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Lincoln School

Built in 1908 (Neoclassical architecture). Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.

From the record

“The Lincoln School (1894-1970), also known as Lincoln High School, was a segregated public elementary and high school for African American students, located in Paducah, Kentucky, United States. The buildings for the school complex were demolished, sometime after 1988.”

Wikipedia article Lincoln School (Paducah, Kentucky), CC BY-SA 4.0.

One of 34 National Register listings published here for McCracken County · listed in 1988 · category: Building · built in 1908, Neoclassical architecture.

Sources: the Wikipedia article · the case file at the National Archives · the National Register database, National Park Service · the Wikipedia article

The listing

  • What is counted as historic. The nomination lists 3 buildingss as contributing to the listing.
  • Address. S. Eighth St., between Ohio and Tennessee Sts., Paducah, 42003
  • When was it listed? June 1988
  • Category. building
  • Census division. Paducah
  • When was it built? 1908
  • Architectural style. Neoclassical architecture
  • National Register reference number. 88000895 - the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.

Fires near this property

22 since 1999

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal wildfire occurrence database lists 22 fires within 5 miles of Lincoln School between 1999 and 2017, burning about 67 acres in total. None started naturally. 1 was recorded as arson. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Reported cause Fires
Missing data/not specified/undetermined10
Recreation and ceremony6
Debris and open burning3
Railroad operations and maintenance1
Smoking1
Arson/incendiarism1

The most recent of them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service that recorded it.

DateCause SizeReported by Name on the report
25 September 1999Missing data/not specified/undetermined5.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
23 September 1999Smoking3.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
20 September 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined10 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
16 August 2012Railroad operations and maintenance3.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestrySOUTH FRIE
16 August 2004Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.5 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
1 August 2012Recreation and ceremony2.0 acresKentucky Division of ForestryJOHNY KING
28 July 2005Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresKentucky Division of Forestrynot named
2 July 2012Missing data/not specified/undetermined2.0 acresIllinois Division of Forestry ResourcesUNIONVILLE

Every fire recorded in McCracken County

Mines and quarries near this property

1 within 5 miles

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists 1 working within 5 miles of Lincoln School: 1 producer. All of them still produce. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction. Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.

Where SiteCommodity StatusRecorded
Federal Mine DredgeSand and Gravel, ConstructionProducer

Every working recorded in McCracken County

Storms near this property

60 of 121 shown

Regional context, not property-specific evidence. The National Weather Service names Paducah, the town this property stands in, in 121 storm reports between 1995 and 2025: 46 thunderstorm wind, 19 flash flood, 18 heavy rain, 16 flood. The reports record 3 injuries. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date opens the federal record of that event.

