Editing McCracken County, Kentucky (section)

==History==
McCracken County was founded in 1825 from Hickman County; it was named for Captain Virgil McCracken of [[Woodford County, Kentucky]], who was killed in the [[Battle of Frenchtown]] in southeastern [[Michigan]] during the [[War of 1812]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=E. |first=Kleber, John |last2=Kentucky |first2=University Press of |last3=Policy |first3=Institute for Regional Analysis and Public |last4=Library |first4=Camden-Carroll |last5=University |first5=Morehead State |date=2000 |title=The Kentucky Encyclopedia |url=http://www.kyenc.org/entry/m/McCRA02.html |access-date=July 4, 2018 |website=www.kyenc.org}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |url=https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ |title=The Register of the Kentucky State Historical Society, Volume 1 |publisher=Kentucky State Historical Society |year=1903 |pages=[https://archive.org/details/bub_gb_luoxAQAAMAAJ/page/n36 36]}}</ref>

The [[Battle of Paducah]] occurred during the American Civil War in McCracken County on March 25, 1864. The skirmish between the Union and Confederate troops ended in a Confederate victory. A total of 140 men were killed during the battle.

In addition to having an economy influenced by river traffic, the county's economy was strengthened by construction of the railroad to Paducah. The railroads based operations and maintenance in Paducah, and the men in many families had careers as firemen, repairment, and related jobs.