Madisonville City Hall is located at 67 North Main Street, Madisonville, KY 42431.
Phone: 270‑824‑2100.
Beginnings [1]
Hopkins County was created in 1807 with the county seat situated at Madisonville. The county was named in honor of General Samuel Hopkins, a Revolutionary War hero from Virginia who settled in Henderson, Kentucky in 1797. Also in, 1807 the Fiscal Court voted to form the city of Madisonville as the county seat and forty acres of land was purchased in the center of the county from landowners Daniel McGary and Soloman Silkwood. Madisonville was named in honor of President James Madison. The plan for the town was similar to many throughout the country with a central town square and adjacent streets laid out in a grid pattern. The county courthouse was located at the center of the town square lot.
The first courthouse built in Madisonville was a log building and a log jail was constructed in 1807. When the town was first laid out there were two primary streets, Main Street and Main-Cross (now Center Street). These two streets ran adjacent to the courthouse and formed the nucleus of the residential and commercial area of the town in the early 1800s. Lots were sold for $52.50 in the area around the courthouse, but early settlement remained sparse. In 1810, the population of Madisonville stood at only 37 and there were only a few stores and residences scattered around the court square.