MANSFIELD – Mansfield is made up of many neighborhoods, each one unique in architecture, population, and community, but Mansfield’s “Little Kentucky” is a place all its own.
Little Kentucky, a neighborhood with boundaries that vary depending on who you ask, is home to many Kentucky natives. As referenced in Timothy McKee’s column, as well as the book “The Ghost Towns of 174” by Willie Davis, the area was founded when many Olive Hill, Kentucky residents moved to Mansfield in search of work, and found themselves settled near the steel mill where most found employment.
Many of the area’s current residents are descendants of those that paved the way north, and some of the “old timers” are still around. Some residents, my relatives included, simply found their way there by chance or circumstance, and have lived comfortably in the kinship of other Appalachian folk.
I discovered, while searching for interviews for this story, that some things never change, no matter the location. For example, folks from Kentucky just don’t talk to outsiders, and even a coalminer’s granddaughter like myself can’t get folks to talk on the record.
I suppose you can equate the mindset to the famous line from the movie “Fight Club,” with a small change: The first rule of Little Kentucky is you don’t talk about Little Kentucky.
I have close family in Little Kentucky, and have spent quite a bit of time in the area, though I have never lived there myself. I am, however, a Kentucky native, hailing from Harlan County, deep in coal country.
Once I’d revealed my roots, I didn’t have much trouble finding residents that would talk to me, but only one would go on the record with his name.
“When you start asking questions in Kentucky,” said Art Owens, “you don’t get answers out of anyone. You can ask all you want, but they won’t tell you anything.”
I asked Owens why he was willing to speak on the record when so many weren’t. “Everybody knows me anyway,” he replied, “so I don’t care.”
Owens, a Carter County, Kentucky native, moved to Mansfield in his teens during the early 1950s and eventually retired from the steel mill.
Owens noted that he has known people over the years that were afraid to visit Little Kentucky, based on rumors of the neighborhood being “rough.”
“I always felt safe,” said one resident, who said she grew up in Little Kentucky, moving there at the tender age of one or two in the early 1940s. “We never locked our doors,” she continued.
It’s been said that people tend to describe residents of Little Kentucky as “backward” or “hillbilly.” I asked her if anyone had ever treated her differently because she lived in that area.
“They stereotype you,” she replied. She said that once she’d overheard coworkers discussing the north end of town and Little Kentucky. She said she explained to them, “I’m a hillbilly, yes, but I’m an intelligent person. You can’t stereotype people based on where they live or where they were born.”
“It’s not where you live, or where you were born,” she added, “It’s what you make of yourself.”
She described the people that moved to the area from Kentucky as hard-working people. “That’s what they came to Mansfield for — to work,” she said.
“People were always willing to help when people needed something,” she said, and I agree that this is often still the case.
I have seen neighbors pitch in to maintain the lawns of empty homes, and neighbors helping neighbors, shoveling snow and mowing for those that are unable to do it themselves. During a family crisis recently, as we struggled to park the numerous cars, a neighbor I’d never met stopped by to let us know we were welcome to use his parking area.
North End Community Improvement Collaborative (NECIC) Community Development Coordinator Tony Chinni agreed that the borders of Little Kentucky change depending on who you ask, but those borders all fall within Census Tract 16. Owens and another quoted resident consider themselves currently outside of the borders of Little Kentucky, though other residents I spoke with, who lived further outside of the area, considered themselves within the borders.
Similar to other neighborhoods across the country, in Little Kentucky you can find children playing and neighbors chatting.
“It’s really just like any other area,” said a resident, “people tend to look out for one another.”
“When you start asking questions in Kentucky,” said Art Owens, “you don’t get answers out of anyone. You can ask all you want, but they won’t tell you anything.”
