Owensboro is the
third-largest city in the U.S. state of
Kentucky
and the
county seat of Daviess
County
. It is located on
U.S. Route 60 about
32 miles southeast of Evansville, Indiana
and is the principal city of the Owensboro,
Kentucky Metropolitan
Statistical Area. The population was 55,512 at the
2008 U.S. Census Estimate. The city was
named after Colonel
Abraham Owen.
Owensboro
is the second-largest city in the Tri-State region of
Illinois, Indiana, and Kentucky after Evansville,
Indiana
.
History
Stretching out for more than five miles along the meandering south
bank of the mighty Ohio River lies the sprawling steel town of
Owensboro, in the bluegrass state of Kentucky. St Louis, the 2nd
largest city in Missouri, is 200 miles to its north-west, while
some 120 miles south is the home of country music itself:
Nashville, Tennessee. To the north, on the other side of the river,
lies Indianna;to the east, Virginia of which Kentucky was
originally a part. During the American Civil War, Owensboro was a
town of split loyalties: it fought with the North, but its heart
lay with the South. according to anthropological studies, Native
American culture in the locality dates back 12,000 years, through
the last Shawnee Indians were forced to vacate the area before the
end of the eighteenth century. Legend has it that Kentucky as a
whole is 'dark and bloody ground' - a myth which arose out ot the
popular belief that Indian tribes were happy to hunt the land but
were unwilling to settle it, rather than a reference to any
hostilities which might have taken place in the territory between
1861 and 1865. Owensboro's only claim to fame in the civil war was
that in August 1865, the town was subject to a raid by a band of
Confederate guerrillas from Tennessee led by Captin Jack Bennett,
an officer in Johnson's Partisan Rangers. Bennett's men road into
Owensboro, tried and failed to rob a local bank, took 13 Union
soldiers of the 108th Coloured Infantry prisoner, executed them,
burned the bodies on a supply boat and hot footed it back to
Tennessee having covered a total of 300 miles on horseback inside
six days. At that time, Owensboro was less than 70 years old. It
had initially been settled in 1798, becoming Owensborough after the
name of its founding father, Colonel Abraham Owen, in 1816, before
finally opting for the shortened version of its original name in
1893.The end of the Second World war had bought civil engineering
projects, which helped turn Owensboro from sleepy industrial rump
into a modern, expanding community by the turn of the 1960s. Many
of those had been set in motion by Johnson, Depp & Quisenberry,
a firm of consulting engineers then engaged in a runway redesign at
the County Airport; the 'Depp' in question was but one member of an
old and prodigious Kentucky family which was about to endow the
town with its most famous son "John Christopher Depp / Johnny Depp"
and in the 1960s, it was more famously the home of Colonel Harland
Sanders Kentucky Fried Chicken.
Owensboro was first settled in the 1790s by frontiersman William
"Bill" Smeathers, for whom the riverfront park is named. A Kentucky
Historical Marker # 744 was 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.
He was
also the namesake of Owen County,
Kentucky
. In 1893, the spelling of the name was
shortened to its current Owensboro.
Frederick
Ames came to Owensboro from Washington, Pennsylvania
in 1887. He started the
Carriage Woodstock Company to repair horse-drawn
carriages. In 1910 he 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
its product being called the "best $1500" car by a Texas
car dealer,
the company ceased production of its own model in 1915. The
company then began manufacturing replacement bodies for the more
widely sold
Ford Model T. In 1922, the
company again remade itself and started to manufacture furniture
under the name Ames Corporation. The company finally sold out to
Whitehall Furniture in 1970.
On August
14, 1936, downtown Owensboro was the site of the last public
hanging in the United States
. Rainey Bethea
was executed for the rape and murder of 70-year-old Lischa
Edwards.
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.
In 1961, engineers at the
General
Electric plant in Owensboro introduced a family of
vacuum tubes called the
Compactron.
Geography
Owensboro is located at (37.757748, -87.118390). , at the crook of
a bend in the
Ohio River.
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 U.S.
census estimate of 2007, there
were 55,398 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.
Metropolitan area
According
to the 2007 census, the Owensboro
Metropolitan Area includes Daviess, Hancock
, and McLean
counties.
Law and government
Owensboro has operated under a City Manager form of government
since 1954. Citizens elect a mayor and four city commissioners who
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 hires 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 and based on performance.
Education
The
Owensboro Public
Schools,
Daviess
County Public Schools, and the
Diocese
of Owensboro's
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.
Transportation

