Paducah, city, seat of McCracken County, western Kentucky, a port at the confluence of the Ohio and Tennessee rivers, in a tobacco- and fruit-growing area; incorporated as a city 1856. Industries in the city include uranium enrichment, book publishing, and the manufacture of transportation equipment, aluminum products, and processed food. Paducah is the location of the Museum of American Quilters. The community, settled in 1821 on lands given in 1795 to the explorer George Rogers Clark, was first known as Pekin and was later renamed for Paduke, a local Chickasaw leader. During the American Civil War the city was occupied by Union forces in 1861 and was unsuccessfully attacked by Confederate troops in 1864. Population 29,315 (1980); 27,256 (1990); 26,307 (2000).
