SOURCES & PHOTO CREDITS
A story with
its sources attached.
Community photographs, local histories, and original records help us tell this story carefully. Dates and identifications remain qualified where the evidence is uncertain.
School and community history
- H1Grahn School students, circa 1933 ↗
Carter County KYGenWeb photo archive
The contributor supplied the approximate date and student identifications. Some names remain incomplete or uncertain.
- H2Grahn Junior High School basketball team, 1933 ↗
Carter County KYGenWeb photo archive
Caption identifies team and date; contributor Linda Cheeks Pittano.
- H3McGlone v. Horton, March 19, 1935 ↗
Kentucky Court of Appeals, reproduced by CaseMine
Reproduces the April 15, 1934 Grahn district resolution and records county confirmation April 28.
- H4The New Deal Builds: A Historic Context of the New Deal in East Kentucky, 1933 to 1943 ↗
Kentucky Heritage Council and Kentucky Transportation Cabinet
Rachel Kennedy and Cynthia Johnson. Appendix One, printed p. 201, PDF page 207. Lists Grahn School as WPA; no construction date or project description.
- H5Historical Views of Carter County ↗
Francis Nash; hosted by Carter County KYGenWeb
Pages 23-24 describe school consolidation by 1994, the organizing effort in 1995, and the property purchase in 1999, with Gloria Bunting and Starlene Harris named in the center’s early history.
- H6Grahn School Community Center: mission and organizational history ↗
Grahn School Community Center
The center’s earlier website records its September 1995 incorporation and describes its earlier mission and activities.
- H7Emma Thornbury Everman obituary, November 5, 2003 ↗
Ashland Daily Independent, transcribed by Carter County KYGenWeb
Final ten teaching years at Grahn Elementary before retirement 1970.
- H8Products of Kentucky's Famous Olive Hill District Move Via C&O and P.M. ↗
D. C. Boy, C&O Railway Magazine; reprinted Carter County Herald, February 11, 1932
A contemporary account of the Grahn plant’s 1913 opening and the industrial work of the wider Olive Hill district.
- H9Cortland News, October 13, 2018
Cortland News
Reports a school closure in 1994 and a community-center opening in 1997. Published accounts of acquisition and renovation dates vary. The newspaper’s earlier online issue link is unavailable.
- H10Louisville Fire Brick Works, Grahn, Ky., 1920 ↗
Kentucky Historical Society
Kentucky Historical Society catalog record for Willard Rouse Jillson’s 1920 photograph, accession Graphic8_Box2_F15_05. The catalog includes reproduction-permission information.
Organization and service sources
- Kentucky Secretary of State: organization 0405774 ↗
- IRS exempt organization data for Kentucky ↗
- The center's earlier website and mission statement ↗
- CHOW's September 2025 visit report ↗
Records reviewed October 27, 2026. Earlier websites and reports document past activities. Current offerings are the thrift shop, Christmas giveaways, and gym and commercial kitchen rentals, as confirmed by the website coordinator.