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In 1956, Alcoa confirmed their plans to build a plant at Yankeetown. It was to cost $80M, produce 150,000 tons per year, employ 1,200, and have a payroll of $5M. Here’s a 1956 photo of the lone Culley power plant and it’s single unit (46MW, 1955-2006) on the proposed 6,000ac Alcoa site. Since then, Units 2 (104MW, 1966-2023) and 3 …
On this day in 1945, KenRad’s acquisition by GE is became effective. The Bowling Green, Tell City, Rockport, and Huntingburg plants were included in the sale. In 1918, Roy Burlew was working as a sales manager for an electric lamp plant in Pennsylvania and heard the Kentucky Electrical Company in Owensboro was thinking about selling it’s small incandescent lamp-making department. …
On Dec 20, 1918, a raging fire at the Rapier Grain & Seed Company at 1st & Center Streets resulted in over $250,000 in losses. It started suddenly in an elevator containing over 150,000 bushels of grain. Firemen from all three Fire Stations arrived but initially had a hard time finding the fire itself due to the dense smoke in …
Here’s a partial list of some of the “first things” that took place in Owensboro.▸First HomeA log cabin built by Bill Smothers somewhere between 1797-1798.▸First Organ Used in ChurchThe first organ used in church was at St. Stephen’s Catholic Church on May 22, 1849.▸First LocomotiveThe “Joe Daviess” came through Owensboro on December 8, 1870.▸First Tobacco FactoryThe first tobacco factory in …
Address: 1301 Leitchfield Rd.Built: Early 1870’s Demolished: 2005 Felix Grimes came from Ireland to Pittsburgh, then Owensboro in 1867 and bought this property from a man who left town to go to California. He cut timber on the property about 1870 to build the two-story home. According to a Messenger-Inquirer article, it was a duplicate of his wife’s childhood home …
Faith Tool & Die started in a double garage at 3006 Frederica St in June of 1946 as a one-man operation. In 1951, the company built its first plant at 1140 Moseley St. It was incorporated on April 1, 1952 and owners listed as George Faith Sr., and his two sons, George Jr. and Charles. Charles bought out his brother …
After buying out the J. V. Gasser Bakery on the NW corner of W 4th and St Elizabeth St, E. P. Southard founded and operated the Owensboro Bread and Ice Cream Co. In 1920, he sold it to Forrest Head, who sold it to Foor Brothers Bakery in 1929. The Foors sold it to Prinz Baking Co in 1931, then …
79 years ago this week (1938) – This photo shows Yellow Creek Baptist Church and Sunday School members after the church completed a remodel and addition of four new Sunday School rooms. A year before the church was organized, people from the area met one Sunday per month at the Yellow Creek school house and a pastor would come to …
114 years ago today at 2pm, the last person passed through any tollgate in Daviess County Prior to 1881, county roads were just mud and dust. The city started to gravel downtown roads around 1880. The county residents wanted to be included for the main roads leading to the city. Orders were made and work began in 1882. The Daviess …
St. Joseph Church was organized in 1870 by the German members of St. Stephen. Their first building, built in 1871 at Triplett and McFarland (9th) burned by a fire caused by lightning. In 1878, they bought a lot at the southeast corner of 4th and Clay and completed their new building in 1880. When St. Stephen Church couldn’t accommodate the …