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HE HEART AND SOUL OF THE CITY OF PADUCAH IS AND ALWAYS HAS BEEN ITS downtown. Even now, when the main flow of traffic in and out of the area takes place in what used to be farmland about five miles from downtown’s apex, our imaginations and identity are continuously drawn back to the cradle of the Ohio River where Paducah was born.

It was from the river that Paducah’s first settlers and guests experienced this land. They departed their vessels, walked up the bank, and viewed a region brimming with potential. The path into Paducah, just up the hill from the most common landing point, became worn, giving rise to the city’s main thoroughfare—Broadway. It was strategic, being at the confluence of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers. One of the first orders of business for the growing town was lodging for itinerant trappers, hunters, and weary travelers who’d been confined to riverboats. John Harris, a Paducah merchant, opened a hotel on the first level plot of ground just off the river. A log-cabin inn and tavern had been operated there by John Fields until Mr. Harris saw the potential of a proper hotel. The St. Francis Hotel, built in 1847, was a multi-story structure