Dixon is a home rule-class city in and the

county seat A county seat is an administrative center, seat of government, or capital city of a county or parish (administrative division), civil parish. The term is in use in five countries: Canada, China, Hungary, Romania, and the United States. An equiva ...

of Webster County,

Kentucky Kentucky (, ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north, West Virginia to the ...

, United States. The population was 933 at the 2020 census. Dixon is located at the junction of US 41A and KY 132. It was established with a courthouse and post office in 1860 when the county was formed.

History

Revolutionary War veteran William Jenkins in 1794 established a stagecoach inn five miles (8 km) north of the town's present site on the old Indian trail between

Nashville Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...

and

St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...

. The town was incorporated on February 6, 1861, and was named after Archibald Dixon, lieutenant governor of the state from 1844 to 1848 and

U.S. Senator The United States Senate is a chamber of the bicameral United States Congress; it is the upper house, with the U.S. House of Representatives being the lower house. Together, the Senate and House have the authority under Article One of the ...

from 1852 to 1855). The notorious

Harpe brothers Micajah "Big" Harpe, born Joshua Harper (before 1768 – August 24, 1799), and Wiley "Little" Harpe, born William Harper (before 1770 – February 8, 1804), were American murderers, highwaymen and river pirates who operated in Tennessee, Kentu ...

, murderous outlaws, terrorized the area in the late 18th century. The downtown area has several historic homes and was the site of a number of Civil War skirmishes.

Geography

Dixon is located at . According to the

United States Census Bureau The United States Census Bureau, officially the Bureau of the Census, is a principal agency of the Federal statistical system, U.S. federal statistical system, responsible for producing data about the American people and American economy, econ ...

, the city has a total area of , of which, of it is land and 1.04% is water.

Demographics

As of the

census A census (from Latin ''censere'', 'to assess') is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording, and calculating population information about the members of a given Statistical population, population, usually displayed in the form of stati ...

of 2000, there were 632 people, 241 households, and 159 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 269 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 94.94%

White White is the lightest color and is achromatic (having no chroma). It is the color of objects such as snow, chalk, and milk, and is the opposite of black. White objects fully (or almost fully) reflect and scatter all the visible wa ...

, 2.85%

African American African Americans, also known as Black Americans and formerly also called Afro-Americans, are an Race and ethnicity in the United States, American racial and ethnic group that consists of Americans who have total or partial ancestry from an ...

, 0.16% Asian, 0.95% from other races, and 1.11% from two or more races.

Hispanic The term Hispanic () are people, Spanish culture, cultures, or countries related to Spain, the Spanish language, or broadly. In some contexts, Hispanic and Latino Americans, especially within the United States, "Hispanic" is used as an Ethnici ...

or Latino of any race were 1.27% of the population. There were 241 households, out of which 28.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 53.9% were

married couples Marriage, also called matrimony or wedlock, is a culturally and often legally recognised union between people called spouses. It establishes rights and obligations between them, as well as between them and their children (if any), and b ...

living together, 9.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 34.0% were non-families. 32.8% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.28 and the average family size was 2.89. In the city, the population was spread out, with 20.4% under the age of 18, 9.8% from 18 to 24, 32.4% from 25 to 44, 23.3% from 45 to 64, and 14.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 36 years. For every 100 females, there were 107.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 114.0 males. The median income for a household in the city was $32,500, and the median income for a family was $40,000. Males had a median income of $33,491 versus $19,063 for females. The

per capita income Per capita income (PCI) or average income measures the average income earned per person in a given area (city, region, country, etc.) in a specified year. In many countries, per capita income is determined using regular population surveys, such ...

for the city was $16,411. About 5.2% of families and 8.6% of the population were below the

poverty line The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line, or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for ...

, including 7.6% of those under age 18 and 7.4% of those age 65 or over.

Education

Webster County School District operates public schools. Dixon Elementary School serves students from grades PreSchool-6. Before the 2014–15 school year, the Elementary School served students from grades PreSchool-8 until the Middle School was opened. Webster County Middle School serves students from grades 7 and 8. Webster County High School serves 680 students from grades 9 to 12. The High School, Middle School, and Elementary School are connected by and share a cafeteria known as the Webster County Annex. Dixon has a

lending library A lending library is a library from which books and other media are lent out. The major classifications are endowed libraries, institutional libraries (the most diverse), public libraries, and subscription libraries. It may also refer to a librar ...

, a branch of the Webster County Public Library.

Notable people

* Amy Slaton-Halterman and Tammy Slaton-Willingham, subjects of the

TLC TLC may refer to: Arts and entertainment Television * ''TLC'' (TV series), a 2002 British situational comedy television series that aired on BBC2 * TLC (TV network), formerly the Learning Channel, an American cable TV network ** TLC (Asia), an A ...

show '' 1000-lb Sisters''.

References

{{authority control Cities in Kentucky Cities in Webster County, Kentucky County seats in Kentucky Evansville metropolitan area