HOPKINSVILLE

city, seat of Christian county, southwestern Kentucky, U.S. It originated as Elizabethtown, which became county seat in 1797 and was renamed to honour Samuel Hopkins, Revolutionary War soldier and pioneer. It became a service centre for farmers and developed as a market for livestock and for burley and dark-fired tobacco, with some light manufacturing. The city is the seat of Hopkinsville Community College, an extension of the state university. Fairview, birthplace of Jefferson Davis (a state shrine, marked by a 351-ft- high obelisk), is 11 mi (18 km) east. Ft. Campbell, a military base, is 16 mi south. Inc. town, 1804; city, 1897. Pop. (1990) city 29,809; Clarksville-Hopkinsville MSA, 169,439.