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IMAGES
From
Nostalgiaville |
NOTE: A Click of your Mouse on most of the pictures will enlarge them for better viewing
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HISTORIC RIVER FRONT Here Captain Nicholas Roosevelt's New Orleans made port, 1811. First steamer to ply the rivers from Pittsburgh to New Orleans. In 1861 Union troops under General U S Grant landed here to occupy Paducah for duration of the war. Clara Barton arrived, 1884, on "Josh V Throop" during American Red Cross' first major flood relief operation. |
| The city of Paducah is protected along its river front from floods by the mighty Ohio River. As part of the city's beautification project, outstanding murals have been painted on the face of the concrete levee on the river side of First Street. The paintings are shown to follow as they existed on 2/20/01, from west to east along First Street. |
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This scene shows Broadway, Paducah's main street, in the 1940's when the downtown area was the center for the community's retail, business, and entertainment activities. Such downtown landmarks as the Guthrie Building, 1937 Post Office, Palmer House Hotel, Citizens Bank Building, and Columbia Theater are depicted. Cast-iron storefronts, manufactured by local foundries, remain from the earlier Victorian era when downtown Paducah experienced enormous economic growth and prosperity. (From a 1940's postcard). |
Sponsored by: David and Sandra Long and Image Graphics, Inc. |
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While the river has usually been Paducah's best friend, flood waters turned it into the community's enemy in 1884, 1913, and again in 1937. The area's most devastating event of the twentieth century was the flood of 1937 when 90% of Paducah was covered with flood waters. Over 27,000 residents were evacuated. After six weeks of rain in the Ohio River Valley, the river crested at 60.8 feet, nearly 11 feet above the elevation of this present sidewalk. National Geographic featured a photo of a cow on the second story porch of a Lower Town neighborhood home. Following the flood, a 12.5 mile flood was was erected to protect the city. (From flood photographs). |
Sponsored by: Schroeder Publishing Company, Inc. |
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In the early 1940's, Paducah-McCracken County was known as the strawberry capital of the world. Schools excused students to pick berries. Entire families were involved in this agricultural event. Freight cars carrying thousands of crates of berries were shipped from this region across the country. The climax of the season was the election of a Strawberry Queen and her royal court. They were featured in a grand parade on Broadway. Because of World War II, the final festival was celebrated in June 1941. (From 1939-1941 photographs). |
Sponsored by: The Paducah Bank |
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In 1960, Illinois Central 2613, a Mountain type engine with 4-8-2 wheel arrangement, became the last steamer to operate on the railroad, ending a 190 year tradition. Western Kentucky, with its many coal mines, was among the last places in the U S to depend on steam locomotives. The 2613 was one of 20 of its type built in the Paducah Shops in 1942, and was used for both freight and passenger service. Here it is pictured at Paducah's Union Station, so |
| called because it served both Illinois Central and
Nashville, Chattanooga & St Louis Railway passenger trains. Located near
Caldwell Street, the station was for years the place to begin or end a journey or meet
family and friends. The last passenger train called there in 1957. Sponsored by: Colonel William J Ryan and Mrs. Bart Sullivan in Memory of Mr. & Mrs. Patrick H Ryan |
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| The Illinois Central Railroad Shops, located on
Kentucky Avenue in Paducah, were built in 1927 for $6,000,000. At the peak, 1,447
workers were employed as this was one of the world's largest steam locomotive repair
shops. In the late 1950's, the shops were converted to diesel re-manufacturing and
repair, and in 1986 they were sold to a private investor. The name was changed to
VMV. Doing business with U S and foreign railroads, VMV has made Paducah built a
byword in the industry. The General Purpose or "Geep" diesel locomotive
shown is typical of the type used by Illinois Central and its Kentucky successor, Paducah
& Louisville Railway, Inc. Their economy of operations caused the demise of the
powerful, but costly, steam engines such as the 2613. Sponsored by: VMV Enterprises, Inc. and Paducah & Louisville Railway, Inc. |
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ALBEN WILLIAM BARKLEY (1877-1956)
Elected McCracken County Attorney, County Judge, U S Representative, and U S Senator, Barkley served Harry Truman as Vice-President and was known as the "Veep." He was re-elected to the U S Senate in 1955. Barkley coined the term "New Deal" when he assisted Franklin D Roosevelt in the reform of social programs. |
| IRVIN SHREWSBURY COBB (1876-1944)
Known as the first "Duke of Paducah," Cobb became a world class war correspondent, humorist, writer, movie actor, and radio host. Cobb defended the rights of World War I Black soldiers and opposed the Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s. His Old Judge Priest stories and Paducah Plantation radio show received national acclaim. Cobb published more than 64 books. Sponsored by: Owen Cleaners |
| This Horse Drinking Fountain was presented to the City
of Paducah in 1907 by the National Humane Society, founded by Harmon Lee
Ensign. Fountains like this were presented to cities throughout the United
States. Frederick Tilghman, son of General Lloyd Tilghman and Vice-President
