Editing Columbus, Kentucky

{{hatnote|Not to be confused with the similarly-named [[Columbia, Kentucky]].}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=July 2023}}
{{Infobox settlement
|official_name            = Columbus, Kentucky
|settlement_type          = [[List of cities in Kentucky|City]]
|nickname                 = 
|motto                    =

<!-- Images -->
|image_skyline            = Columbus-water-tower-ky.jpg 
|imagesize                = 250px
|image_caption            = Water tower in Columbus
|image_flag               = 
|image_seal               =

<!-- Maps -->
|image_map                = File:Hickman County Kentucky Incorporated and Unincorporated areas Columbus Highlighted 2116768.svg
|mapsize                  = 250px
|map_caption              = Location of Columbus in Hickman County, Kentucky.
|image_map1               = 
|mapsize1                 = 
|map_caption1             =

<!-- Location -->
|subdivision_type         = [[List of sovereign states|Country]]
|subdivision_name         = United States
|subdivision_type1        = [[U.S. state|State]]
|subdivision_name1        = [[Kentucky]]
|subdivision_type2        = [[List of counties in Kentucky|County]]
|subdivision_name2        = [[Hickman County, Kentucky|Hickman]]
|government_footnotes     = 
|government_type          = 
|leader_title             = 
|leader_name              = 
|leader_title1            = 
|leader_name1             = 
|established_title        = 
|established_date         =

<!-- Area -->
|unit_pref                = Imperial
|area_footnotes           = <ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020">{{cite web|title=2020 U.S. Gazetteer Files|url=https://www2.census.gov/geo/docs/maps-data/data/gazetteer/2020_Gazetteer/2020_gaz_place_21.txt|publisher=United States Census Bureau|accessdate=March 18, 2022}}</ref>
|area_magnitude           = 
|area_total_km2           = 0.83
|area_land_km2            = 0.82
|area_water_km2           = 0.00
|area_total_sq_mi         = 0.32
|area_land_sq_mi          = 0.32
|area_water_sq_mi         = 0.00

<!-- Population -->
|population_as_of         = [[2020 United States census|2020]]
|population_footnotes     = 
|population_total         = 140
|population_density_km2   = 169.85
|population_density_sq_mi = 440.25

<!-- General information -->
|timezone                 = [[Central Time Zone|Central (CST)]]
|utc_offset               = -6
|timezone_DST             = CDT
|utc_offset_DST           = -5
|elevation_footnotes      = 
|elevation_m              = 140
|elevation_ft             = 459
|coordinates              = {{coord|36|45|37|N|89|6|10|W|region:US_type:city|display=inline,title}}
|postal_code_type         = [[ZIP code]]
|postal_code              = 42032
|area_code = [[Area codes 270 and 364|270 & 364]]
|blank_name               = [[Federal Information Processing Standard|FIPS code]]
|blank_info               = 21-16768
|blank1_name              = [[Geographic Names Information System|GNIS]] feature ID
|blank1_info              = 0489887
|website                  = 
|footnotes                = 
|pop_est_as_of = 
|pop_est_footnotes = 
|population_est = 
}}
'''Columbus''' is a [[List of cities in Kentucky|home rule-class city]] in [[Hickman County, Kentucky|Hickman County]], [[Kentucky]], in the United States. The population was 140 at the [[2020 United States census|2020 census]], a decline from 229 in 2000. The city lies at the western end of the state, less than a mile from the [[Mississippi River]].

[[Columbus-Belmont State Park]] borders the city to the west.

==History==
[[File:Columbus, Hickman County, Kentucky.jpg|left|thumb|Downtown Columbus, c. 1920]]
[[File:1903 Poor's Mobile and Ohio Railroad.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Click to embiggen.|A system map of the M&O in 1903, by which time it had expanded north to [[St. Louis]]]]
Columbus is the oldest town in Kentucky's [[Jackson Purchase]]. It was first settled on the [[Mississippi River|Mississippi floodplain]] in 1804 and known as "Iron Banks" after the site's French name ''les rivages de fer''.<ref name=reeeeen>Rennick, Robert M. ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=3Lac2FUSj_oC Kentucky Place Names]''. The University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1988. {{ISBN|0-8131-0179-4}}.</ref> The long-held local rumor that [[list of U.S. presidents|President]] [[Thomas Jefferson]] planned to remove the American capital to the site<ref>{{Cite web|title=The History of Columbus, Kentucky Historical Marker|url=https://www.hmdb.org/m.asp?m=37014|access-date=2022-01-19|website=www.hmdb.org|language=en}}</ref><ref name=bailey>{{cite book |last=Bailey |first=Bill |title=Kentucky State Parks |publisher=Glovebox Guidebooks of America |location=[[Saginaw, Michigan]] |year=1995 |isbn=1-881139-13-1 |chapter=Columbus-Belmont State Park}}</ref> has absolutely no basis in fact.<ref name=reeeeen/>

The name of the town was changed to Columbus in 1820 (in honor of the [[Christopher Columbus|Italian explorer]]), the year the town received its first post office and was formally established by the [[Kentucky Assembly|state assembly]]. It was the original [[Hickman County, Kentucky|Hickman County]] seat before the transfer of the court to the more central location of [[Clinton, Kentucky|Clinton]].<ref name=reeeeen/> It was formally incorporated in 1860.<ref>Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "[http://apps.sos.ky.gov/land/cities/citydetail.asp?id=81&city=Columbus&idctr=81 Columbus] {{webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20130714223501/http://apps.sos.ky.gov/land/cities/citydetail.asp?id=81&city=Columbus&idctr=81 |date=2013-07-14 }}". Accessed 14 July 2013.</ref>

In 1861, after the [[American Civil War]] broke out, the town was seized by [[Confederate States of America|Confederate forces]] (including the Louisiana "Shreveport Rebels". They fortified the site overlooking the Mississippi River, building [[Fort de Russey]].<ref>[[John D. Winters]], ''The Civil War in Louisiana'', [[Baton Rouge]]: [[Louisiana State University Press]], 1963, {{ISBN|0-8071-0834-0}}, p. 42</ref>) Confederate general [[Leonidas Polk]] tried to run and maintain a large anchor chain across the entire Mississippi at Columbus in order to block Union traffic downriver. Columbus was also the northernmost spur on the [[Mobile and Ohio Railroad]]. The Union responded by General [[Ulysses S. Grant]]'s engaging the Confederates at [[Battle of Belmont|Belmont]] on the Missouri shore. This was Grant's first direct combat during the war. These actions are today commemorated at the [[Columbus-Belmont State Park]] on the bluff near Columbus.

