Irvin S. Cobb & Alben Barkley on Paducah
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Irvin S. Cobb Said:. "Here in Paducah one encounters, I claim, an agreeable blend of Western kindliness, and Northern enterprises, superimposed upon a Southern background. Here, I claim, more chickens are fried, more hot biscuits are eaten, more corn pone is consumed, and more genuine hospitality is offered than in any town of like size in the commonwealth." (Reverse) Alben W. Barkley Said: "Paducah is a town with a distinct flavor. It was-and is-a good place, an interesting place, in which to live. A great part of its personality is derived from such colorful citizens as Judge Bishop (the living prototype of Cobb's fictional Judge Priest), Irvin Cobb and others." Marker presented by Shiva Artist Colors.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
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.
Why it matters
It shows how a modest river town can loom large in the national imagination through the writers and statesmen it produces, shaping how America pictures its own small-town past.
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Related people
- · Irvin S. Cobb
- · Alben W. Barkley
Themes & tags
Nearby & related markers
Alben Barkley's First Law Office
Paducah, KY
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.
Irvin S. Cobb Birth Site
Paducah, KY
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.
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.