The Hopkins County History Center occupies the old city hall building in downtown Madisonville, a well-preserved late 19th-century structure that is one of the better examples of civic architecture in western Kentucky. The museum covers the history of Hopkins County from its early settlement through the coal-mining era that defined the region's economy for most of the 20th century.
The coal-mining exhibits are the most interesting: photographs of the underground mines, the company towns that grew up around them, the labour disputes that marked the industry, and the eventual decline. Western Kentucky's coalfields were among the most productive in the country and the social history of the towns that depended on them is a significant chapter in American industrial history. The museum is small enough to cover in an hour.