OWENSBORO, KENTUCKY

'Owensboro' is the third largest city in Kentucky and the county seat of Daviess County.^GR6 It is located on U.S. Highway 60 about 32 miles southeast of Evansville, Indiana and is the principal city of the Owensboro, Kentucky Metropolitan Statistical Area. According to 2006 estimates, the city had a total population of 55,525 and a metropolitan population of 111,599. The city was named after Colonel Abraham Owen.

Contents

History

Geography

Demographics

Law and government

Education

Cultural Features

Media

Events of interest

Points of interest

Notable natives

Sister Cities

References

See also

External links

History

Owensboro was first settled in the 1790s by frontiersman William "Bill" Smeathers, for which the park on the riverfront is named, as well a Kentucky Historical Marker # 744 has also been erected in his honor at the park. The settlement was called Yellow Banks, an allusion to the color of the banks of the Ohio River. In 1817, Yellow Banks was incorporated as a city under the name Owensborough, named after Colonel Abraham Owen (who is also the namesake of Owen County, Kentucky). In 1893, the name was shortened to its present spelling of Owensboro.
Frederick Ames came to Owensboro from Washington, Pennsylvania in 1887. He started the Carriage Woodstock Company to repair horse-drawn carriages, but in 1910 began to manufacture a line of automobiles under the Ames brand name. Ames hired industrialist Vincent Bendix in 1912, and the company became the Ames Motor Car Company. Despite being called the "best $1500" car by a Texas car dealer, production ceased in 1915. The company instead began manufacturing replacement bodies for the Ford Model T. In 1922, the company again remade itself, manufacturing furniture under the name Ames Corporation. The company finally sold out to Whitehall Furniture in 1970.^[1]
On August 14, 1936, downtown Owensboro became the site of the last public hanging in the United States. Rainey Bethea was executed for the rape of 70-year-old Lischa Edwards, who was also murdered. He had confessed to her strangling but the Commonwealth indicted him only on the rape charge since that was the only capital crime for which the penalty was hanging.
In 1937, Pope Pius XI established the Roman Catholic diocese of Owensboro which spans approximately the western third of the state. It includes thirty-two counties and covers approximately 12,500 square miles.^[2]
In 1961, a family of vacuum tubes called the Compactron was introduced by engineers from the General Electric plant in Owensboro.

Geography

Owensboro is located in the crook of a bend in the Ohio River at (37.757748, -87.118390).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 48.3 km² (18.7 mi²). 45.1 km² (17.4 mi²) of it is land and 3.2 km² (1.2 mi²) of it (6.59%) is water.

Demographics

As of the census of 2000, there were 54,067 people, 22,659 households, and 14,093 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,198.4/km² (3,102.9/mi²). There were 24,302 housing units at an average density of 538.6/km² (1,394.7/mi²). The racial makeup of the city was 90.63% White, 6.90% African American, 0.51% Asian, 0.12% Native American, 0.02% Pacific Islander, 0.55% from other races, and 1.28% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.03% of the population.
There were 22,659 households out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the city the population was spread out with 24.1% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $31,867, and the median income for a family was $41,333. Males had a median income of $33,429 versus $21,457 for females. The per capita income for the city was $17,968. About 12.2% of families and 15.9% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.9% of those under age 18 and 12.4% of those age 65 or over.

Law and government

Owensboro has operated under at City Manager form of government since 1954. The citizenry elects a mayor and four city commissioners which form the Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners is the legislative body of the city government and represents the interests of the citizens. The Board of Commissioners appoints a city manager who administers the day-to-day operations of the city.
The mayor is elected for a term of four years. Each city commissioner is elected for a term of two years. The term of the city manager is indefinite.

Education

The Owensboro Public School System, the Daviess County School System, and the Owensboro Catholic School System oversee K-12 education in and around Owensboro.
Owensboro is home to two private, four-year colleges, Brescia University and Kentucky Wesleyan College, and one public community college, Owensboro Community and Technical College. Campuses of Draughons Junior College and Daymar College are also located in Owensboro, and Western Kentucky University maintains an extended campus presence there.
In 2006, plans were announced for a research center operated by the University of Louisville to be located at the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center, a part of the Owensboro Medical Health System, to study how to make the first ever human papilloma virus vaccine, called Gardasil, from tobacco plants. UofL researcher Dr Albert Bennet Jenson and Dr Shin-je Ghim discovered the vaccine in 2006. If successful, the vaccine would be made in Owensboro.^[3]

Cultural Features

Media

The daily newspaper is Messenger-Inquirer, owned by the Paxton Newspaper Group in Paducah, Kentucky.^[4]
Radio Stations include WOMI (AM), WVJS (AM), WBKR (FM), and WBIO (FM). Numerous other stations broadcasting from Evansville are also available. One, WSTO FM 96.1 Radio, is actually licensed to Owensboro, although its studios are now located in Evansville.
Although no television stations are based in the city, it is part of the Evansville television market, which is the 100th-largest in the United States according to Nielsen Media Research.^[5] Many of the local television stations often promote themselves as serving Evansville, Henderson, and Owensboro.

