land.
The Kentucky Court of Appeals had already held that the deed did not give the company that right. The Sixth Circuit followed that interpretation. The court explained that moving coal over land was not the same as dumping refuse from coal mined on other tracts.
A related case, Hi Hat Elkhorn Coal Company v. Kelly, decided in federal district court in eastern Kentucky, repeated the same basic rule. Unless a deed clearly said otherwise, coal operators could not use someone else’s surface to handle coal produced from other lands. The case also involved a proposed truck road and the company’s effort to connect a tipple and preparation plant with the Chesapeake and Ohio Railway.
These cases are more than technical legal disputes. They show how mining affected landowners, transportation routes, waste disposal, and the daily use of property. They also show why county deed books are essential for anyone studying Hi Hat. The land records can reveal who owned the surface, who owned the minerals, where the company held rights, and how much of the modern landscape was shaped by decisions made decades earlier.
Roads, Schools, and the Modern Community
Today Hi Hat remains visible through official records even though it is unincorporated. The United States Postal Service lists the Hi Hat Post Office at 17460 KY Route 122, Hi Hat, Kentucky 41636. That address gives the community a continuing official presence.
The Kentucky Transportation Cabinet’s Floyd County road system records place KY 979 at its junction with KY 122 at Hi Hat, running by way of Beaver toward KY 680. The same road network ties Hi Hat to McDowell, Harold, Ligon, and other communities that share the same local history. Roads that once served mines and families now serve schools, churches, homes, emergency routes, and daily travel.
Floyd County Schools service-area documents also use the Hi Hat post office on Route 122 as a boundary marker. That detail may seem ordinary, but it matters. It shows that the old post office identity still helps define local geography. In a rural county, school boundaries, bus routes, and post office names can preserve community identity long after mines close and rail lines are abandoned.
How to Research Hi Hat Further
Hi Hat’s history is not contained in one book. It has to be built from many records. The first place to check is the National Archives Record of Appointment of Postmasters for Fed and Hi Hat in Floyd County. That record should clarify the post office establishment date, any name change, and the early postmasters.
The Floyd County Times archive is another major source. Searches should include Fed, Hi Hat, Hi-Hat, Hi Hat Elkhorn, Hi Hat Elkhorn Mining Company, Ligon, Long Fork, Clear Creek, McDowell, KY 122, and KY 979. Local newspapers may show mine accidents, school news, church events, post office notices, road work, company activity, lawsuits, obituaries, and family movements.
Land and deed records at the Floyd County Clerk’s office may be the deepest source for the coal story. Mineral deeds, leases, plats, rights-of-way, corporate filings, and surface ownership records can show how the land was divided and used. Court cases point directly back to deeds recorded in Floyd County.
Mine maps and geological maps should be used beside those records. The Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System, Kentucky Geological Survey publications, USGS quadrangle maps, and Floyd County mine land reuse records can help locate mine openings, rail features, coal seams, tunnels, roads, and abandoned industrial sites.
Census, death, marriage, cemetery, probate, and military records can put people back into the story. Hi Hat was not only a company name or a post office. It was a place where families lived, worked, worshiped, went to school, traveled, buried their dead, and remembered older names.
A Small Place With a Larger Record
Hi Hat’s story is the story of many Appalachian communities in miniature. It began in the records under an older name, became tied to coal during the twentieth century, depended on roads and rail lines, and remained in official use through the post office, maps, schools, and local memory.
The name may have come from a coal company trademark, but the place is older and broader than the company. Fed belongs to the postal past. Hi Hat belongs to the coalfield map. The railroad tunnel, the post office on Route 122, the court cases over surface rights, and the old newspaper notices all point to the same conclusion.
Small communities leave records in scattered places. Hi Hat is one of them. To find its history, a researcher has to follow the mail, the mine, the railroad, the road, and the families who kept the name alive.
