Pippa Passes, Kentucky

Pippa Passes, Kentucky
City
Buildings on the Alice Lloyd campus
Nickname(s): Caney, Caney Creek
Location of Pippa Passes in Knott County, Kentucky.
Coordinates: 37°20′5″N 82°52′32″W / 37.33472°N 82.87556°W / 37.33472; -82.87556Coordinates: 37°20′5″N 82°52′32″W / 37.33472°N 82.87556°W / 37.33472; -82.87556
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
County	Knott
Incorporated	1983[1]
Named for	a Robert Browning poem
Area
• Total	0.5 sq mi (1.4 km2)
• Land	0.5 sq mi (1.4 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	991 ft (302 m)
Population (2010)
• Total	533
• Estimate (2016)[2]	643
• Density	1,064.0/sq mi (380.0/km2)
Time zone	UTC-5 (Eastern (EST))
• Summer (DST)	UTC-4 (EDT)
ZIP code	41844
Area code(s)	606
FIPS code	21-61374
GNIS feature ID	0500757

Pippa Passes is a home rule-class city located along Caney Creek in Knott County, eastern Kentucky, United States. Its formal name was chosen to honor benefactors of Alice Lloyd College. After more than a century, its residents commonly call the community as Caney or Caney Creek. The population was 533 at the time of the year 2010 U.S. Census. The small city is located in the mountainous Appalachia region, an area of coal mining.

History

European Americans had long called this settlement "Caney" or "Caney Creek" by 1916, when Alice Lloyd arrived from Boston. She solicited funds for the construction of a local post office and the founding of Caney Creek Junior College, which were opened in 1917 and 1923, respectively. A donation from the Browning Society led to the post office's being named after Robert Browning's Pippa Passes. In this verse drama he coined the phrase "God's in His heaven, all's right with the world."^[3] (Given the U.S. Postal Service's preference for monogrammatic names, this location was known as Pippapass until 1955.)^[4]

The city of Pippa Passes was incorporated by the state assembly on July 1, 1983.

Government

It is governed by a mayor elected at-large and a city council whose members are elected from single-member districts.^[5] As of 2009, the mayor is Scott Cornett. He is the baseball coach for the college.^[6] The local police department operates as a combined unit with the college's security organization.^[5]

Geography

Pippa Passes is at 37°20′5″N 82°52′32″W / 37.33472°N 82.87556°W / 37.33472; -82.87556 (37.334629, -82.875490).^[7] According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 0.5 square miles (1.3 km²), all land.

Demographics

As of the census^[9] of 2000, there were 297 people, 48 households, and 30 families residing in the city. The population density was 557.3 per square mile (216.4/km²). There were 50 housing units at an average density of 93.8 per square mile (36.4/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 97.31% White, 0.34% African American, 0.34% Native American, 1.68% Asian, and 0.34% from two or more races.

There were 48 households out of which 39.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 60.4% were married couples living together, 2.1% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.5% were non-families. 37.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 4.2% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.54 and the average family size was 3.47.

In the city, the population was spread out with 13.8% under the age of 18, 62.0% from 18 to 24, 12.8% from 25 to 44, 8.8% from 45 to 64, and 2.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 21 years. For every 100 females, there were 24.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 17.4 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $36,250, and the median income for a family was $73,250. Males had a median income of $38,625 versus $25,500 for females. The per capita income for the city was $10,780. About 3.1% of families and 12.3% of the population were below the poverty line, including 28.6% of those under the age of eighteen and none of those sixty five or over.

References