Alben Barkley's First Law Office
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Barkley's Law Office. Alben W. Barkley, Congressman, U.S. Senator, and Vice President, began practice of law here, 1901. He had read law for two years in offices of Rep. Charles K. Wheeler and Judge William Sutton Bishop, the "Old Judge Priest" of Irvin Cobb's stories. Barkley supplemented his income by acting as court reporter. Presented by BPO Elks No. 217 Paducah, of which Mr. Barkley was a member.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
On this site in 1901, a young Alben W. Barkley opened his first law practice, supplementing his income as a court reporter while he built a clientele. He had learned the profession the old-fashioned way, reading law for two years in the offices of Congressman Charles K. Wheeler and Judge William Sutton Bishop. From this modest start Barkley rose to Congress, the U.S. Senate, and ultimately the Vice Presidency.
Why it matters
Barkley's path from a Paducah law office to national office reflects the ladder of self-made political careers in early-twentieth-century America, when reading law in a mentor's office could launch a lifetime of public service.
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Related people
- · Alben W. Barkley
- · Charles K. Wheeler
- · William Sutton Bishop
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Broadway Methodist Church
Paducah, KY
Founded in 1832, Broadway Methodist claims to be Paducah's oldest institution, having built and rebuilt its home across the growing river town for nearly two centuries. Its congregation moved with the city—from Fourth Street to Seventh to its present site—and rebuilt after a devastating 1929 fire. Among its members were Judge William Sutton Bishop, the model for Irvin Cobb's "Old Judge Priest," and Vice President Alben W. Barkley.
First Presbyterian Church
Paducah, KY
First Presbyterian Church of Paducah was organized in October 1842 in the Broadway home of Judge James Campbell, with just eight charter members and the Reverend A. W. Campbell as its first pastor. The young congregation met in homes and the courthouse until it built its first church in 1848, later moving to this location in 1888. Its present building was dedicated in 1933.
Irvin S. Cobb & Alben Barkley on Paducah
Paducah, KY
This marker gathers the words of two of Paducah's most famous sons—humorist and writer Irvin S. Cobb and Vice President Alben W. Barkley—each affectionately describing their hometown's blend of Southern hospitality and river-town enterprise. Cobb, whose fiction gave the nation the beloved "Judge Priest," and Barkley, who rose to the second-highest office in the land, both traced their sensibilities to this small Ohio River city. Their tributes capture a place proud of its colorful characters.
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Until 1917 this spot held the house where Paducah's beloved humorist Irvin S. Cobb was born in 1876—the home of his grandfather, Dr. Reuben Saunders. A pioneer physician who practiced here from 1847 to 1891, Saunders won international honors for a treatment he devised during the cholera epidemic of 1876, earning decorations from several foreign countries and recognition in the United States.