of the Society requested one of the fountains for Paducah. The two-ton fountain,
made of polished Maine granite, provided purified city water to horses and dogs on
Broadway at Tenth Street. The fountain lost its practical value as automobiles
replaced horses. Sponsored by: Eugene & Mary Louise Katterjohn |
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This building served as Fire Station #5, at 17th and Broadway, from 1910 until 1973, when it was replaced with a modern two-bay structure. In 1910 the city had nine pieces of horse-drawn fire-fighting equipment, including the ladder-hose wagon and the steam pumper shown here. Paducah had organized a volunteer fire company in 1840. Paid fire fighters assumed duty in 1882. The first motorized fire truck, an American LaFrance, was put into service in 1913, and is now on display in the William Clark Market House Museum. (From 1910 photographs) |
Sponsored by: Turner Publishing Company |
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General William Clark, the founder of Paducah, designated the Second Street area as a location for public affairs. The original name for Second Street was "Market," reflecting its use as a trading center. The original Market House was built of logs in 1836. A larger brick building was constructed on this site in 1850 and was used as a Hospital during the Civil War. The present 1905 Market House was designed by W L Brainerd and built by F W Katterjohn for $ 25,000. In 1963 the building was converted in a cultural center, a project encouraged by the Paducah Civic Beautification Board. The Market House is listed on the National |
| Register of Historic Places. Today it remains the
center of cultural activity in downtown Paducah. Sponsored by: Gus Ed & Joann Hank |
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This August 8th Emancipation Celebration is held annually in Stuart Nelson Park. Nelson was a graduate of Lincoln High School, commissioned officer in WWI, and president of several major universities. He marched with Ghandi in India and with Dr King in Alabama. Burks Chapel AME, 7th and Ohio, ran the first school for Negro children funded by black Paducah residents around 1878. Tuition was twenty five cents. Despite opposition, Dr Dennis H Anderson founded West Kentucky Industrial College, 1909-1911, to train black teachers. By 1938 it was |
| the third largest black junior college in
America. Lincoln Elementary School, built in 1894, later became Lincoln High
School, a center for black education and community activity until the 1960s. After
integration of Paducah's schools, it became Whitside Elementary School. Rowlandtown
School is one of several area structures containing 90 pound, 18 inch long solid concrete
blocks developed by Charles and Ed Reynolds. Sponsored by: Citizens of Paducah |
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Union General U S Grant occupied Paducah on September 6, 1861, building a pontoon bridge across the Ohio River to the Illinois shore. Fort Anderson was built and named after Kentuckian and Fort Sumter commander Major Robert Anderson. Attacked March 25 and April 14, 1964, the fort was successfully defended by both white and black troops commanded by Colonel Stephen G Hicks of Illinois. Shown patrolling off Paducah in 1862 is the gunboat U S S Tyler. In the spring of 1864, African Americans were recruited in Kentucky for federal service in "U S Colored Volunteers." The 8th Colored artillery |
| (Heavy) was raised almost exclusively in Paducah as
were elements of five other black regiments. Sponsored by: David & Ann Denton |
| On March 25th, 1864, Confederate General Nathan
Bedford Forrest raided Paducah intent on disrupting communications and destroying or
carrying off as many Union military supplies as possible. Shown: Confederate
assault on Fort Anderson led by Paduchan Captain A P Thompson, killed within sight of his
home. In the distance are burning military stores. From the river, Union
gunboats PEOSTA and PAY-PAW give supporting fire for the fort. Kentucky was a slave
state but overwhelmingly pro-Union. Paducah, however, was strongly
pro-Confederacy. General Lloyd Tilghman, a Paducah resident, left here in summer
1861 to raise the 3rd Kentucky Regiment Confederate States Army. He was killed
in action during the 1863 Vicksburg Campaign. Sponsored by: Dick & Jane Walker |
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Paducah's river industry was the city's life blood. Steamboats and tobacco were critical to the area's economy in the late 1880's. Mule drawn transfer wagons moved hogshead barrels of tobacco that weighted around 1,600 pounds each. Nearly 20,000 barrels were stored annually in the area for two to three years. Steamboats carried mixed cargo and passengers. Paducah was a major port and distribution center because of its strategic location at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee Rivers and close proximity to the Mississippi and Cumberland |
| Rivers (From an 1890's photograph). Sponsored by: Paducah-McCracken County Riverport Authority |
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Paducah architecture reflected the settlers different religious faiths. These institutions helped unite the early settlers of the community. Broadway United Methodist Church is the oldest, founded 1812 at 4th and Broadway. It relocated to the southwest corner of 7th and Broadway in 1875, and again across the street in the present location in 1890. The building pictured above was destroyed by fire in 1929, and was rebuilt in 1910. U S Vice President Albert W Barkley and Judge William S Bishop, old Judge Priest of Irvin Cobb's stories, were members. Other historic |
| religious institutions established before 1865 are,