Sources & Further Reading
National Archives. “Appointment of Postmasters, 1832–September 30, 1971.” National Archives. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/postmasters-1832-1971.html
National Archives. “Post Office Records.” National Archives. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices
National Archives. “Post Office Reports of Site Locations, 1837–1950.” National Archives. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.archives.gov/research/post-offices/locations-1837-1950.html
United States Postal Service. “HI HAT Post Office.” USPS. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://tools.usps.com/locations/details/1366851
United States Postal Service. “Additional Resources: Postal History.” USPS. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://about.usps.com/who/profile/history/research-sources.htm
United States Geological Survey. “Geographic Names Information System.” USGS. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.usgs.gov/tools/geographic-names-information-system-gnis
United States Geological Survey. “Geographic Names Information System: Hi Hat.” The National Map. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://edits.nationalmap.gov/apps/gaz-domestic/public/
Rice, Charles L. “Geologic Map of the McDowell Quadrangle, Floyd and Pike Counties, Kentucky.” U.S. Geological Survey Geologic Quadrangle 732, 1968. https://doi.org/10.3133/gq732
Conley, T. J. “Spatial Database of the McDowell Quadrangle, Floyd and Pike Counties, Kentucky.” Kentucky Geological Survey, 2004. https://ngmdb.usgs.gov/Prodesc/proddesc_69481.htm
Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. “Mine Mapping.” Kentucky Energy and Environment Cabinet. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://eec.ky.gov/Natural-Resources/Mining/Mine-Safety/safety-inspections-and-licensing/Pages/mine-mapping.aspx
Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System. “Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://minemaps.ky.gov/
Kentucky Mine Mapping Information System. “Interactive Maps.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://minemaps.ky.gov/Maps/InteractiveMaps
Kentucky Geological Survey. “Kentucky Coal Production.” University of Kentucky. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.uky.edu/KGS/coal/coal-ky-info-coal-production.php
U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Coal.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.eia.gov/coal/
U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Annual Coal Reports.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.eia.gov/coal/annual/
U.S. Energy Information Administration. “Kentucky State Energy Profile.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.eia.gov/states/KY/overview
Federal Register. “Bituminous Coal Division: Minimum Price Schedules.” October 12, 1943. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-1943-10-12/pdf/FR-1943-10-12.pdf
Federal Register. “CSX Transportation, Inc. Abandonment Exemption in Floyd County, KY.” 68, no. 28, February 11, 2003. https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2003/02/11/03-3371/csx-transportation-inc-abandonment-exemption-in-floyd-county-ky
Surface Transportation Board. “CSX Transportation, Inc. Abandonment Exemption in Floyd County, KY.” Federal Register 68, no. 28, February 11, 2003. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/FR-2003-02-11/pdf/03-3371.pdf
Newman v. Hi Hat Elkhorn Coal Company, 298 F.2d 119. United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit, 1962. Justia. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/appellate-courts/F2/298/119/88843/
Hi Hat Elkhorn Coal Company v. Kelly, 205 F. Supp. 764. United States District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky, 1962. Justia. https://law.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/FSupp/205/764/2181460/
Hi Hat Elkhorn Mining Co. v. Newman, 352 S.W.2d 71. Kentucky Court of Appeals, 1961. vLex. https://case-law.vlex.com/vid/hi-hat-elkhorn-min-894683094
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “State Primary Road System in Floyd County.” June 17, 2025. https://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/State%20Primary%20Road%20System%20Lists/Floyd.pdf
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “Floyd County State Primary Road System Map.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://transportation.ky.gov/Planning/SPRS%20Maps/Floyd.pdf
