Paducah, Texas
Encyclopedia
Paducah is a town in Cottle County, Texas
Texas
Texas is the second largest U.S. state by both area and population, and the largest state by area in the contiguous United States.The name, based on the Caddo word "Tejas" meaning "friends" or "allies", was applied by the Spanish to the Caddo themselves and to the region of their settlement in...

, United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. The population was 1,498 at the 2000 census
United States Census, 2000
The Twenty-second United States Census, known as Census 2000 and conducted by the Census Bureau, determined the resident population of the United States on April 1, 2000, to be 281,421,906, an increase of 13.2% over the 248,709,873 persons enumerated during the 1990 Census...

. It is the county seat
County seat
A county seat is an administrative center, or seat of government, for a county or civil parish. The term is primarily used in the United States....

 of Cottle County. It is just south of the Texas Panhandle
Texas Panhandle
The Texas Panhandle is a region of the U.S. state of Texas consisting of the northernmost 26 counties in the state. The panhandle is a rectangular area bordered by New Mexico to the west and Oklahoma to the north and east...

.

Geography

Paducah is located at 34°0′50"N 100°18′14"W (34.013957, -100.303780).

According to the United States Census Bureau
United States Census Bureau
The United States Census Bureau is the government agency that is responsible for the United States Census. It also gathers other national demographic and economic data...

, the town has a total area of 1.5 square miles (3.9 km²), all of it land.

It is one of two cities named Paducah located in the United States. The other Paducah
Paducah, Kentucky
Paducah is the largest city in Kentucky's Jackson Purchase Region and the county seat of McCracken County, Kentucky, United States. It is located at the confluence of the Tennessee River and the Ohio River, halfway between the metropolitan areas of St. Louis, Missouri, to the west and Nashville,...

 is in extreme western Kentucky
Jackson Purchase
The Jackson Purchase is a region in the state of Kentucky bounded by the Mississippi River to the west, the Ohio River to the north, and Tennessee River to the east. Although technically part of Kentucky at its statehood in 1792, the land did not come under definitive U.S. control until 1818, when...

. Paducah, Texas was named after Paducah, Kentucky.http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/PP/hjp1.html

Demographics

As of the census
Census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring and recording information about the members of a given population. It is a regularly occurring and official count of a particular population. The term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common...

of 2000, there were 1,498 people, 650 households, and 421 families residing in the town. The population density
Population density
Population density is a measurement of population per unit area or unit volume. It is frequently applied to living organisms, and particularly to humans...

 was 985.0 people per square mile (380.5/km²). There were 820 housing units at an average density of 539.2 per square mile (208.3/km²). The racial makeup of the town was 79.57% White, 11.21% African American, 7.61% from other races
Race (United States Census)
Race and ethnicity in the United States Census, as defined by the Federal Office of Management and Budget and the United States Census Bureau, are self-identification data items in which residents choose the race or races with which they most closely identify, and indicate whether or not they are...

, and 1.60% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 20.29% of the population.

There were 650 households out of which 28.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.7% were married couples
Marriage
Marriage is a social union or legal contract between people that creates kinship. It is an institution in which interpersonal relationships, usually intimate and sexual, are acknowledged in a variety of ways, depending on the culture or subculture in which it is found...

 living together, 12.3% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.1% were non-families. 34.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 23.5% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.25 and the average family size was 2.86.

In the town the population was spread out with 24.0% under the age of 18, 6.0% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 23.0% from 45 to 64, and 26.6% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 45 years. For every 100 females there were 82.2 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 78.4 males.

The median income for a household in the town was $23,333, and the median income for a family was $30,652. Males had a median income of $26,184 versus $16,131 for females. The per capita income
Per capita income
Per capita income or income per person is a measure of mean income within an economic aggregate, such as a country or city. It is calculated by taking a measure of all sources of income in the aggregate and dividing it by the total population...

 for the town was $15,778. About 15.4% of families and 20.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 30.0% of those under age 18 and 17.8% of those age 65 or over.

