Pewee Valley is a home rule-class city in

Oldham County, Kentucky Oldham County is a county located in the north central part of the U.S. state and commonwealth of Kentucky. As of the 2020 census, the population was 67,607. Its county seat is La Grange. The county is named for Colonel William Oldham. Old ...

, United States. The population was 1,588 as of the 2020 census.

History

The site of present-day Pewee Valley was first settled as a stop on the

Louisville and Frankfort Railroad The Louisville and Frankfort Railroad (L&F) was a 19th-century railroad in the U.S. state of Kentucky. Following the 1840 failure of the Lexington and Ohio Railroad, which had only ever managed to connect Louisville with nearby Portland, area bus ...

in 1852 under the name Smith's Station, although it remains unclear which Smith gave his name to the community. It may have been Henry S. Smith, the son of a local pioneer, or Thomas Smith, a local shopkeep. The name was changed to Pewee Valley on the establishment of a post office by Henry's son Charles Franklin Smith in 1856. The name refers to the

eastern wood pewee The eastern wood pewee (''Contopus virens'') is a small tyrant flycatcher from North, Central and South America. This bird and the western wood pewee (''C. sordidulus'') were formerly considered a single species. The two species are virtually ide ...

, a local bird, but, as the town lies on a ridge, the reason for naming the settlement a "valley" remains obscure.Rennick, Robert. ''Kentucky Place Names''
p. 231
University Press of Kentucky (Lexington), 1987. Accessed 26 September 2013.

Geography

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.

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 1,436 people, 484 households, and 394 families residing in the city. The population density was . There were 502 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the city was 96.10%

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 ...

, 2.37%

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 ...

, 0.28% Asian, 0.56% from other races, and 0.70% 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 2.02% of the population. There were 484 households, out of which 33.7% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 73.3% 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, 6.4% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.4% were non-families. 15.7% of all households were made up of individuals, and 7.9% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.71 and the average family size was 3.04. In the city, the population was spread out, with 23.6% under the age of 18, 4.9% from 18 to 24, 20.3% from 25 to 44, 31.0% from 45 to 64, and 20.2% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 46 years. For every 100 females, there were 87.0 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 82.5 males. The median income for a household in the city was $71,625, and the median income for a family was $81,639. Males had a median income of $65,556 versus $33,571 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 $31,845. About 2.0% of families and 3.8% 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 6.7% of those under age 18 and 3.9% of those age 65 or over.

References

External links

Official homepage

Kate Matthews Collection
scenes of people and places in Pewee Valley at the turn of the 20th century) from the University of Louisville Libraries.

— Article by Angela Struck of ''

The Courier-Journal The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...

'' {{authority control Cities in Oldham County, Kentucky Cities in Kentucky Louisville metropolitan area Populated places established in 1852 1852 establishments in Kentucky