The museum was opened by Meredith and Bill Shroeder, a couple from Paducah, in 1991. The Shroeders were long-time quilters who also founded the American Quilters Society in 1984. They started the museum with 85 quilts from their personal collection. The museum has acquired over 600 quilting and fiber art pieces over the years that it has been open. All of the pieces in the museum collection are contemporary pieces, all made from the 1980s to present. The museum changes the exhibits on an average of ten times a year, and the exhibits include traveling exhibits that display works from artists from around the world. The quilts on display range from the abstract to the traditional. The museum owns and regularly displays a carved and painted wooden quilt sculpture that mimics the appearance of a cloth quilt. Educational activities and workshops are offered at the museum for both children and adults. They have a Junior Quilters Club and a quilting camp for children. They also host a quilting contest that can be entered by people anywhere in the world. Every year they host the New Quilts from an Old Favorite contest where people reimagine a classic quilting technique or pattern.&nbsp;

The museum was established by Paducah residents in 1991. 

The wooden quilt that is part of the museum collection.

The National Quilt Museum Official Website

Website

More Info

Established in 1991, the National Quilt Museum displays quilts, textiles and fiber art made by local artists and quilters from around the world. The museum hosts traveling exhibits alongside displaying pieces from the permanent collection. The museum also hosts quilting and fiber art workshops for children and adults throughout the year. As of 2019, admission to the museum is free for children under 12  and twelve to sixteen dollars for adults with discounts offered for seniors and students.

The National Quilt Museum

Admin

Featuring a path that includes multiple historic museums and a beautiful set of murals along a floodwall, this walking tour through downtown is sure to delight. This tour is a little under 2 miles in length.

Henry Steed and Maggie Steed&nbsp;purchased this home in 1904. Like many other African Americans, the Steeds rented rooms to help make ends meet. When Maggie Steed proposed the idea of converting the home into a full-fledged hotel, her husband opposed the plan and it was not until after his death in 1908 that Maggie's vision would become a reality. However, she found that the city rejected her application&nbsp;to operate a hotel because of her gender. After she applied under her late husband's name, she was able to proceed. The hotel was first opened in 1909. The Hotel Metropolitan served as a safe resting place for African American travelers. While not legally barred from entry to all local venues, African American travelers had to worry about things ranging from sub par service to violence when it came to white-run businesses. Businesses owned by African Americans were much safer.&nbsp;The hotel accommodated&nbsp;numerous African&nbsp;American families, traveling business people, religious leaders, baseball players, and most famously, musicians. The Roaring Twenties saw the rise of jazz music. Visitors of the Hotel Metropolitan include but are not limited to Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Ray Charles, Chuck Berry, Tina Turner, Little Richard&nbsp;and Baby Dodds. Musicians such as those listed relied on the Hotel Metropolitan as a place where they could reliably find accommodations. In fact, so many musicians traveled through that part of the hotel, the Purple Room, was built specifically for them to spend time in during their stay. Many local residents of Paducah enjoyed the music played by visiting musicians from inside the Purple Room.&nbsp;The hotel also welcomed African American leaders like Thurgood Marshall, as well as Black athletes like Satchel Paige.&nbsp; After falling into disuse, the Hotel Metropolitan was condemned. The Uppertown Heritage Foundation intervened, and was able to reopen the hotel in 2008. In the present day, the&nbsp;museum is open only by appointment, as are the hotel's overnight accommodations. Betty Dobson, resident historian, curator, and hotel director currently maintains the hotel's operations. A wide variety of events are held inside the hotel periodically.<div> </div>

The Hotel Metropolitan is located in a home that was converted into a hotel in 1909 and operated by African American businesswoman Maggie Steed. The hotel is historically significant today owing to its role as a place where traveling musicians of color could find accommodations as the traveled. However, it was also home to several conventions of Black religious and civic leaders in the early 20th century. The hotel expanded in the 1930s and included the famous "Purple Room" where liquor was served and music was enjoyed. After white-owned hotels stopped drawing the color line in the 1950s and 1960s, the hotel's fortunes waned and the building became a boarding house. When threatened with demolition in 1999, local African American residents teamed up with other residents and formed the Upper Town Heritage Foundation. The former hotel is now a museum. 

