Broadway Methodist Church
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Broadway Methodist. Paducah's oldest institution. Founded 1832. First edifice erected 1842 on northwest corner Broadway at 4th. Relocated 1875 on southeast corner Broadway at 7th. Moved to present site 1896. Destroyed by fire 1929; rebuilt 1930. Judge Wm. Sutton Bishop, the "Old Judge Priest" of Irvin Cobb's stories, and Vice-Pres. Alben W. Barkley held membership here. Presented by Louis Igert.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
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.
Why it matters
Congregations like this one anchored the civic and social life of frontier-era towns, and their long survival traces the growth of a community from settlement to city.
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Related people
- · William Sutton Bishop
- · Alben W. Barkley
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
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.
Alben Barkley's First Law Office
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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.
Boy Scout Troop 1, Paducah
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Within the very first year after the Boy Scouts of America incorporated in February 1910, the Reverend Clinton S. Quin of Grace Episcopal Church organized Troop 1 in Paducah. The church chartered the troop continuously for more than a century, providing meeting space and volunteer leaders. Documented as the seventh-oldest troop in the nation, it belongs to the Lincoln Heritage Council, one of the country's oldest scouting councils.
Irvin S. Cobb & Alben Barkley on Paducah
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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.