Fulton County was created on January , 1845, the 99th, out of Hickman County.  It was fittingly named for the famous steamboat inventor, Robert Fulton, “the engineer who helped usher in the era of the paddle wheelers and turned the river into an even more important artery of commerce”.  (Paducah Sun article, September 6, 1966, by Bruce Gardner) Containing 184 square miles, its creation was the result of efforts to keep the town of Moscow from becoming the county seat of then Hickman County.  Moscow was a thriving trade center strategically located near the center of the County.  Those wanting…

Hickman County is probably most noted for the Columbus-Belmont State Park located on the bluffs above the Mississippi River.  The park contains  the anchor and and a portion of the  chain with which the Confederate Army tried to block the river and keep the Union Army from controlling it. Born in Hickman County on December 29, 1954, Robert Burns Smith went on to become the third governor of Montana (1897-1901).  Smith was educated in Kentucky, studied law and was admitted to the bar in 1877.  He began his legal career in Mayfield, Kentucky and continued it in Helena, Montana.  As…