December 12, 2025 - A new memorial in Hazard, Kentucky honors coal miners who died in the line of work.

The memorial includes the names of those killed during coal mining operations, including mining and strip mining deaths.

“What this memorial depicts is all the individuals that were killed during the line of duty for coal mine deaths,” said Hazard City Manager Tony Eversole. “Mining, strip mining, just any kind of injury that unfortunately caused death.”

The memorial was a collaborative effort between the city, county and tourism officials. Research was conducted to collect the names of those who died while working in coal mining.

“Many people got injured and got killed. I know people on that wall and people out there do too. It was something we wanted to do and do a tribute for them,” Eversole said.

Eversole said memorials like this help the community remember and honor those lost.

“We’re blessed. This is an area of service and community dedication. We’ve got memorials for the flood victims. We’ve got some memorials for soldiers. We wanted to do something for them,” he said.

The memorial serves as a way to thank miners for their contribution to the area.

“We want to make sure that the coal miners who, as the saying goes, the lights wouldn’t be on if we didn’t have them. We wanted to thank them and thank their families for the service,” he said.

The memorial is located in Triangle Park between the Farmer’s Market and Hazard City Police Department.