‘This Data Center Crap’: Land and Technology Clash in Kentucky

A developer wants to build a data center in cave country. Locals are vehemently opposed. Illustration by Noah Hickey/The Dispatch (Photos via Getty Images/Unsplash). Turn any article into a podcast. Upgrade now to start listening. Members can share articles with friends & family to bypass the paywall. Franklin, Kentucky, is a small town. To get there from where I grew up on the outskirts of Bowling Green, you drive south down Nashville Road past Mitch McConnell Way and WeedMan Lawn Care, past the old Rich Pond Elementary and the new South Warren High, past the last few acres of Bowling Green’s industrial overflow and the last vestiges of Bowling Green’s suburban sprawl. Want to see more of The Dispatch in Google search? Add Us as a Preferred Source Amelia Christmas Gramling is a writer and teacher from southwestern Kentucky, now living in New York. Her work can be found in Bloodletter Magazine, Bellevue Literary Review, Autostraddle, Southlands Magazine, and The Masters Review where she was named a Best Emerging Writer of 2025. More on Data Centers