Paducah

History

Paducah was first settled as "Pekin" around 1821 by European Americans James and William Pore. The town was laid out by explorer and surveyor William Clark in 1827 and renamed Paducah. Although local lore long connected this name to an eponymous Chickasaw chief "Paduke" and his band of "Paducahs", authorities on the Chickasaw have since said that there was never any chief or tribe of that name, or anything like it. The Chickasaw language does not have related words. Instead, historians believe that Clark named the town for the Comanche people of the western plains. or the Omaha Pádoⁿka. Paducah was formally established as a town in 1830 and incorporated as a city by the state legislature in 1838. By this time, steam boats traversed the river system, and its port facilities were important to trade and transportation. In addition, developing railroads began to enter the region. A factory for making red bricks, and a foundry for making rail and locomotive components became the nucleus of a thriving "River and Rail" economy. Paducah became the site of dry dock facilities for steamboats and towboats, and thus headquarters for many barge companies. Because of its proximity to coalfields further to the east in Kentucky and north in Illinois, Paducah also became an important railway hub for the Illinois Central Railroad. This was the primary north–south railway connecting the industrial cities of Chicago and East St. Louis to the Gulf of Mexico at Gulfport, Mississippi, and New Orleans, Louisiana. The Illinois Central system also provided east–west links to the Burlington Northern and the Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railways (which later merged to become the BNSF Railway). In 1924 the Illinois Central Railroad began construction at Paducah of their largest locomotive…

Geography

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of , of which is land and , comprising 0.52%, is water. Paducah has a humid subtropical climate (Köppen: Cfa) with four distinct seasons and is located in USDA hardiness zone 7a. Spring-like conditions typically begin in mid-to-late March, summer from mid-to-late-May to late September, with fall in the October–November period. Seasonal extremes in both temperature and precipitation are common during early spring and late fall; severe weather is also common, with occasional tornado outbreaks in the region. Winter typically brings a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. The city has a normal January mean temperature of and averages 13 days annually with temperatures staying at or below freezing; the first and last freezes of the season on average fall on October 25 and April 8, respectively.

Race & ethnicity

Largest nearby schools

• McCracken County High School
  High · Paducah · 1,999 students · 18.9:1 ratio
• Paducah Tilghman High School
  High · Paducah · 878 students · 15.1:1 ratio
• Lone Oak Middle School
  Middle · Paducah · 796 students · 15.6:1 ratio
• Paducah Middle School
  Middle · Paducah · 652 students · 16.3:1 ratio
• Clark Elementary School
  Elementary · Paducah · 617 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Concord Elementary School
  Elementary · Paducah · 614 students · 17.1:1 ratio
• Reidland Elementary School
  Elementary · Paducah · 587 students · 15.4:1 ratio
• Lone Oak Elementary School
  Elementary · Paducah · 520 students · 17.9:1 ratio