It’s our 37^th birthday! The Magoffin County Historical Society was officially formed in April of 1978. The organization was created by a few people who came together to copy county cemeteries for a mapping project being conducted by the Kentucky Historical Society. Gradually more people who were interested in family and county history joined with the group as we were recognized for our efforts in collecting and preserving genealogical and historical material.

Our first endeavor into printing was a 20-page quarterly Journal that was sent out to about a dozen members in February of 1979. The individual Journals have since grown to over 60 pages each and membership continues to rise.

The year 1979 was also the inception of the first Magoffin County Founders Days and the tradition continued annually through 2013 for a total of 35 years. In 2014 the small group of volunteers with the Magoffin Historical Society reluctantly took some time off from sponsoring the event and the City of Salyersville carried on the tradition with its first ever Heritage Days celebration.

Our Founders Days traditionally were held to honor early founding fathers of our area and to provide the opportunity for our citizens, particularly our youngsters, to showcase their talents and accomplishments. Family oriented activities grew from a one day celebration in 1979 to week-long activities of family reunions, pageants, parades, contests, dedications, dinners and church services. Many local churches and civic organizations were given the opportunity to conduct food booths in order to finance their yearly monetary needs. We were pleased to provide an occasion for local crafters to sell their handmade items. Having the Magoffin County Library bring in well-known authors for a book signing was a highlight of our celebrations.

During the first Founders Days in 1979 we purchased and dedicated the black pyramid-shaped marker in the lawn of the Hall Community Center that is dedicated to descendants of William "Uncle Billy" Adams who owned much of present-day Salyersville that carried the name of Adamsville before Magoffin County was formed in 1860. The other inscriptions are for Revolutionary War soldier and early settler Archibald Prater and for Samuel "The Legislator" Salyer, the man for whom our county seat of Salyersville was named.

We have assisted in having many markers set at previously unmarked gravesites of our early settlers where descendants can visit. We have also helped in several cemetery clean-up projects.

A long list of books (family histories, genealogy resource books, military volumes, cookbooks, collections of pictures and stories, pictorial stories of Founders Days and Pioneer Village) have been printed. Work is on-going with several more printing projects. We are also proud of our weekly Historical Comments genealogy column in the Salyersville Independent newspaper, a tradition begun in 1978 and continuing to present except for a few issues several years ago.

Perhaps our most outstanding accomplishment was purchasing the old Salyersville Post Office building and converting it into a genealogy library. We have an extensive collection of printed genealogical and historical materials that are available for researchers to use. A large parking lot is adjacent to our library.

The grounds surrounding this library contain a Pioneer Village consisting of 17 reconstructed log cabins native to our area. Two of these cabins have adjoining rooms; two cabins are two-story and three cabins are a story and a half. These cabins are furnished with authentic artifacts and collections contributed by many local people along with substantial contributions from Seldon and Eva Holliday. An outdoor stage area is also a part of the village.

In the Pioneer Village courtyard we have markers inscribed with a variety of historical county happenings and with family surnames honored by our series of Founders Days. A very large monument contains the names of all those from our vicinity who served in the Civil War. A marker made from black granite panels from the 1959 Magoffin County Courthouse has a tribute to early explorer Dr. Thomas Walker, a list of area Revolutionary War soldiers, War of 1812 soldiers and Spanish-American War veterans. This marker is topped with the bell from the 1893 Magoffin County Courthouse, donated to the historical society by the late Jeff Harper.

The sidewalks of the Pioneer Village are paved with a large portion of the memorial bricks from a City of Salyersville project of a few years ago.

Since our beginnings we have had volunteers who have answered phone calls, letters, and emails from people seeking information. We also assist visitors in genealogy research and in locating historic related sites in our county and surrounding areas.