|
 Founded
1890
Area 1.8 square miles
Population Estimated 347
Time Zone Central. Grand Rivers observes daylight savings
time.
Zip Code 42045
Area Code 270
Climate Grand Rivers enjoys all four seasons. Summer time is
usually humid. The summer heat peaks in late July with
temperatures averaging around 90°F. Grand Rivers experiences
very few, if any, 100°F+ days. Fall and spring temperatures are
moderate. January and February are usually the coldest months
with average lows in the high 20s and average highs in the mid
40s. Grand Rivers usually experiences one or two snow storms a
year producing two to three inches.
History In the 1700s people began to move westward. People of
Scot, Irish and German ancestry established farms and
settlements in the land that came to be known as “between the
rivers”. As early as 1850 there were permanent residents in the
area between the rivers then known as “the Narrows” where the
Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers nearly converge and where Grand
Rivers stands today. The railroad (one account has it built
through the Narrows in the 1870s) brought some prosperity to the
town and offered a connection to the outside world for this area
surrounded and isolated by water. In the late 1880s the area had
a depot (Nickell Station), a Post Office (Nickell Post Office)
and scattered farm houses.
The boom came in 1890 when Thomas Lawson and investors from
Boston and Nashville saw potential for huge profits in iron and
coal and founded the Grand Rivers Company. Iron had been a large
part of the economy in Western Kentucky for many decades and now
it would bring a boom to Grand Rivers. According to the Grand
Rivers Company prospectus, it owned 18,000 acres of mineral
lands, 3,000 acres of coal bearing land, 3,000 acres to be used
for the construction of the new city, and two furnaces. The
investment of the Grand Rivers Company created a city of several
thousand people with fine homes, an iron furnace, a carriage
plant, machine shop, a hotel and other substantial commercial
structures. The boom did not last long. By 1920 the iron
industry had played out and Mr. Lawson and most of the others
had moved on. Although the Grand Rivers Company was a failure
for investors, it did produce a short lived commercial and
residential center for the area and it created the city of Grand
Rivers. The Grand Rivers furnace closed in the early 1920s and
the city struggled to maintain its rich heritage. Most of the
beautiful homes and landmark structures fell victim to fire or
neglect. The town’s centerpiece, the Boston Block, burned in
1945. Several homes from this boom era still stand today
including the Thomas Lawson home on Wabash Ave. (a private
residence). Grand Rivers relinquished approximately half of the
land that was part of the original city during the impoundment
of Kentucky Lake, Lake Barkley and Barkley Canal. Grand Rivers
is the only Kentucky community located between Kentucky and
Barkley Lakes.
Kentucky Lake In 1944 the dam on the Tennessee River was
completed to create Kentucky Lake. The dam was started in 1938
(after the big flood of 1937 struck the Tennessee and Ohio
Valleys) and was completed in 1944. Kentucky Lake is one the
world’s largest man-made lakes and is 184 miles in length with
2,064 miles of shoreline and 160,000 acres of water. Kentucky
Lake stands about 50 feet higher than the original river. The
Kentucky Dam project was constructed by the Tennessee Valley
Authority (TVA). Kentucky Dam provides flood control,
hydroelectric power and recreation.
Lake Barkley Lake Barkley was created in the early 1960s when
a dam was constructed on the Cumberland Rivers, only a couple of
miles from Kentucky Dam. The dam was created for flood control,
hydroelectric power and for recreational purposes. Barkley Dam
is managed by the United States Corp of Engineers. Lake Barkley
is named in honor of the 35th vice president of the United
States, Alben W. Barkley. The lake is 118 miles long with almost
60,000 acres of water.
Barkley Canal Kentucky and Barkley Lakes are connected by a
canal. The canal is located in Grand Rivers and is 1.75 miles in
length. The canal provides a navigable channel for both commerce
and recreation craft moving on the two waterways.
The Land Between The Lakes The
Land Between the Lakes National Recreation area is a 170,000
acre inland
peninsula in western Kentucky and Tennessee that was formed when
the Cumberland and Tennessee Rivers were impounded to create
Kentucky Lake and Lake Barkley. It was created in 1963 by
President Kennedy as a federal national recreation area.
Thousands of individuals were removed from the area by eminent
domain. Families and entire communities were removed from the
land by the Tennessee Valley Authority. Only the area's 250
cemeteries were undisturbed. Throughout LBL you will still find
traces of old home sites, roads, trails, and historical sites.
For more information on LBL's history, visit the Golden Pond
Visitor's Center on US 68. Grand Rivers in the only
Kentucky community still in existence between the two
lakes.
Land Between the Lakes is visited by
2 million people annually enjoying outdoor and water recreation
and education.
BACK TO MEDIA |
