Irvin S. Cobb Birth Site
Paducah, McCracken County, Kentucky
Marker Inscription
Cobb's Birth Site. House in which Paducah's famed humorist, Irvin S. Cobb, was born in 1876 stood here until 1917. The home of Dr. Reuben Saunders, Cobb's maternal grandfather, a pioneer physician who practiced here 1847-1891. For discovery of a cure for cholera in epidemic of 1876, he was decorated by several foreign countries, cited by U.S. Presented by Clyde Boyles.
Erected by Kentucky Historical Society
The Story
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.
Why it matters
The site links a nationally popular writer to the frontier medicine of his own family, showing how one modest household touched both American letters and public health.
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Related people
- · Irvin S. Cobb
- · Reuben Saunders
Themes & tags
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