| Official Name: | Owensboro, Kentucky |
| Settlement Type: | City |
| Nickname: | BBQ Capital of the World |
| Motto: | "Progress 1817" |
| Mapsize: | 250px |
| Pushpin Map: | Kentucky#USA |
| Pushpin Relief: | yes |
| Pushpin Label: | Owensboro |
| Subdivision Type: | Country |
| Subdivision Name: | United States |
| Subdivision Type1: | State |
| Subdivision Name1: | Kentucky |
| Subdivision Type2: | County |
| Subdivision Name2: | Daviess |
| Leader Title: | Mayor |
| Leader Name: | Tom Watson |
| Leader Title1: | Mayor Pro Tem |
| Leader Name1: | Mark Castlen |
| Leader Title2: | City Manager |
| Leader Name2: | Nate Pagan |
| Established Title: | Settled (as Yellow Banks) |
| Established Date: | 1797 |
| Established Title2: | Established (as Owensborough) |
| Established Date2: | 1817 |
| Established Title3: | Incorporated |
| Established Date3: | 1850[1] |
| Area Total Km2: | 57.24 |
| Area Total Sq Mi: | 22.10 |
| Area Land Km2: | 53.49 |
| Area Land Sq Mi: | 20.65 |
| Area Water Km2: | 3.76 |
| Area Water Sq Mi: | 1.45 |
| Area Water Percent: | 6.47 |
| Elevation M: | 120 |
| Elevation Ft: | 394 |
| Coordinates: | 37.7578°N -87.1183°W |
| Pop Est As Of: | 2022 |
| Pop Est Footnotes: | [2] |
| Population Est: | 60037 |
| Population Metro: | 116506 |
| Population Density Km2: | 1125.16 |
| Population Density Sq Mi: | 2914.15 |
| Timezone: | CST |
| Utc Offset: | −6 |
| Timezone Dst: | CDT |
| Utc Offset Dst: | −5 |
| Postal Code Type: | ZIP codes |
| Postal Code: | 42301-42304 |
| Area Code: | 270 & 364 |
| Blank Name: | FIPS code |
| Blank Info: | 21-58620 |
| Blank1 Name: | GNIS feature ID |
| Blank1 Info: | 0500082 |
| Blank2 Name: | Highways |
| Unit Pref: | Imperial |
| Population As Of: | 2020 |
| Population Total: | 60183 |
| Area Footnotes: | [3] |
Owensboro is a home rule-class city[4] in and the county seat of[5] Daviess County, Kentucky, United States. It is the fourth-most populous city in the state. Owensboro is located on U.S. Route 60 and Interstate 165 about southwest of Louisville, and is the principal city of the Owensboro metropolitan area. The 2020 census had its population at 60,183. The metropolitan population was estimated at 116,506.[6] The metropolitan area is the sixth largest in the state as of 2018, and the seventh largest population center in the state when including micropolitan areas.
Evidence of Native American settlement in the area dates back 12,000 years. Following a series of failed uprisings with British support, however, the last Shawnee were forced to vacate the area before the end of the 18th century.
The first European descendant to settle in Owensboro was frontiersman William Smeathers or Smothers in 1797, for whom the riverfront park is named. The settlement was originally known as "Yellow Banks" from the color of the land beside the Ohio River. In 1817, Yellow Banks was formally established under the name Owensborough, named after Col. Abraham Owen. In 1893, the spelling of the name was shortened to its current Owensboro.[7]
Several distillers, mainly of bourbon whiskey, have been in and around the city of Owensboro. The major distillery still in operation is the Glenmore Distillery Company, now owned by the Sazerac Company. The other distillery, Green River Distilling Company, started in 1885 and is also Owensboro based. It is still in operation today.
On August 14, 1936, downtown Owensboro was the site of the last public hanging in the United States. A 26 year old African American man, Rainey Bethea, was convicted and sentenced for the rape and murder of 70-year-old Lischa Edwards in a very short time (only 37 days lapsed between the crime and the execution). A carnival atmosphere was in place with vendors selling hotdogs, attended by a large crowd including children and many reporters.[8] The execution was presided over by a female sheriff, Florence Shoemaker Thompson, who gained national media attention for her role in the process, although she declined to spring the trap. Before Bethea was dead, the crowd had already begun to tear at his clothes and even his body for souvenirs. The Kentucky General Assembly quickly abolished public executions after the embarrassment this caused.[9]
The end of the Second World War brought civil engineering projects which helped turn Owensboro from a sleepy industrial town into a modern, expanding community by the turn of the 1960s. Many of the projects were set in motion by Johnson, Depp & Quisenberry, a firm of consulting engineers then engaged in a runway redesign at the County Airport; the "Depp" in question was a member of an old and prominent Kentucky family which includes the town's most famous son, actor Johnny Depp.
