Robertson - Paducah

The Ohio River, on the left, receives the Tennessee River, on the right, at Paducah. William Clark, in a letter to his son Meriwether Lewis Clark in 1827 from St. Louis, reported he named the town to honor the memory of a once-proud tribe, the Padouca, which had lived here but moved westward and was decimated by contact with European culture.

William Clark founded Paducah, as shown in this plat.

This log structure built by the Pore brothers about 1830 was one of the first residences in the new village. Early on, the town appointed inspectors to insure that these wooden cabins were not fire hazards. Chimneys had to pass a safety test. Fires, especially one in 1850, almost wiped out the new town. The city acquired hooks-and-ladders to cope with this threat.

Use of the riverfront was closely supervised. Rental of space to stack wood for refueling steamboats proved a source of income for the new community. Later, repair facilities such as this one made Paducah a vital port on the inland waterway. Before dams improved navigation, many families of boat personnel wintered in Paducah. In 1847 the federal government built a marine hospital to serve crews on the various boats.

This tintype shows two of the first settlers of Paducah: Mary Kirkpatrick, who married R.S. Radcliffe, and sister Margaret, who married John F. Harris; the sisters were from one of Kentuckys pioneer families. Natives killed their father Moses near what is now Louisville. About 1830 the family moved to the mouth of the Tennessee. The sisters died in 1843. Note the picture one holds.

Currently the Alben Barkley museum of the Paducah Young Historians Association, this Greek revival structure was built in 1852 by Capt. William Smedley, who dealt in marine supply and was part owner of the Excelsior wharf boat. Later, the cottage was the home of long-time mayor David A.Yeiser. During one of the terms of Mayor Yeiser, the city got its charter to become one of four second-class cities in Kentucky.

Large steamboats from the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers often stopped at Paducah to offload cargo destined for communities on smaller rivers such as the Cumberland and Tennessee. Packet steamers, such as the Paducah shown here, drew less water and could serve remote settlements on the Tennessee and pass the rapids at Eddyville on the Cumberland and thus get to Nashville and further South.

Lloyd Tilghman came to Paducah to build a railroad that would connect to lines running to Mobile and the Gulf. A member of a prominent Maryland family, Tilghman was a graduate of West Point and served in the Mexican War. Leaving the army, he was active in railroad construction in the United States and Panama. The New Orleans and Ohio was opened in 1860. Later, Tilghman was a Confederate general.