Corbin Wedding

Corbin is a city in Whitley and Knox counties in southeastern Kentucky. The urbanized area around Corbin extends also into Laurel County; this area, known as North Corbin, is not incorporated into the city limits. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 7,742, with 17,558 living in the "urban cluster" that includes Corbin.

The Corbin area, known originally as Lynn Camp, was first settled by Europeans around 1800. The present town came into being when the Louisville and Nashville Railroad laid the first tracks through the area around 1883. Swampland, chosen because it was both flat and cheap, was drained to make way for a depot and roundhouse, and a town soon grew up around the tracks.

The post office at the site was originally named Cummins for community founder Nelson Cummins. However, when it was discovered in 1885 that both Cummins and Lynn Camp were already in use as names for Kentucky post offices, postmaster James Eaton was asked to select another name. He chose Corbin, perhaps for James Corbin Floyd, a local minister. (The word itself is derived from the Latin corvus, meaning raven; compare French corbeau.) The town was incorporated under that name in 1905.