WhenEvent Place namedHarm What the report says
January 1996Tornado (F1)Paducah2 hurt, $75,000no account filed
July 2003Thunderstorm WindPaducah1 hurt, $85,000A thunderstorm produced damaging winds in downtown Paducah. Two buildings were unroofed in Paducah, including part of an old warehouse and an accounting office. The roof of the accounting office was blown into a street. The roof debris struck a vehicle driven by a 75-year-old man, who was slightly injured and treated at a local hospital. The strong winds blew down a monument at the courthouse square. Bricks falling from the roof of an old hotel landed on vehicles below.
May 2011FloodPaducah$10,000,000Major flooding continued on the Ohio River from April. At the Paducah river gage, the flood crest of 55.03 feet around noon on May 5 was over three feet higher than the 1997 flood. This was still several feet lower than the record crest set in 1937. The activation of the New Madrid Floodway by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers spared McCracken County from an even higher crest that would have inundated even larger areas of the county. With the detonation of the Mississippi River levee at Birds Point, Missouri, the Ohio River stopped rising or rose much more slowly at the Paducah gage. The flood gates were installed in the floodwall protecting the city of Paducah. Low-lying areas outside of the levee and floodwall protection system were flooded, displacing hundreds of residents. Preliminary estimates were that between 200 and 500 homes were flooded, some beyond repair. Many of the homes were located in the Clarks River floodplain, where water was nearly up to the second floor of one home. Ohio River backwater worsened flooding along the Clarks River, which empties into the Ohio between Reidland and Paducah. A mobile home was nearly completely submerged. Over a dozen water rescues were conducted. Water marks along tree lines were at least ten feet high in many locations near the Clarks River. Besides flooding numerous homes, the river submerged a small airport and a car-racing track. Many state roads were closed, making travel around the county difficult. The bridge carrying U.S. Route 45 over the Ohio River was closed due to water over the approaches. At the peak of the flooding, at least 60 roads were closed in McCracken County. Floodwaters crept toward U.S. Highway 60 in the city of Paducah outside the levee, but very few structures were affected on Route 60. The main exception was a major grocery store next to the levee, which was forced to close. A convention center located on the river side of the floodwall was saved by the construction of a makeshift levee.
June 2014Flash FloodWest Paducah$150,000Widespread flash flooding occurred in Paducah. Between 4.8 and 5.5 inches of rain was measured in less than two hours. Numerous vehicles were stranded on flooded streets. Some people were rescued from stranded cars by police and fire personnel. A railroad underpass on a major city street was impassable. Garages and basements were flooded. Several apartments and at least one home were flooded. In the downtown Paducah area, the courthouse and jail were flooded.
August 2025Flash FloodPaducah$125,000A wide area of flooding developed near Baptist Hospital in Paducah, with water flooding the main entrance of the hospital. Multiple cars were pictured stranded in roughly 6-8 inches of water. Several vehicles were stuck in the water at 28th and Jefferson, and additional stuck vehicle reports came in from Broadway St and Jackson St. Hourly rainfall rates peaked at 1.5-2 an hr over that Midtown portion of Paducah.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$100,000A microburst with winds up to 75 MPH affected an area on the west side of Paducah 1.8 miles long and 0.7 mile wide. The damage path was entirely along Kentucky Highway 305, beginning about 2 miles west of Interstate 24 and ending about 100 yards west of exit 3 on the interstate. Small sheds and outbuildings were destroyed, siding and roofs were damaged, and trees were uprooted or snapped. A pontoon boat was blown into a motor home, damaging both. A flatbed trailer was extensively damaged by a tree that fell on it. Three utility poles were broken, and 10 spans of wire between poles were knocked down by trees. Kentucky Highway 305 and a set of railroad tracks were closed due to trees and power lines down.
June 2018Thunderstorm WindPaducah$75,000Widespread damaging winds occurred over the county. Numerous trees and power lines were down. Some roads were blocked by downed trees and power lines, especially Highway 2187 on the south side of Paducah. The roof was partially torn off a downtown office building in Paducah, and windows were blown out. A power pole was down in Paducah. Thousands of people lost power. Some of the power outages lasted through the following day. The peak wind gust at the National Weather Service at Barkley Regional Airport was 62 mph.
May 1996Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$75,000no account filed
March 1997Flash FloodPaducah$70,000no account filed
October 2014Thunderstorm WindPaducah$60,000Three buildings lost their roofs in a densely populated neighborhood on the north side of Paducah. One building was residential, and the other two buildings were commercial.
January 1999Thunderstorm WindPaducah$50,000A camper was destroyed. A tree fell on a house, causing structural damage.
May 1997Flash FloodPaducah$50,000Slow moving thunderstorms produced rainfall amounts estimated as much as 2 inches per hour over downtown Paducah. The police department reported all major intersections in downtown Paducah were covered by water. Water went over the Crooked Creek bridge. Evacuations were advised for a small neighborhood on the west side of paducah. Several roads were closed by high water.
January 1996Thunderstorm WindPaducah$50,000no account filed
July 2023Thunderstorm WindPaducah$35,000Trees were down over roads in at least three locations in Paducah. A tree fell on a car in Reidland. Some minor damage was reported to the convention center near downtown Paducah.
August 2016Flash FloodPaducah$30,000Flash flooding of portions of U.S. Highway 45 was reported in Paducah. A county road in the Lone Oak area was washed out, leaving a large hole in the roadway. Water was reported over several roads. The National Weather Service office in Paducah measured 2.43 inches of rain in 50 minutes.
October 1998Thunderstorm WindPaducah$30,000An isolated small thunderstorm produced wind gusts around 70 MPH as it passed over the western side of Paducah. An off-duty meteorologist estimated speeds near 70 MPH at the intersection of Interstate 24 and U.S. Highway 60. Trees were blown down in the area. At Kentucky Oaks Mall, signs were blown down, including a Days Inn motel sign. A utility pole was pushed over. The storm continued to produce some damage as it passed across the Ohio River into Brookport, Illinois in Massac County.
July 2021Flash FloodPaducah$25,000Considerable flooding of streets and creeks was reported. A state road was undermined near Lone Oak. County emergency management personnel utilized all available personnel to block flooded roads.
April 2001Thunderstorm WindPaducah$25,000Numerous tree limbs were blown down, causing scattered power outages. At least 8 streets were blocked by fallen trees or power lines. A tree limb about 9 inches in diameter brought power lines down across U.S. Highway 62 just west of I-24. Route 62 was closed for about an hour. The storm produced 60 MPH wind at a sensor maintained by the Paducah Power System.
February 2019FloodPaducah$20,000During the height of the heavy rainfall, a couple of flood-prone intersections were flooded in Paducah. Following the heavy rain, creeks remained out of their banks. A few state roads near these flood-prone creeks were closed. These roads included Routes 994 and 1014 at Champion Creek and Route 339 at Mayfield Creek.