In 1878, the American railroad legend [[Casey Jones]] got his first railroad job here, working as a [[telegrapher]] for the [[Mobile and Ohio Railroad|Mobile and Ohio]] at the age of 15.

The [[Great Mississippi Flood of 1927]] deluged the town, as well as many areas downriver in the [[Mississippi Delta]], where hundreds of thousands of acres were flooded. Survivors moved the town of Columbus, rebuilding it upon higher ground above the flood plain. Some of the original houses were saved and moved inland.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.hmdb.org/marker.asp?marker=37014|title=The History of Columbus, Kentucky
|publisher= The Historical Marker Database|access-date=August 17, 2012}}</ref>

Given its isolated location in a rural area and the decline in river traffic, the town has lost population for years.

==Geography==
Columbus is located in northwestern Hickman County at {{coord|36|45|37|N|89|6|10|W|type:city}} (36.760176, -89.102840),<ref name="GR1">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/geographies/reference-files/time-series/geo/gazetteer-files.html|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=2011-04-23|date=2011-02-12|title=US Gazetteer files: 2010, 2000, and 1990}}</ref> on high ground {{convert|0.6|mi}} east of the [[Mississippi River]]. It is bordered to the west by Columbus-Belmont State Park, which occupies a bluff rising nearly {{convert|200|ft|m}} above the river.

[[Kentucky Route 58]] leads southeast from Columbus {{convert|9|mi|0}} to [[Clinton, Kentucky|Clinton]], the [[county seat]]. [[Kentucky Route 123]] passes through the center of town, leading south then east {{convert|15|mi}} to Clinton and north-northeast {{convert|10|mi|0}} to [[Bardwell, Kentucky|Bardwell]]. Via [[Kentucky Route 80]] it is {{convert|6|mi|0}} east-northeast to [[Arlington, Kentucky|Arlington]].

According to the [[United States Census Bureau]], the city has a total area of {{convert|0.8|km2|order=flip|1}}, all land.<ref name="CenPopGazetteer2020"/>

==Demographics==
{{US Census population
|1830= 196
|1860= 963
|1870= 1574
|1880= 1338
|1890= 873
|1900= 1235
|1910= 970
|1920= 654
|1930= 513
|1940= 552
|1950= 482
|1960= 357
|1970= 371
|1980= 296
|1990= 252
|2000= 229
|2010= 170
|2020= 140
|footnote=U.S. Decennial Census<ref name="DecennialCensus">{{cite web|url=https://www.census.gov/programs-surveys/decennial-census.html|title=Census of Population and Housing|publisher=Census.gov|access-date=June 4, 2015}}</ref>
}}
As of the [[census]]<ref name="GR2">{{cite web |url=https://www.census.gov |publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]] |access-date=2008-01-31 |title=U.S. Census website }}</ref> of 2000, there were 229 people, 95 households, and 60 families residing in the city. The population density was {{convert|558.6|PD/sqmi|PD/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. There were 110 housing units at an average density of {{convert|268.3|/sqmi|/km2|sp=us|adj=off}}. The racial makeup of the city was 77.29% [[White (U.S. Census)|White]], 17.90% [[African American (U.S. Census)|Black]] or [[Race (United States Census)|African American]], 2.18% from [[Race (United States Census)|other races]], and 2.62% from two or more races. [[Hispanic (U.S. Census)|Hispanic]] or [[Latino (U.S. Census)|Latino]] of any race were 4.80% of the population.

There were 95 households, out of which 27.4% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 49.5% were [[Marriage|married couples]] living together, 12.6% had a female householder with no husband present, and 35.8% were non-families. 31.6% of all households were made up of individuals, and 12.6% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.41 and the average family size was 3.11.

In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.1% under the age of 18, 13.5% from 18 to 24, 26.2% from 25 to 44, 24.0% from 45 to 64, and 13.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 35 years. For every 100 females, there were 102.7 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 95.6 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $25,313, and the median income for a family was $29,844. Males had a median income of $21,667 versus $14,500 for females. The [[per capita income]] for the city was $11,766. About 5.1% of families and 9.1% of the population were below the [[poverty line]], including 13.5% of those under the age of eighteen and 8.3% of those 65 or over.

==Climate==
The climate in this area is characterized by hot, humid summers and generally mild to cool winters.  According to the [[Köppen Climate Classification]] system, Columbus has a [[humid subtropical climate]], abbreviated "Cfa" on climate maps.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.weatherbase.com/weather/weather-summary.php3?s=727151&cityname=Columbus%2C+Kentucky%2C+United+States+of+America&units=|title=Columbus, Kentucky Köppen Climate Classification (Weatherbase)|work=Weatherbase}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* {{Commons category-inline|Columbus, Kentucky}}

{{Hickman County, Kentucky}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Cities in Kentucky]]
[[Category:Kentucky populated places on the Mississippi River]]
[[Category:Cities in Hickman County, Kentucky]]