Betty Dobson portraying Maggie Steed Maggie Steed built the Metropolitan Hotel in 1909 when she was 24 years old. Maggie, a woman of “color”, was far ahead of her time, as she saw when she arrived in Paducah in 1893, the need for a hotel that would house “colored” people. Maggie’s father was a slave and when President Lincoln offered slaves a chance to fight in the Civil War effort, he promised them and their families freedom after the war.  Many colored regiments were continued after the war and Maggie arrived in Paducah in 1893 mainly due to the colored…

One of our members, Cecelia Edwards, made the following comment in response to our posting about Gritted Cornbread:  “While reading some old newspaper articles at the library I came across an article about a “madstone” that was apparently an old American Indian cure for being bitten by a rapid dog.  I researched it and found that it is a part of the stomach of a deer that is removed and given special treatment. From what I have learned it was not a common item to have around the house as the person in need had to find out who had…