The Hotel Metropolitan Museum 

Built in a Grecian style by Robert Woolfolk in 1852, the house remains a part of the Paducah community. The house was rented to the eventual Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman until 1861. The house remained in the Woolfolk family until it was converted into a museum. Now it holds a large collection of the Civil War artifacts and memorabilia, with a focus on western Kentucky's role in the war. Like most local museums, this particular one has faced multiple crises and has survived, despite the multiple times when many predicted that the museum would close. Homes and other historic buildings such as Lloyd Tilghman House in Paducah, Kentucky, both preserve and symbolize the continued relevance of the Civil War and the continued need to consider context and perspective when visiting a museum. It is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.Lloyd Tilghman was born on January 26, 1818. When he was 15, he enrolled in the United States Military Academy at West Point. After graduating, he left his post and took up a career of a civil engineer for the growing railroad company. In 1843, he married Augusta Murray Boyd and reenlisted in the army during the Mexican American War just 3 years after. Once the war was over, he had gained the title of captain.In 1852, the Tilghmans relocated to Paducah, Kentucky, where Lloyd continued his employment with the railroad system throughout Kentucky, Tennessee, Mississippi, Louisiana, and Arkansas. In response to the outbreak of the Civil War, Lloyd joined the Confederate army while in Tennessee. He was appointed as colonel of the Third Kentucky Infantry Regiment on October 5, 1861, and rose to a brigadier general as he lost to Union troops at Fort Henry in February 1862. Even though he lost, Confederate President Jefferson Davis praised Tilghman’s efforts at Fort Henry. Following the surrender, Tilghman was taken hostage but was freed during a prisoner exchange in July and was sent to Mississippi.In the spring of 1863, Tilghman served during the Vicksburg Campaign and was fatally injured with an artillery shell as he was overseeing a Confederate cannon. Lloyd’s son and assistant, Lloyd Tilghman Jr., moved him away from the battlefield. Initially, Lloyd was laid to rest in Vicksburg. However, in 1902, Tilghman’s two surviving sons relocated his remains to New York City to be reburied by his wife.

Constructed in1852, this Greek Revival mansion is the former home of Confederate General Lloyd Tilghman. The home is now owned by the local chapter of the Sons of Confederate Veterans and the organization operates a museum dedicated to "The War Between the States." As one would expect, the museum offers a neo-Confederate version of history but the museum does include information about the destructive raid of Paducah by Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest in 1864. 

Lloyd Tilghman House & Civil War Museum

<div>The museum includes a well-preserved drug store-complete with artifacts from the era.</div><div>	</div>

The Market House Museum offers over 4,000 square feet of exhibits related to the history of Paducah within the historic Market House. The structure served as the city's third market between its construction in 1905 and its closure around 1960. The structure holds two cultural entities, the Market House Theater and the Yeiser Art Center. The history museum is located in the center of the building and includes artifacts dating back tot he founding of the city. And of course, the museum includes artifacts that were owned by William Clark, as well as documents that bear the famous explorer's signature. The museum also includes exhibits related to Native Americans, early settlers, business and industry, and social history. Visitors should be sure to see the museum's wooden statue of Henry Clay and Paducah's first motorized fire truck

William Clark Market House Museum

In 1988,&nbsp;Mayor
Gerry Montgomery, at the urging of Mr. W.W. Dyer, initiated&nbsp;an ad hoc
committee to pursue the prospects for developing a museum&nbsp;complex to
showcase the Four Rivers Region maritime heritage.The River
Heritage Center (RHC) as it was originally named, formally a&nbsp;board of directors in 1992.&nbsp;In 1996, renovation work goes underway by Seamen's Church Institute of New York as it provides impetus for RHC
to consider using part of Petter complex to house&nbsp;a river
museum.&nbsp;From 2000-2001, the River Heritage Center was renamed the River Heritage Museum, the restoration of historic façade
took place and&nbsp;the 2nd floor restoration is completed and named after Paul
Walker, founder&nbsp;of Walker Boat Yard.&nbsp;The grand
Opening of Phase I Exhibit Gallery was in 2003 and U.S. Senator Mitch McConnell
was the&nbsp;featured speaker and years later in 2012, RDC
had their first new fundraiser, Paducah Dragon Boat Festival.The
River Discovery Center is a family attraction centered around fun learning
about their inland river housed in one of Paducah’s oldest buildings, the historic
Henry A. Petter Supply Co. building. It was renamed in 2008 after the new
exhibits opened that focus on new river industry. The main attraction is the state-of-the-art
pilothouse boat simulator. Other attractions include a working model of a lock
and dam, a build-a-river exhibit and a dredging exhibit showing how the
sediment of river bottoms is moved. The River Discovery Center stimulates curiosity and understanding of our nation's vital river system through real stories and interactive experiences for people of all ages.