As of 1903, Owensboro was home to several stemmeries.[10] Pinkerton Tobacco produced Red Man (now America's Best Chew) chewing tobacco in Owensboro. Swedish Match continues to make America's Best Chew in a plant outside city limits.[11]
The Owensboro Wagon Company, established in 1884, was one of the largest and most influential wagon companies in the nation. With eight styles or sizes of wagons, the company set the standard of quality at the turn of the 20th century.
Frederick A. Ames came to Owensboro from Washington, Pennsylvania, in 1887. He started the Carriage Woodstock Company to repair horse-drawn carriages. In 1910, he began to manufacture a line of automobiles under the Ames brand name. Ames hired industrialist Vincent Bendix in 1912, and the company became the Ames Motor Car Company. Despite its product being called the "best $1500" car by a Texas car dealer, the company ceased production of its own model in 1915. The company then began manufacturing replacement bodies for the more widely sold Ford Model T. In 1922, the company remade itself and started to manufacture furniture under the name Ames Corporation. The company finally sold out to Whitehall Furniture in 1970.[12]
The start of the Kentucky Electrical Lamp Company, a light bulb manufacturing company was in 1899; it eventually was acquired by Kentucky Radio Company (Ken-Rad) in 1918 and later acquired by General Electric in 1945 and in 1987 acquired by MPD, Inc.,[13] created the light bulbs that illuminated the first night game in the history of Major League Baseball on May 24, 1935, between the Reds and Phillies at Cincinnati's Crosley Field.[14] The Owensboro plant was a major part of General Electric's vacuum tube manufacturing operations, producing both receiving types and military/industrial ceramic types. In 1961, engineers at the General Electric plant in Owensboro introduced a family of vacuum tubes called the Compactron.
In June 1932, John G. Barnard founded the Modern Welding Company in a small building located near the Ohio River at First and Frederica Streets where the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum sits today. Today, Modern Welding Company has nine steel tank and vessel fabrication subsidiaries located throughout the United States, and five welding supply stores located in Kentucky and Indiana. The company is the country's largest supplier of underground and above ground steel storage tanks for flammable and combustible liquids. The company celebrated its 75th anniversary in 2007.[15]
Texas Gas Transmission Corporation was created in 1948 with the merger of Memphis Natural Gas Company and Kentucky Natural Gas Corporation and made its headquarters in Owensboro. Since that time, Texas Gas changed ownership four times. The company was bought by CSX Corp. in 1983, by Transco Energy Corp. in 1989, by Williams in 1995, and by Loews Corporation in 2003.[16]
Owensboro is located at the crook of a bend in the Ohio River, southeast of Evansville, Indiana.
According to the United States Census Bureau, Owensboro has a total area of 52.9km2, of which 49.5km2 is land and 3.4km2, or 6.47%, is water.[17]
Owensboro has a humid subtropical climate which is characterized by hot, humid summers and moderately cold winters. Day-to-day temperature differences can be high during the winter. Summers, in comparison, are much more stable. Severe weather, including the threat of tornadoes, is not uncommon throughout much of the year, with several notable events occurring throughout the city's history. One such event occurred on December 9, 1952, when F3 tornado tore directly through the city, injuring three people.[18]
As of the census of 2010, there were 58,083 people and 23,380 households within the city. The population density was 2999.1/mi2. There were 26,072 housing units at an average density of 1394.7sp=usNaNsp=us. The racial makeup of the city was 87.5% White, 7.3% African American, 0.9% Asian, 0.1% Native American, 0.01% Pacific Islander, 0.55% from other races, and 2.5% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 3.2% of the population.
There were 23,380 households, out of which 23.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 44.7% were married couples living together, 13.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 37.8% were non-families. 33.3% of all households were made up of individuals, and 14.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.29 and the average family size was 2.91.
In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.7% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 27.4% from 25 to 44, 22.4% from 45 to 64, and 16.3% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.6 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.6 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $37,289, and the median income for a family was $41,333. Males had a median income of $33,429 versus $21,457 for females. The per capita income for the city was $21,183. About 12.2% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 20.9% of those under age 18 and 12.4% of those age 65 or over.
According to the 2007 census, the Owensboro Metropolitan Area includes Daviess, Hancock, and McLean counties.