Kentucky Transportation Cabinet. “Phase I Archaeological Survey on KY 122 Curve Revision Near McDowell in Floyd County, Kentucky.” 2014. https://transportation.ky.gov/Archaeology/Reports/Phase%20I%20Archaeological%20Survey%20on%20KY%20122%20Curve%20Revision%20Near%20McDowell%20in%20Floyd%20County%2C%20Kentucky.pdf
Floyd County Public Library. “Floyd County History Collection.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.fclib.org/floyd-county-history-collection/
The Floyd County Times. “Complaint Alleges Grand Jury Secrecy Was Compromised.” May 4, 1994. https://fclib.org/Floyd%20County%20Times/The_Floyd_County_Times_1994/05-04-1994.pdf
The Floyd County Times. “Airport Issue a Non-Issue for New Mayors.” February 18, 1994. https://fclib.org/Floyd%20County%20Times/The_Floyd_County_Times_1994/02-18-1994.pdf
The Floyd County Times. “Group Seeks Master Plan for Garbage.” April 27, 1994. https://fclib.org/Floyd%20County%20Times/The_Floyd_County_Times_1994/04-27-1994.pdf
The Floyd County Times. “Doctors May Use ‘Vacations’ to Protest Cuts.” September 7, 1994. https://fclib.org/Floyd%20County%20Times/The_Floyd_County_Times_1994/09-07-1994.pdf
Newspapers.com. “Floyd County Times Archive.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.newspapers.com/paper/floyd-county-times/5040/
KYGenWeb. “Our Yesterdays: Floyd County, 1940s.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://kygenweb.net/floyd/county/floyd-co-history/floyd-co-history-1940s.html
KYGenWeb. “Our Yesterdays: Floyd County, 1990s.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://kygenweb.net/floyd/county/floyd-co-history/floyd-co-history-1990s.html
Floyd County Historical and Genealogical Society. “Post Offices.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://sites.rootsweb.com/~kyfchgs/postoffice.html
KYGenWeb. “Floyd County, Kentucky Genealogy and Family History.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://kygenweb.net/floyd/
KYGenWeb. “Floyd County Towns and Cities: Place Names.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://kygenweb.net/floyd/county/list-towns-cities.html
FamilySearch. “Floyd County, Kentucky Genealogy.” FamilySearch Research Wiki. Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.familysearch.org/en/wiki/Floyd_County%2C_Kentucky_Genealogy
Rennick, Robert M. Kentucky Place Names. Lexington: University Press of Kentucky, 1984. https://www.si.edu/object/kentucky-place-names-robert-m-rennick%3Asiris_sil_269010
Rennick, Robert M. “Floyd County: Place Names.” Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection, Morehead State University, 2016. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/63/
Morehead State University. “Robert M. Rennick Kentucky Place Name Collection.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/robert_rennick_collection/
Morehead State University. “Robert M. Rennick Manuscript Collection.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://scholarworks.moreheadstate.edu/rennick_ms_collection/
Kentucky Historical Society. “Finding Kentucky Place Names in Family History Research.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://history.ky.gov/kentucky-ancestors/where-in-kentucky-is
Floyd County Mine Land Industrial Reuse Properties. “GIS Map.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://floyd.bitsourceky.com/
Abandoned. “Chesapeake and Ohio Railway Long Fork Subdivision.” Last updated January 29, 2024. https://abandonedonline.net/location/chesapeake-and-ohio-railway-long-fork-subdivision/
Abandoned. “Exploring Along the Long Fork Subdivision.” Last updated January 29, 2024. https://abandonedonline.net/exploring-along-the-long-fork-subdivision/
Rails-to-Trails Conservancy. “Corridor Research.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.railstotrails.org/trail-building-toolbox/corridor-research/
Floyd County Schools. “Service Areas.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.floyd.kyschools.us/service-areas
TopoZone. “Hi Hat Topo Map in Floyd County, Kentucky.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.topozone.com/kentucky/floyd-ky/city/hi-hat/
Appalachian Regional Commission. “About the Appalachian Region.” Accessed June 16, 2026. https://www.arc.gov/about-the-appalachian-region/
Author Note: Hi Hat is one of those Floyd County communities whose story survives through scattered records rather than one complete town history. I followed the postal records, coal company references, court cases, maps, roads, and railroad traces to show how a small Appalachian place remained visible in the historical record.