Earlington was founded in 1870 by St. Bernard Coal Co. and named for John Baylis Earle, who discovered the No. 11 coal vein not far from this site in 1869. John Bond Atkinson, the president of St. Bernard Coal, planned free public schools, a free public library, Loch Mary Reservoir, an arboretum, and home and church sites. In 1870, L & N Railroad began coal shipments from this area.