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US 60 and
US 431 serve
downtown Owensboro
.
US 231 and
US 60 BYPASS form a partial beltway around
Owensboro.
KY 81,
KY
56,
KY 331,
KY
298,
KY 54, and
KY
144 also serve the city.
Owensboro-Daviess County Regional
Airport
serves along with Evansville
Regional Airport
as one of the region's commercial
airports.
The Owensboro Wagon Company, established in 1884, was one of the
largest and most influential wagon company in the nation. With
nearly eight styles or sizes of wagons, the company set the
standard of quality at the turn of the 20th century.
Cultural features
Media
The daily
newspaper is the Messenger-Inquirer, owned by the Paxton
Media Group of Paducah,
Kentucky
.
Radio
Stations include WBIO , WOMI , WVJS
, WBKR and 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. However in
early 2007 WFIE-TV opened a bureau in Owensboro which covers news
in the market's Western Kentucky Counties. Many of the local
television stations often promote themselves as serving Evansville,
Henderson, and Owensboro.
Events of interest
- During the summer, the city offers "Friday After
5", , a free 16-week series of outdoor concerts on the
downtown riverfront. The festival includes live bands, events for
families, and entertainment every Friday from 5:00 pm till 10:00
pm. An estimated 55,000 people attend the events.
[www.FridayAfter5.com
- Owensboro holds the Annual Owensboro PumpkinFest each September
at the Sportscenter/Moreland Park complex. The festival includes
food vendors, crafts people, carnival rides, children and adult
activities and games, and contests using pumpkins. Each year, the
festival hosts a weekend-long concert series featuring some of the
area's top bands, such as the Velvet Bombers, Sundown, Bad Kitty,
and Mr. Nice Guy, to name a few. The event was started by the
Glenmary Sisters as a way to raise
awareness and funds for their mission work in the southeastern
United States. The festival, however, was handed over to New
Beginnings Rape Crisis Center in October 2009.
- Owensboro is home of a unique annual fundraiser: Men
Who Cook - Celebrity Chefs Gala & Auction. The first
Men Who Cook was held in 2007 through the collaboration of Richard
Remp-Morris, Deputy Chief David Thompson with the Owensboro Police
Department and many dedicated volunteers. Men Who Cook features
amateur chefs who display their culinary talents in a friendly
competition for coveted Silver Spoon Awards. The event includes
food, live music, as well as silent and live auctions. The event
has received recognition from Kentucky's Governor Steven L.
Beshear; State Representatives Tommy N. Thompson, Jim Gooch, and
Jim Glenn; City Commissioner Al Mattingly; Mayors Tom Watson and
Ron Payne; and Bishop John McRaith. All proceeds from the event
support the mission work of the Glenmary Sisters. Since 1941 the
Glenmary Sisters have supported the poorest
of Americans living in the rural south and Appalachia. The Sisters
are funded almost entirely by donations from supporters who share
an interest in reaching the unchurched, underserved, and oppressed.
[14992]
- Owensboro hosts one of the largest Christmas parades in
Kentucky, second only to the Pegasus
Parade in Louisville. Held on the Saturday before Thanksgiving
Day, the parade features marching bands, clowns, fire trucks,
beauty queens, miniature horses, and decorated floats. www.ChristmasParade.net
Points of interest

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Notable natives
Politicians
Sports figures
- Rex Chapman, former NBA basketball player
- Wayne Chapman, former NBA and ABA player
- Cliff Hagan, former NBA basketball player
- Brad Wilkerson, MLB baseball player
- Bruce Brubaker, former MLB baseball player
- Darrell Waltrip, NASCAR driver and sports commentator
- Michael Waltrip, NASCAR driver
- Bo Smith, Canadian Football League
cornerback
- 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
- Joe Hardesty, Roller Skating
National Champion 1977 & 1978
- Mark Higgs, former NFL football
player
- Ken Willis, former NFL football
player
- Chris Brown ,
former NFL football player
- Jeff Jones,
collegiate basketball coach
- Vince Buck, NFL 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.
- Tom Powers, actor
- Christine Johnson Smith,
opera singer and Tony Award nominated
Broadway actress
- Florence Henderson, of
The Brady Bunch fame
- Jared Wright, booking agent and
promoter

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Authors and journalists
Others
Sister Cities
Owensboro has two
sister cities, as
designated by
Sister Cities
International:
See also
References
External links