Hugh McGary also linked to Henderson
Imagine Henderson, Ky., as it was first whittled from the forests surrounding the Ohio River in 1791.
First to arrive were two or three families who decided to move from a marshy area just above Henderson — then known as Red Banks. They cut down trees and built a row of cabins along the river.
The formation and development of Henderson might not have been possible without the man for whom the city was named — Col. Richard Henderson. The Virginia legislature granted Henderson 160,000 acres of the land in 1778, which became known as the Henderson and Company Grant. The whole of this grant of land is included in the present boundaries of Henderson County.
In 1796, Evansville’s founder, Hugh McGary, settled in Henderson with his family. McGary made many trips between his father’s place and a mill located on Pigeon Creek. On these trips, he passed by the site of what would later become Evansville. He could sense that there would be a large profit in forming a town on that site.
In terms of industry, Henderson did well. The city had distilleries, breweries and a vehicle industry. Henderson became the dark leaf tobacco capital of the world. But in 1916, industry hit a stagnation period. The vehicle factories closed, prohibition put an end to the breweries and distilleries, and high tariffs imposed by Great Britain brought the tobacco market to a virtual standstill.
The population dropped from 33,000 in 1900 to 26,695 in 1930. It took 30 years for the population to reach 33,000 again.
When the Depression struck in the early ’30s, Henderson was judged to be in the worst economic condition of any city in the United States. But economic recovery arrived during the flood of 1937. At that time, Henderson was the only city on the Ohio River between Pittsburgh and Cairo, Ill., that was not flooded.
It has been noted that Henderson can lay claim to have “fathered” both Evansville and Newburgh.
— By Scott Saalman for the Evansville Press
Sources: History of Henderson County, Ky. by Edmund L. Starling, 1887; A History of Henderson County 1775–1975 by Maralea Arnett; The Evansville Story by James E. Morlock, 1956; The Evansville Press, July 3, 1976
Evansville Press – March 28, 1987