Owensboro

City, river port, and administrative headquarters of Davies County, northwest Kentucky; population (2000) 54,100. It is situated on the Ohio River, southwest of Louisville, and 61 km/38 mi southeast of Evansville, Indiana. It lies in a rich agricultural area producing tobacco, soybeans, corn, fruit, and wheat. With abundant oil, gas, and coal deposits nearby, the city makes iron and steel products. Other industries include chemicals, electronics, whiskey, cigars, plastics, and aluminium, and there are also canning and meatpacking plants. Owensboro is home to Kentucky Wesleyan College (1858) and Brescia College (1950).

The city was laid out as Rossborough in 1816; it was renamed Owensboro in 1866. The site of a Federal encampment, it was partly burned in an 1864 Confederate attack.