The following account of how Robards, KY, got its name was told by my Aunt Bea (Beatrice Eakins Sandefur Crowley) in 1990 to my first cousin, Charles Eakins. Aunt Bea is now 90 and still going strong. "This Eakins family was centered around a little town called Robards. Here is how Robards, KY, got its name. There was a family there named Robards and he married some lady from the Eakins family. So J.D. Robards sold his horse in 1869 for $75.00, sought his fortune by building a new general store in Henderson County, KY. That's the year that Enoch Marion Eakins was born--1869 (Enoch was Aunt Bea's father). Where J.D. Robards hoped to profit was from the gathering of the boys on Sunday afternoon to race and bet their horses on the half-mile frontier race track and "drink" a little--as was the custom at the time. The store did so well he expanded and later built a tobacco factory which eventually exported its products to Europe. Robards Settlement, 3 miles west of Robards--home of Pleasant Valley--became known as "Robard Station" without the "s" through the error of the L & N Railroad sign painters. Natives of Robard insisted on calling it Robards. The US Postal Dept, in the 1920's to avoid confusion, effected a name change to Robards which is in effect today. At one time the community, which now has a population of about 300, had a 22 ft. soft coal mine--Panama Coal Co--which employed about 30 men. The people now are supported by general farming and retirement incomes. So that's how Robards got on the map." In my mother's story, she describes Robards in the 1920's. "Our town of Robards was small, a general store, where you could buy what you need, also a post office, restaurant, three churches--Baptist, Methodist and First Christian which we went to. there was a stabes where you tied your horses when we went to town. there was a railroad (L & N) that went through the town and a depot you could get a ticket to ride to other towns. there were three passenger trains that stopped for people." She also said the train always stopped at Robards. When Al Capone was shipped to jail in Atlanta, Mom and her friends were at the depot waiting to get a glimpse of Capone when the train stopped. But the train didn't stop so they were disappointed they didn't get to see Capone.