Guthrie is a home rule-class city in Todd 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 ...

, in the United States. The population was 1,330 at the 2020 census.

Geography

Guthrie is located at (36.647396, -87.170725). 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 , all land.

History

The present location of Guthrie was the site of the Pondy Woods stagecoach stop in the 1840s; the community around it may have also been called State Line for a time, from the nearby

Tennessee Tennessee (, ), officially the State of Tennessee, is a landlocked U.S. state, state in the Southeastern United States, Southeastern region of the United States. It borders Kentucky to the north, Virginia to the northeast, North Carolina t ...

state line. The town was named for former Representative James Guthrie, the president of the

Louisville and Nashville Railroad The Louisville and Nashville Railroad , commonly called the L&N, was a Class I railroad that operated freight and passenger services in the southeast United States. Chartered by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1850, the road grew into one of ...

at its founding in 1867. Guthrie was formally incorporated by the

Kentucky Assembly The Kentucky General Assembly, also called the Kentucky Legislature, is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It comprises the Kentucky Senate and the Kentucky House of Representatives. The General Assembly meets annually in th ...

in 1876.Commonwealth of Kentucky. Office of the Secretary of State. Land Office. "Guthrie, Kentucky". Accessed 28 July 2013. The town is also the birthplace of the first United States Poet Laureate

Robert Penn Warren Robert Penn Warren (April 24, 1905 – September 15, 1989) was an American poet, novelist, literary critic and professor at Yale University. He was one of the founders of New Criticism. He was also a charter member of the Fellowship of Southern ...

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 1,469 people, 593 households, and 377 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 657 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 67.60%

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 ...

, 29.20%

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 ...

, 0.48% Native American, 0.20% Asian, 0.20%

Pacific Islander Pacific Islanders, Pasifika, Pasefika, Pacificans, or rarely Pacificers are the peoples of the list of islands in the Pacific Ocean, Pacific Islands. As an ethnic group, ethnic/race (human categorization), racial term, it is used to describe th ...

, 1.36% from other races, and 0.95% 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 2.59% of the population. There were 593 households, out of which 34.2% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 39.5% 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, 19.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.3% were non-families. 31.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 13.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.48 and the average family size was 3.10. In the city, the population was spread out, with 28.8% under the age of 18, 9.5% from 18 to 24, 29.1% from 25 to 44, 18.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.8% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 34 years. For every 100 females, there were 92.3 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 86.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $25,682, and the median income for a family was $31,083. Males had a median income of $27,868 versus $20,240 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 $13,283. About 23.6% of families and 25.2% 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 31.5% of those under age 18 and 25.6% of those age 65 or over.

Guthrie city renewal project

The city administration of Guthrie, Kentucky partnered with the

University of Kentucky The University of Kentucky (UK, UKY, or U of K) is a Public University, public Land-grant University, land-grant research university in Lexington, Kentucky, United States. Founded in 1865 by John Bryan Bowman as the Agricultural and Mechanical ...

's College of Design to reform the urban plan for the city of Guthrie. In 2006, the city petitioned the University of Kentucky for help in developing a new plan for the future of the community. The College of Design accepted the project. The first project, known as the Guthrie Transportation Museum, became the hub project of the renewal effort. In December 2007, Matthew Colin Bailey, along with assistance from the College of Design, created schematic plans to revive the city. The city received multiple grants in amounts of over $1.4 million from the Commonwealth of

to begin the restoration of the downtown area and a branding campaign to improve the city's image. In 2009, the award-winning architecture firm of Deleon + Primmer was awarded the final design of the project.

Notable people

* Kent Greenfield – Major League Baseball player * Ed Holland – cartoonist *

–

Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prizes () are 23 annual awards given by Columbia University in New York City for achievements in the United States in "journalism, arts and letters". They were established in 1917 by the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made his fo ...

-winning novelist (''

All the King's Men ''All the King's Men'' is a 1946 novel by Robert Penn Warren. The novel tells the story of charismatic populist governor Willie Stark and his political machinations in the Depression-era Deep South. It was inspired by the real-life story of U. ...

'') and poet * Jamison Covington – Professional Songwriter/Musician

References