According to Owensboro's 2023 Annual Comprehensive Financial Report,[19] the top employers in the city were:
| Employer |
| ||
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Owensboro Health | 4,862 | |
| 2 | U.S. Bank Home Mortgage | 1,475 | |
| 3 | Owensboro Public Schools | 869 | |
| 4 | Toyotetsu Mid-America | 850 | |
| 5 | Specialty Foods Group | 642 | |
| 6 | Total Packaging LLC | 480 | |
| 7 | 434 | ||
| 7 | City of Owensboro | 434 | |
| 9 | Sazerac Distilleries | 424 | |
| 10 | Mizkan America Inc. | 391 |
Owensboro was named an All-America City in 2013.[20] Owensboro placed fourth on Area Development's Top 20 Southern Cities, with a 9th-place ranking for its "recession busting factors" among the Top 25 Small Cities.[21]
In 1937, Pope Pius XI established the Roman Catholic Diocese of Owensboro, which spans approximately the western third of the state. It includes 32 counties and covers approximately 12500sqmi.[22] Though the area has been considered by many to be predominately Catholic, evangelical denominations such as Southern Baptists have increased dramatically over the past several decades. The Kentucky Baptist Convention has many churches in the area. Owensboro is also home to Temple Adath Israel, which is among the oldest synagogues in the United States.
Owensboro is also the location of Covenant Baptist Theological Seminary's campus.
Owensboro is home to the Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum (Previously known as the International Bluegrass Music Museum[23]). The museum is dedicated to the history and preservation of Bluegrass music, as well as hosting the Bluegrass Hall of Fame to celebrate the best of Bluegrass musicians. The venue also hosts many music events throughout the year.[24]
The Bluegrass Music Hall of Fame and Museum won the Governor's Award for Community Arts in 2013[25]
The Owensboro Oilers baseball team compete in the collegiate wood-bat Ohio Valley League. The Oilers were the KIT League's 2008 playoff champions and the 2006 KIT League season champions. The team is named for the baseball minor league farm team "Owensboro Oilers" which existed in the 1940s.Many of the city high schools produced talented college and professional athletes.
Owensboro has operated under a City Manager form of government since 1954. Citizens elect a mayor and four city commissioners who form the Board of Commissioners. The Board of Commissioners is the legislative body of the city government and represents the interests of the citizens. The Board of Commissioners hires a city manager who administers the day-to-day operations of the city.
The mayor is elected for a term of four years. Each city commissioner is elected for a term of two years. The term of the city manager is indefinite and based on performance.
The Owensboro Public Schools, Daviess County Public Schools, and the Diocese of Owensboro's Catholic School System oversee K-12 education in and around Owensboro.
Owensboro is home to two private, four-year colleges, Brescia University (Catholic) and Kentucky Wesleyan College, and one public community college, Owensboro Community and Technical College. A campus of Daymar College is also located in Owensboro, and Western Kentucky University has a regional campus there.
In 2006, plans were announced for a research center operated by the University of Louisville to be located at the Mitchell Memorial Cancer Center, a part of the Owensboro Medical Health System, to study how to make the first ever human papilloma virus vaccine, called Gardasil, from tobacco plants. U of L researcher Dr Albert Bennet Jenson and Dr Shin-je Ghim discovered the vaccine in 2006. If successful, the vaccine would be made in Owensboro.[37]
Owensboro has a lending library, the Daviess County Public Library.[38]
The daily newspaper is the Messenger-Inquirer, owned by Paxton Media Group of Paducah, Kentucky.[39]
The Owensboro Times is a local online news site.[40]
Radio stations include WBIO, WXCM, WLME, WOMI, WVJS and WBKR broadcasting from Owensboro. One, WSTO-FM, is actually licensed to Owensboro, although its studios are now located in Evansville.
Although no television stations are based in the city, it is part of the Evansville television market, which is the 100th-largest in the United States, according to Nielsen Media Research.[41] However, in early 2007, NBC affiliate WFIE-TV opened a bureau in Owensboro which covers news on the Kentucky side of the market. Many of the local television stations often promote themselves as serving Evansville, Indiana, Owensboro, Kentucky, and Henderson, Kentucky.
I-165, US 60, and US 431 serve Owensboro, with US 431 terminating at the former US 60 Bypass (now signed US 60). US 231 and US 60 form a partial beltway around Owensboro. KY 81, KY 56, KY 331, KY 298, KY 54, and KY 144 also serve the city.
Owensboro-Daviess County Regional Airport serves, along with Evansville Regional Airport, as one of the region's primary commercial airports.
The Owensboro Transit System (OTS) offers bus transit to residents, and the Green River Intra-County Transit System (GRITS) offers specialized bus services to residents with disabilities who are not able to ride fixed-route public transportation buses.
Owensboro has two sister cities, as designated by Sister Cities International:[42]