Much of the town is uninhabitable or vacant, as the buildings are poorly maintained or falling down. Occupancy rate of commercial building in the center square appear to be less than 20 percent. This is a classic case of a once thriving community that has fallen into disrepair.

Education

The Town of Paducah is served by the Paducah Independent School District
Paducah Independent School District
Paducah Independent School District is a public school district based in Paducah, Texas .The district has one school that serves students in grades kindergarten through twelve....

, a Title I school with 29 full-time teachers and an enrollment of 281 students.http://www.school-stats.com/TX/COTTLE/PADUCAH_ISD.html

Notable citizens

Tom Abraham
Tom Abraham
Tom Abraham was a Lebanese-born American businessman and civic leader in Canadian, the county seat and the only community in Hemphill County, located in the northeastern Texas Panhandle adjacent to Oklahoma.He was born in the village of Kafracab, Lebanon, to Nahim Malouf and Alia Malouf , but...

, a business and civic figure and philanthropist in Canadian
Canadian, Texas
Canadian is the county seat of Hemphill County, Texas, United States. The population was 2,233 at the 2000 census. It is named for the Canadian River, a tributary of the nearby Arkansas River. Canadian is sometimes called "the oasis of the Texas Panhandle."-History:The trails along the river are...

, Texas, first worked in Paducah upon his graduation from Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University
Texas Tech University, often referred to as Texas Tech or TTU, is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas, United States. Established on February 10, 1923, and originally known as Texas Technological College, it is the leading institution of the Texas Tech University System and has the...

 in 1932.

Will Flemons, the Southwest Conference's men's basketball Player of the Year in 1992 for Texas Tech University, played for Paducah High School.

Paducah was the home of William S. "Bill" Heatly
William S. Heatly
William S. "Bill" Heatly was a Democratic member of the Texas House of Representatives from 1955-1983. Known as the "Duke of Paducah", a reference to his hometown of Paducah, the seat of Cottle County, Heatly wielded significant political power during his tenure in office.- Political career...

, a Democratic
Democratic Party (United States)
The Democratic Party is one of two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Republican Party. The party's socially liberal and progressive platform is largely considered center-left in the U.S. political spectrum. The party has the lengthiest record of continuous...

 politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...

. A member of the Texas House of Representatives
Texas House of Representatives
The Texas House of Representatives is the lower house of the Texas Legislature. The House is composed of 150 members elected from single-member districts across the state. The average district has about 150,000 people. Representatives are elected to two-year terms with no term limits...

 from 1954–1982, was known as the "Duke of Paducah." A sculpture of his bust is located on the west side of the Cottle County Courthouse. Heatly's son, William H. "Bill" Heatly, is currently serving as District Judge for the 50th Judicial District with his home base in Paducah.

Clarence Hailey Long
Clarence Hailey Long
Clarence Hailey Long, Jr., often known as C.H. Long , was the rugged Texas cowboy sensationalized as the original Marlboro Man. Long, then foreman of the JA Ranch, was catapulted to national attention in 1949, when LIFE magazine published a series of Leonard McCombe photographs on ranching in the...

, the original inspiration for the Marlboro Man
Marlboro Man
The Marlboro Man is a figure used in tobacco advertising campaign for Marlboro cigarettes. In the United States, where the campaign originated, it was used from 1954 to 1999. The Marlboro Man was first conceived by Leo Burnett in 1954. The image involves a rugged cowboy or cowboys, in nature with...

 advertising campaign stemming from a 1949 issue of LIFE
Life
Life is a characteristic that distinguishes objects that have signaling and self-sustaining processes from those that do not, either because such functions have ceased , or else because they lack such functions and are classified as inanimate...

magazine
Magazine
Magazines, periodicals, glossies or serials are publications, generally published on a regular schedule, containing a variety of articles. They are generally financed by advertising, by a purchase price, by pre-paid magazine subscriptions, or all three...

, was born in Paducah in 1910.

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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