Events of interest

Owensboro considers itself the "BBQ Capital of the world"; it holds its International BBQ festival and competition every second weekend in May.
During the summer downtown offers Friday After 5, a 16-week series of free outdoor concerts on the downtown riverfront. The festival was created and sponsored by Downtown Owensboro, Inc. The festival includes live bands, events for families, and entertainment every friday from 5:00 pm till 10:00 pm. An estimated 35,000 people attend the events.^[6]
Owensboro is home to the Annual Owensboro PumpkinFest held each September at the Sportscenter/Moreland Park complex. The festival consists of food vendors, crafts people, carnival rides, children and adult activities and games, and plenty of contests using pumpkins.^[7] Each year, the festival hosts a weekend long concert series featuring some of the areas top bands such as Far From Fallen, Sundown, Bad Kitty, and Mr. Nice Guy to name a few. The event was started by the Glenmary Sisters (also based in Owensboro) as a way to raise awareness and funds for their mission work in the southeastern United States.^[8]

Points of interest

★ Ben Hawes State Park

★ International Bluegrass Music Museum

★ Western Kentucky Botanical Garden

★ Glover Cary Bridge

★ William H. Natcher Bridge

Notable natives

'Politicians'

★ Wendell H. Ford, former Kentucky Governor and U.S. Senator

★ John M. Spalding, WWII hero, politician

★ W. Ralph Basham, former Director of the United States Secret Service

★ Steve Henry, former Lieutenant Governor of Kentucky
'Sports figures'

★ Rex Chapman, former NBA basketball player

★ Cliff Hagan, former NBA basketball player

★ Logan Johnson, former Louisville Cardinals baseball player

★ Brad Wilkerson, MLB baseball player

★ Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR driver and sports commentator

★ Michael Waltrip, NASCAR driver,

★ Jeremy Mayfield, NASCAR driver

★ Jeff Green, David Green, and Mark Green, NASCAR drivers

★ Stuart Kirby, NASCAR driver

★ Justin Miller, NFL football player

★ Nick Varner, pool champion

★ Nicky Hayden, Motorcycle Racer

★ Roger Lee Hayden, Motorcycle Racer

★ Tommy Hayden, Motorcycle Racer

★ BJ Whitmer, professional wrestler

★ Mark Higgs, former NFL football player

★ Ken Willis, former NFL football player
'Entertainers'

★ Johnny Depp, actor, director, musician

★ Tom Ewell, actor

★ Brian "beej" Jackson, radio/TV personality

★ Mark Stuart, vocalist for Audio Adrenaline

★ William Booth Wecker, showman of the 1930s and 1940s

★ Byron C. Miller, filmmaker and member of God Module

★ John Ferguson, member of The Apples in Stereo.
'Authors and journalists'

★ Terry Bisson, author

★ Chuck Clark, journalist

★ Stephen F. Cohen, Russian studies scholar

★ Moneta Sleet Jr., Pulitzer prize-winning photographer
'Others'

★ Dudley W. Morton, U.S. naval commander

Sister Cities

Owensboro has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:^[9]

★ Olomouc, Czech Republic

★ Nisshin, Aichi, Japan

References

1. CoachBuilt.com - Ames Buggy Company
2. Owensboro Diocese Home Page
3. Two at UofL help invent vaccine - Courier Journal
4. Messenger-Inquirer Website
5. Nielsen Media Research Local Universe Estimates
6. Friday After 5
7. Owensboro PumpkinFest
8. Glenmary Sisters
9. Online directory: Kentucky, USA

See also

★ International Bar-B-Q Festival

★ List of cities and towns along the Ohio River

External links

★ Official website

★ Entry about Owensboro from the Kentucky Atlas and Gazetteer, a University of Kentucky website

★ Owensboro Chamber of Commerce

★ 1821 Advertisement for an auction for land around Owensboro, Kentucky, from the Library of Congress

★ Owensboro Tourist Commission