Kyova (pron. key-oh-vuh): a geographical region in the United States consisting of ten counties surrounding the Ohio River in Kentucky, Ohio, and West Virginia

Kyova is a name that I have appropriated from several local organizations and have been using to refer to ten counties in a region that locals call the “Tri-State”, officially the Huntington-Ashland metropolitan area. Due to relative proximity and historical relevance, I have also included the Portsmouth, Ohio micropolitan area. This leaves us with the counties of Boyd, Carter, Greenup, and Lawrence in Kentucky, Lawrence and Scioto in Ohio, and Cabell, Lincoln, Putnam, and Wayne in West Virginia.

Combined, the ten counties hold a diverse population of 487,000 people. The largest cities in Kyova are Huntington, West Virginia (population: 49k), Ashland, Kentucky (population: 21k), and Portsmouth, Ohio (population: 20k). Surrounding them are dozens of connected satellite towns and neighborhoods, and many unique cultural quirks.

Founding of the Cities

Kyova as a region has been historically successful and culturally relevant, peaking with the industrial boom and falling with the subsequent decline. The first permanent European settlement in the region was in modern-day Huntington; Holderby’s Landing was founded in 1775. Guyandotte would become the very first city in the region, being incorporated in 1799, although it was later absorbed into Huntington.

Poage’s Landing, the first permanent settlement in Ashland, was founded around a decade later in 1786. 

In 1796, Emanuel Traxler founded the first settlement in what is now modern-day Portsmouth. Of the three major cities in the region, Portsmouth was the first to be incorporated. Henry Massie began plotting land in 1803 and the city was incorporated in 1815. 

Ironton was founded by the pig iron industry in 1849 by John Campbell, a prominent manufacturer in the area, choosing the location due to its proximity to the river and ability to easily ship products to other markets. Ironton quickly became one of the biggest producers of iron in the world, a claim it held from the 1850s to the 1890s.

Portsmouth would boom in the 1850s, seeing its population rise from just 527 in 1820 to its peak of 42,560 in 1930. Ironton’s population rose from 3,691 in 1860 to a peak of 16,333 in 1950.

Though Portsmouth took off earlier than other cities in the region, Huntington and Ashland would soon rise to prominence as well. The modern City of Huntington was founded in 1871 by its namesake, Collis P. Huntington, as a railroad hub which was completed in 1873. It was the second American city to feature railed streetcars, and some of the trolley tracks can still be seen. The local favorite Camden Park is one of the oldest amusement parks in the world and was built to encourage citizens to ride the streetcars. Huntington boomed in population from its founding until the 1930s, going from a population of 3,714 to 75,572 in just 50 years! 

Poage’s Landing remained an extended-family settlement until the mid-19th century. It benefited from the rise of the pig iron industry across the river, and it soon became an industrial center in eastern Kentucky. To reflect the growing industrial base, Levi Hampton suggested that the settlement be renamed “Ashland” after the famed Henry Clay estate. The City of Ashland was incorporated in 1854, and Ashland Poage was the first child born in the city. The population of Ashland grew much slower than the other cities, but eventually its population reached a peak of 31,283 in 1960.

Early Industries

The region rose to prominence with the aforementioned industries of rail and pig iron. The geographical location on the Mighty Ohio River, along with a handful of smaller rivers, was incredibly beneficial to these industries and other industries. Portsmouth’s early industries included meat packing and shipping facilities, and near the end of World War 1 city would become listed as a major industrial and jobbing center. It was home to the fourth-largest shoe manufacturing center in the nation, and the largest manufacturer of fire and paving bricks in the United States. There were 100 other companies producing various goods, including steel, an industry which employed over 1,000 people in the city.

In 1885, the Davis Opera House was built in Huntington. A Liggett and Meyers Tobacco factory was also built in Huntington in 1917, and in 1924 St. Mary’s Hospital was opened. A movie theater in Huntington was opened in 1926, and the Keith Albee Theater was built two years later. Huntington Junior College became the first institution of higher learning in the area in 1936.

Meanwhile, in Ashland, The American Rolling Mill Company (known colliqually as ARMCO) announced a major development in 1920. In 1922, ARMCO’s second steel mill was opened in Ashland, which innovated the steel industry by using the continuous rolling method to produce steel sheets. The biggest employer in the city, the number of employees at ARMCO peaked at 7,500 in 1950. Other industries included coke, with a coke plant being constructed in 1912 featuring 54 coke ovens, later being expanded to 60 and then 76 in the following decades. Ashland Oil and Refining Company was founded in 1924 and was headquartered in Ashland from its conception until 1999.

Decline and Revitalization

The area has faced many socioeconomic challenges over the past few decades, and we’ve seen revitalization efforts from local municipalities, but the region has failed to capture a bigger modern identity to elevate its levels of success.

ComeToKyova is a perpetually-evolving effort to mobilize our region’s talented population of workers, artists, and thinkers, and utilize social media to promote greater interconnectivity across all social and geographical borders. As a platform, ComeToKyova strives for locally-relevant and open contribution to create an ongoing buzz and use that to build our community, giving the youth of this generation and future ones an identity to cling onto. The philosophy will evolve however it needs to.

The power of this movement lies in our region’s desire to be uplifted with curiosity and hard work, and we can tap into that, so with that I ask some simple questions to get the conversation going:

Why do you call Kyova home? Is it the artists who have called our cities home? Is it the small businesses and the hometown vibes of our communities? Is it the unusual melting pot created by a blend of midwest, southern, mountain, and industrial culture? Show the world.