Visitors can feel what it’s like to pilot a tow
boat and view a video capsule that shows 24 hours of traffic on this important
juncture in the river. History, culture and music of the river are represented
in exhibits that also include the river transportation industry. The interactive
exhibits tell the story of the four rivers region. This educational facility
features functions and habitats of the rivers of the four rivers region.

Because of Paducah’s position at the junction
of the Tennessee and Ohio Rivers, and its close proximity to the Mississippi
and Cumberland Rivers, it has become a hub for the inland waterways industry.
More than 20 barge and towing companies are located there and can be seen carrying
their cargo up and down the riverways.

The museum has grown in popularity over the
years that an expansion is planned to be completed over the next several years
to accommodate more visitors.

Formerly the River Heritage Museum, RDC is an educational facility focusing on our nation's rivers through interactive exhibits and guided tours.

River Discovery Center

In March 1864, Confederate General Nathan Bedford Forrest led his force of about 3,000 men on a raiding expedition in Union-held territory in western Kentucky. The town of Paducah was occupied by a force of 650 men under Union General Stephen Hicks. Upon Forrest's arrival, Hick's and his men quickly retreated to the safety of Fort Anderson. While Union forces defended their position from the more safe position of this river fort, Forrest's men ransacked the town for supplies and loot. The Confederate raiders destroyed everything they couldn't take with them.  Forrest demanded that Hicks surrender himself, his men, and control of Fort Anderson. In return, Forrest promised to spare their lives and treat the Union soldiers as prisoners. This was a promise that Forrest famously failed to uphold the following month in the Fort Pillow Massacre, where he ordered his men to slaughter Black Union soldiers after they had surrendered. General Forrest's future actions are significant to consider in evaluating Hicks' refusal to surrender, as Fort Anderson was defended by an African American artillery unit that would prove instrumental in repulsing an attack by Forrest's subordinate, Colonel Albert P. Thompson. Hicks rejected Pillow's offer and vowed to defend the fort despite being outnumbered by a 5-1 margin. Some of Forrest's men under Colonel Thompson attempted to assault the fort, but this attack was repelled and the attackers suffered disproportionate casualties owing to the Union's fortifications and artillery. Thompson, a native of Paducah, was killed by a cannonball fired by African American soldiers defending the fort. Rather than devote his full force to an attack and risk the possible reprisal but other Union forces in the area, Forrest withdrew his men and headed south. Upon reading newspapers that reported on the battle, Forrest learned that while capturing supplies that his forces had missed around 140 horses that were hidden by Union troops. Forrest sent Brigadier General Abraham Buford back to the town and captured the horses for the Confederacy. Though the engagement is considered a Confederate victory, it would be more accurate to call this an attack on the civilian population. With the exception of a few casualties and damage to property, the attack had little effect on the outcome of the war. Most of the buildings in the town were demolished, but residents resolved themselves to rebuilding the town and many of the buildings were reconstructed before the end of the year.

Near this marker, a military engagement between Union and Confederate forces occurred around Fort Anderson. Notorious Confederate General and future Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan Nathan Bedford Forrest ordered his men to raid and destroy many of the buildings throughout present-day downtown Paducah. Forrest's men aborted the attempted raid on the Union garrison despite a 5-1 advantage in manpower, choosing instead to raid and destroy the town and leave before Union reinforcements could arrive. Sixty homes, the train depot, and several commercial buildings were destroyed. The Union lost forty captives and fourteen Union men were killed while the Confederates suffered several hundred casualties. 

Walking tour of Downtown Paducah KY

The National Quilt Museum

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources

Additional Information