August 2012Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$20,000A wind gust to 59 mph was measured at Barkley Regional Airport, four miles west of Paducah. Numerous tree limbs and a few small trees were blown down about a mile north of the airport. A tree fell on a house in the city of Paducah.
March 1999LightningPaducah$20,000Lightning started a house fire.
July 1998LightningPaducah$20,000Nearly continuous lightning from a very strong thunderstorm caused scattered damage in and near Paducah. Two direct lightning strikes on the runway lighting system at Barkley Regional Airport caused the cancellation of the only two evening commercial passenger flights. Small electrical fires were started by lightning at two separate houses in Paducah, and a tree was downed by lightning in the city.
May 1995Thunderstorm WindPaducah$20,000A wind gust to 84 MPH was clocked at the National Weather Service office in West Paducah. Damage to trees, signs, and unsecured outdoor objects occurred from the Barkley Regional Airport to the western city limits of Paducah. Spotty roof damage was also observed, and siding was ripped from the National Weather Service office.
June 2019Thunderstorm WindPaducah$15,000About four miles west of Paducah, a wind gust to 62 mph was measured by a trained spotter. Downed trees and power lines blocked Kentucky Highway 305 between Interstate 24 and Highway 358 for several hours.
September 2009Heavy RainPaducah$15,000Street flooding was reported in the usual problem areas on Business Loop U.S. 60 on the south side of Paducah. The water was one to three feet deep and caused at least a few vehicles to stall out. One small car floated around. Police assisted motorists.
April 2014Thunderstorm WindPaducah$10,000A sixty-foot section of tin roof was removed from a car wash. A storm damage survey conducted by the National Weather Service determined the damage was caused by a microburst.
September 2012Thunderstorm WindPaducah$10,000Shingles were blown off a house onto a neighbor's house. Tree branches were blown down.
July 2011Flash FloodPaducah$10,000An intersection on U.S. Highway 62 was shut down because of flooding that was estimated to be almost two feet deep. Considerable street flooding was reported on roadways across Paducah, including the railroad underpass on U.S. Highway 62. Some cars were stranded. A television station in Paducah measured 2.40 inches of rain.
November 2005LightningPaducah$10,000A mobile home in downtown Paducah completely burned due to a lightning strike.
June 2001Thunderstorm WindPaducah$10,000Thunderstorm wind gusts blew off part of the roof of a furniture store. There was no other damage in the area, and wind speed estimates from spotters were around 50 MPH.
September 2000LightningPaducah$10,000Lightning struck the Irvin Cobb Apartments, a downtown Paducah landmark formerly known as the Irvin Cobb Hotel. The chimney was struck by lightning, and fallen debris closed a block of South 6th Street. Debris fell through the roof of a ninth-floor apartment, creating a hole through which water leaked.
January 1999Thunderstorm WindPaducah$10,000About 10 trees were down across roadways in McCracken County. In the Reidland area, an outbuilding was down.
August 1997Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$10,000Numerous trees were blown down in a small area south of Barkley Regional Airport. The microburst brought down some large trees up to 70 feet tall. At least one road was blocked by fallen trees.
May 2003Thunderstorm WindPaducah$10,000no account filed
July 1997Thunderstorm WindPaducah$8,000Sporadic reports of downed tree limbs and power lines were received from across the county. A back porch was damaged.
November 1996Flash FloodPaducah$8,000no account filed
August 2016Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$7,000In West Paducah, a large tree was down on a house. A couple miles southwest of West Paducah, a tree was down on a road.
July 2025Flash FloodPaducah$5,000A water rescue took place for a stranded vehicle at 21st Street and Mayfield Paducah Rd.
November 2017Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$5,000On the west side of Paducah, a few downed trees were photographed and posted on social media. One of the trees fell over Highway 305. A highway sign along Interstate 24 near exit 4 was damaged. Power outages were reported.
October 2004Thunderstorm WindPaducah$5,000A Paducah television station estimated wind gusts from 55 to 60 MPH. Power lines and a few large tree limbs were blown down in the city. A large tree limb fell on a dump truck, causing minor damage to the truck. Power lines fell on a car.
June 2002Thunderstorm WindPaducah$5,000Large tree limbs were blown down in a residential neighborhood on the west side of town. The damage area was about one square mile.
July 2002LightningPaducah$5,000A shed burned down after a lightning strike.
May 1998Thunderstorm WindPaducah$5,000Wind gusts to 60 MPH were estimated on the Irvin Cobb Bridge in Paducah. About 10 trees were blown down in Paducah.
July 2023Thunderstorm WindPaducah$3,000An off-duty National Weather Service meteorologist reported tree limbs were down in a residential neighborhood.
July 2021Thunderstorm WindPaducah$3,000Two trees were down, along with power lines.
July 2006Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$3,000Trees were down in Lone Oak. Power lines were down in West Paducah.
July 2022Thunderstorm WindPaducah$2,000Two large trees were snapped in Paducah.
June 2008Thunderstorm WindPaducah$2,000Several trees were blown down by winds estimated up to 60 mph.
June 2007Flash FloodWest Paducah$2,000The automated observing system at the National Weather Service office at Barkley Regional Airport measured about 2.65 inches of rain in one hour. Extensive street flooding was reported countywide. Water crept into the county courthouse basement, wetting some carpet. Four people were injured in a rear-end collision on Interstate 24 when several vehicles slowed in the heavy rain. Standing water on U.S. Highway 60 near the Ballard County line contributed to an accident.
June 2005Thunderstorm WindPaducah$2,000A person was trapped inside their vehicle under downed power lines. A fallen tree blocked a secondary road.
June 2004Thunderstorm WindPaducah$2,000A few trees and wires were blown down on the west side of Paducah and in Lone Oak. The storm that caused the tree damage originated in southeast Missouri, crossed southwest Illinois, and weakened shortly after crossing the Ohio River into the Paducah area.
October 2001Thunderstorm WindWest Paducah$2,000Five tree tops, up to 20 inches in diameter, were blown down. Along the Ballard County line, a 40-foot television tower and a tree limb fell on a roof, causing minor damage.
March 2000Thunderstorm WindPaducah$2,000Gusty thunderstorm winds knocked down a large tree limb onto a house.
July 1996Thunderstorm WindPaducah$2,000no account filed
August 2006Thunderstorm WindPaducah$1,000Two trees were blown down, including one that fell on a cable line.
July 2025FloodPaducah-A webcam showed street flooding of several inches near downtown Paducah.
February 2022Flash FloodPaducah-Several state roads were closed due to flooding. Massac and Champion Creeks overflowed onto roadways and yards. A railroad underpass on U.S. Highway 62 in Paducah was flooded and closed.
March 2022FloodPaducah-Moderate flooding occurred on the Ohio River. At the Paducah river gage, the river crested at 44.58 feet on the 2nd. Flood stage is 39 feet. Mainly bottomland and surrounding low-lying areas were flooded. Floodwaters crept into some back yards along Highway 1420 west of the city. The riverfront park in downtown Paducah was partially flooded but remained open to traffic.
January 2021FloodPaducah-U.S. Highway 60 was flooded at an intersection in Paducah.
March 2020HailPaducah-A severe thunderstorm produced hail up to the size of golf balls in Paducah, mostly in the downtown area north along the Ohio River.