clockwise from upper right First Christian, 1849; St Francis de Sales
Catholic, 1849; Grace Episcopal, 1843; First Baptist, 1840; First
Presbyterian, 1842; St Matthew Lutheran, 1856; Temple Israel, 1864; and
Washington Street Baptist, 1855. Sponsored by: A Friend of Broadway United Methodist |
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It was common practice in post-Civil War America for communities to be depicted in bird's-eye views showing buildings, people, animals, boats, rivers, streams, and railroad lines. This mural recreates an 1873 Bird's-Eye View Map of Paducah which now hangs in the Market House Museum. After surviving the Civil War with only minor damage, Paducah in 1873 was a prosperous and growing city. Much of the community's prosperity was due to its river and rail facilities, many of which are illustrated in this mural. By 1900, Paducah had grown to be one of the largest manufacturing and distributing in Kentucky and was classified as a 2nd class city centers |
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Sponsored by: Rex Holland, Jr., Richard Holland and Mary Leigh Holland Stiff in memory of their parents, Dr Rex and Jane C Holland. |
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In 1884, Robert S Davis recalled that the first
building was a round-log cabin, about sixteen feet square, erected by the Pore brothers,
James and William, in April of 1821. Davis identified four families living at the
site at that time. Records in Livingston County affirm that a town called
"Pekin" claimed the site. In a letter to his son, William Clark wrote that
he chose to re-name the town "Paducah" to honor the Indian tribe, The Padoucas,
that once was quite large but had been decimated by contact with Europeans. Despite
its late start, Paducah soon became the largest city in the region because of its favorable location on the
rivers, and later as the terminus of the New Orleans and Ohio Railroad which was connected
to lines running south in 1860. Sponsored by: Marshall & Marcia Nemer and Caroline Yaffe in memory of Mr. & Mrs. Samuel H Finkel |
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William Clark, 1770-1836, a soldier, explorer,
Superintendent of Indian Affairs, and Governor of Missouri Territory, is best known for
the Lewis and Clark voyage of discovery up the Missouri River in 1804. William got
title to the 17,000 acre site at Paducah on October 13, 1827, from the Kentucky
courts. Clark sent his agent, George Woolfolk, to displace squatters from the
site of Paducah and to survey it. Previously, the contested site had been called
Pekin. The Clark plat of the town was entered into McCracken County records on June
18, 1830. The Clark claim was not clear until 1844 when the Porterfield Script case
was heard before the U S Supreme Court. The rival claim was based on a
military warrant, which usually superseded treasury warrants; however, the Clark claim was
upheld. The first lots were sold in 1830. |
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When General William Clark platted town of Paducah in 1827, and when it was incorporated by Legislature, 1830, this was its west boundary. The 12 blocks in the plat were bordered by Oak Street (now Fourth). Clark Street on the south, Jefferson Street on the north and the river on the east. Original name of town, Pekin, changed by Clark to honor legendary Indian Chief Paduke. |
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George Rogers Clark, 1752-1818, a Virginia surveyor,
came to Kentucky to seek his fortune. In 1776, he thwarted the claim of Richard
Henderson and Daniel Boone to the territory west of the Appalachians by persuading the
Virginia legislature to create Kentucky county. In 1778, Governor Patrick Henry
ordered Lieutenant Colonel Clark to attack British posts along the Ohio. Clark's
command of about 200 men captured for Virginia the Northwest Territory (all U S territory
east of the Mississippi, north of the Ohio, and west of the Appalachians). While
enroute to attack Kaskaskia, Clark noted the potential for a town at the mouth of the
Tennessee River. Later he used a Virginia treasury warrant dated September 15, 1795,
to claim 37.000 acres at the mouth of that river. Clark died in 1818 deeply in
debt, and title to this site eventually went to his
younger brother, William, of Lewis and Clark fame. Sponsored by: James Wheeler Hank & Hank Brothers Hardware |
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MARINE WAYS 400 feet south is Paducah's oldest continuous industry. Incorporated by Act of the legislature January 24, 1854. First ways, completed March that year in eight sections, were capable of holding boats 350 feet in length. During the more than century that the company has been operating. Paducah has been one of the important boat-and-barge building and repair centers. |
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RIDE ROUND the RIVERS This unique pleasure-boat tour is an 80-mile loop from Paducah up the Tennessee, through Kentucky Lock, up Kentucky Lake, through the Land-Between-The-Lakes Canal, down Barkley Lake, through Barkley Lock, down the Cumberland to Smithland, and down the Ohio back to Paducah. West Kentucky has greatest concentration of major navigable rivers in world; |
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GENERAL. GEORGE ROGERS CLARK visited
this spot, 1778. GENERAL. ULYSSES S GRANT landed here September 6, 1861 to occupy Paducah for Federal Union. CAPTAIN JACK B SLEETH laid first successful submarine cable, 1847. It reached from foot of Campbell Street to Illinois shore |
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AMERICAN RED CROSS
McCracken County Chapter chartered May 14, 1917. Organized by Mrs. A R Meyers, with
W F Paxton as first chairman. Initial WWI fund drive raised $42,000.
