The story of how Paducah got its name has been through many twists and turns over the years. Most everyone is familiar with the legend of Chief Paduke. But have you heard about Pat Dugan? Check out this video from Library Assistant Matt Jaeger and read his article below for more info.
This article was originally published on April 14, 2016.
William Clark named Paducah for a western tribe of Native Americans whom the French called “Padouca.” That is the current prevailing explanation for how Paducah got its name. Yet, there are many passionate history buffs who still cling to the idea of Chief Paduke as our city’s namesake. And who knows? Perhaps there are kernels of truth in that story, too. Even still, this blog has previously published a story about how it was once believed that Paducah was named for a Chickasaw woman who was kidnapped and sacrificed by the Pawnee.
Paducah’s moniker has a murky past. And to further muddle the situation, here’s yet one more tale of how Paducah got its name. It is the story of an Irishman named Pat Dugan, and if you say the name out loud to yourself, chances are you can guess where this story is going.
A 1907 article in the Paducah Evening Sun reported the legend of Pat Dugan as such: “Ask any oldtime Ohio river steamboatman or any old dweller of the river section of the city, and you will be told that away back yonder [sic] when boats first began plowing the pellucid waters of La Belle river, they used wood for fuel almost exclusively. There was a woodyard for boats at or near the site of the present city of Paducah, and it was kept by an Irishman named Patrick Dugan. Of course everybody called him Pat Dugan, and that soon became Padugan—and there you have the genesis of the name. All the oldtime rivermen know all about this, and some of them probably could tell you of acquaintance with descendants of the original Pat Dugan.”
Sounds silly, doesn’t it? Pat Dugan…Padugan…Paducah…could anyone really believe that our town was based on a pun, on slurred speech, and named after a woodyard? Yes, many did think it was silly. This quote from the Nashville Union and American in 1870 declared it so: “The man who discovered that Paducah is a corruption of Pat Dugan, the name of its first settler, has just ascertained that Dictator is short for Richard Potato.”
But while many ridiculed the “Pat Dugan Theory,” it seems just as many supported it. One story printed on January 29, 1889 in the Rock Island Argus said, “…the original name should be retained, and Paducah is a very natural corruption of the ancient and honorable name, Patrick Dugan.” Other articles state the exact date and location of Dugan’s woodyard saying that it was established on Owen’s Island in 1906 and was called “Pat Dugan’s Landing” which was ultimately shortened to Paducah.
Some were so serious about Pat Dugan’s legacy that they made their displeasure known at the 1909 installation of the Chief Paduke statue. The statue contains an inscription which reads, Chief Paduke for whom Gen. Clark named Paducah,” yet some said of the statue that it was erected to a “founder who never existed.”
The local Rotarians published this fence-straddling poem by Kenneth Bradley in their newsletter in 1916:
Tho Pat Dugan’s ashes lie
Forgotten and alone;
And Chief Paducah stands sublime
On everlasting stone;
I turn from both historic names;
To this fact lift my hat:
Your city lives and always will,
She needs no chief nor Pat!
Articles referencing Pat Dugan as the inspiration for Paducah’s name span at least 50 years and several different states. Around the ‘20s and ‘30s, the legend of Dugan seemed to fade out, giving full reign to Chief Paduke for the next several decades.
In hindsight, the legend of Pat Dugan seems like nonsense. Who could and would ever believe such a thing? It’s just a fun, little anecdote from our goofy ancestors. And we in the Local and Family History Department would be inclined to agree with the sentiment…except for one thing.
The oldest city directory in our possession dates back to 1859 and contains a curious listing. On page 41, in between the names Dudley and Duke, rests the name Dugan…more specifically a Patrick Dugan, a laborer by trade, who lived on Oak Street between Ohio and Tennessee Streets.
So, there you go!! A glimmer of hope for the legend of Pat Dugan…the pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow.
HAPPY ST. PATRICK [DUGAN] DAY, PADUCAH!!
For yet more stories on how Paducah got its name, visit us in the Local and Family History Department at the McCracken County Public Library. And if you like this post, make sure to “Like” our Facebook page.
–Matt Jaeger