Every storm recorded in McCracken County

Newspapers printed here

27,203 digitised pages

6 papers published in this town, digitised by the Library of Congress and free to read: 3,834 issues, 27,203 pages. Every page is searchable, so a name or a street can be looked for directly in what the town printed about itself at the time.

NewspaperPublished
The Paducah Evening Sun1906 to 1929
The Paducah Weekly Sun1902 to 19??
The Paducah Sun1898 to 1906
Paducah Sun1??? to 1902
The Paducah Daily Sun1896 to 1898
The Sunday Chat1901 to 19??

Map coverage status

No historic map-sheet match is published for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary. Browse the county's mapped places while that work is pending.

Listed places nearby

6 within 8 miles

Other National Register properties close enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties to their map sheets.

Photograph PropertyDistance Listed
Masonic Temple0.2 miles2002
Augusta Tilghman High School0.3 miles1995
Tilghman-Woolfolk House0.5 miles1998
Grace Episcopal Church0.5 miles1976
Hotel Irvin Cobb0.5 miles1978
St. Francis DeSales Roman Catholic Church0.5 miles1979

Sources for this property

National Archives recordThe nomination case file for reference 88000895 in Record Group 79.
Wikipedia articleCommunity-written account of this property, licensed CC BY-SA.
McCracken CountyAll 34 listed properties in this county.

Provenance

  • Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
  • Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
  • How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
  • Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
  • Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
  • Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.