During great Ohio Valley Flood of 1937 carried on an amazing evacuation and relief
program. WWII fund campaigns raised $164,530. Serving McCracken County over
fifty years. Marker in memory of: Mr. and Mrs. D E Wilson, Sr. |
| This map serves as a key to the letters beside each street name and provides a location for the pictures on that street. |
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A |
Eastern side of Broadway between 1st Street & 2nd Street (2/20/01) |
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B |
Eastern side of Broadway between 2nd Street & 3rd Street (2/20/01) |
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C |
Eastern side of Broadway between 3rd Street & 4th Street (2/20/01) |
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D |
Eastern side of Broadway between 4th Street & 5th Street (2/20/01) |
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Eastern side of Broadway between 5th Street & 6th Street (2/20/01) |
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| Another mural was discovered embedded in this row of buildings |  |
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ST FRANCIS de SALES Reverend Herman W Jansen, pastor from 1882-1909, built present church at cost of $30,000. Corner stone laid June 5, 1899. Reverend Henry Connolly was pastor 1909-27. Reverend John D Fallon served 1927-38. Reverend Albert J Thompson 1938-57. Reverend Charles DeNardi 1957-63. Reverend Robert T Wilson named pastor 1963. Members of six generations under eighteen pastors have worshipped here. |
F |
Eastern side of Broadway between 6th Street & 7th Street (2/20/01) |
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IRVIN S COBB Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb, 1876-1944. One of Paducah's famous sons. "A first-class humorist from a conversational gesture to a book wit who made all the world laugh with him." Author of more than sixty books, short story writer, recipient of O Henry Award, movie actor, lecturer. Chevalier of the Legion of Honor. France, 1918. Marker Presented: 1985 by Paducah Rotary Club |
G |
Eastern side of Broadway at the corner of 9th Street (2/20/01) |
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GRACE EPISCOPAL Grace Church was organized in 1848 in the home of Adam Rankin led by the Reverend N N Cowgtill of Hickman. First structure, built of lumber cut in Louisville and floated downstream, was located on riverfront near Market Street. Consecrated on April 21, 1851. During Civil War, property was confiscated by U S Government and church was used as hospital. |
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Cornerstone for present Gothic edifice, one of Paducah's oldest landmarks, was laid on April 26, 1873 under rectorship of the Reverend W M Pettis who envisioned a building large enough to serve a growing city. Dedication and first service held June 21, 1874. Restoration of property after ravages of 1937 flood was led by the Reverend Custis Fletcher, rector. |
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Western side of Broadway between 7th Street & 8th Street (2/20/01) |
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BROADWAY METHODIST Paducah's oldest institution. Founded 1832. First edifice erected 1842 on northwest corner Broadway at 4th. Relocated 1875 on southeast corner Broadway at 7th. Moved to present site 1896. Destroyed by fire 1929: rebuilt 1930. Judge William Sutton Bishop, the "Old Judge Priest" of Irvin Cobb's stories, and Vice-President Alben W Barkley held membership here. |
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Western side of Broadway between 6th Street & 7th Street (2/20/01) |
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Western side of Broadway between 5th Street & 6th Street (2/20/01) |
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Western side of Broadway between 4th Street & 5th Street (2/20/01) |
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Western side of Broadway between 3rd Street & 4th Street (2/20/01) |
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Western side of Broadway between 2nd Street & 3rd Street (2/20/01) |
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N |
South side of 2nd Street between Broadway and Jefferson (2/20/01) |
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