Along the point where the Tennessee and Ohio rivers meet lies a city by the name of Paducah. Settled in 1821, it currently has a population a bit under thirty thousand, with around twenty six thousand as of 2024. Around a hundred and forty miles, or about a two and a half hour drive away sits Bowling Green. These cities are not too far apart, both in distance and age. At a glance, one would think that these cities might be quite similar; two river towns fairly close together in the same state. But, these two cities are far more different than they may seem.
Jaxon Merriss, a Greenwood freshman who has lived in Bowling Green for his entire life, said, “It’s alright,” when asked if he likes living in Bowling Green, “I can’t really complain about anything.” Merriss does not really have any quarrels with the city, saying that, “I haven’t really seen [many] problems in Bowling Green.” Paducah native and Paducah High School sophomore Roman Edwards expressed a similar sentiment, “I mean, it’s pretty good for being a small town”
According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the population of Bowling Green increased by 9.4% from 2020 to 2024. “Bowling Green’s kind of a rising city in Kentucky,” notes Merriss, “like a lot of people are moving into the place now, it’s like growing in size in general.” On the contrary, however, Paducah’s population shrunk by 1.5% over the same time period. “We did lose a lot of popular restaurants and popular places,” Edwards acknowledged, “and as well as quilting isn’t as popular as it used to be, and that’s of course what Paducah is well known for.” He added that “the bigger cities have better opportunities for people, so it causes a lot more people to leave for those opportunities.”
Though Bowling Green has about 50,000 more people and is a sort of hub for refugees, it only has around four more homeless people than Paducah. “Homelessness can really show, like, how bad a city is,” Merriss reckons. “If there’s a lot of homeless people around then you know that maybe that city’s, like, not worth moving to.” Looking at the percentages instead, Paducah has a higher percentage of homeless people than Bowling Green, which means that, really, it is a bigger problem in Paducah. “A smaller city, if there’s a lot more homeless people roaming around the streets, it’s gonna be way more noticeable than in a bigger city.”
“I think Bowling Green is definitely rising, and I think it will only continue to rise as it goes on,” answered Merriss when asked if he thinks things will change any time soon. “I don’t know much about Paducah, but considering what I’ve heard, unless something changes, like a new mayor or something, I think Paducah will become less and less of a big city.” Roman Edwards feels that positive change for Paducah in the near future is possible; however, he did not believe that it would come about through any necessarily bright means. On top of that, Edwards admits, “There’s not really as many jobs around here in Paducah for people to get. [Bowling Green] has more opportunities for people compared to Paducah.”
Paducah is far from a unique tragedy. While America’s big cities continue to grow, smaller cities and towns have seemingly been left behind. When asked why he thinks there are so many dying towns, Merriss used the example of towns in coal-rich eastern Kentucky, “Specifically in eastern Kentucky, there’s a lot of coal mining there,” he replied, “but since we’re going to different types of energy, less and less of that coal is being used, and a lot of these towns who relied on coal are getting smaller and smaller, and facing more problems.” It seems that small town America is dying, left in the past as they struggle to grapple with changing circumstances and urbanization. In terms of fixing the problem, Edwards had little to say, “I would think creating more, like, opportunities.” Unfortunately, though, it seems this tale may not have a happy ending. As Edwards plainly put it, defeatedly, “Other than that, not sure.”
