What are the opening hours?

Monday 9am - 9pm Tuesday 9am - 9pm Wednesday 9am - 9pm Thursday 9am - 9pm Friday 9am - 8pm Saturday 9am - 6pm Sunday 1pm - 5pm

DCPL Kentucky Room

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Owensboro, KY
DCPL Kentucky Room

Daviess County's only genealogy and local history research center. Located in the DCPL. These resources are available to the general public at no cost.

In 1922 the Carnegie Free Public Library of Owensboro started an effort to collect materials related to Kentucky. In 1935, the library's collections of Kentucky histories along with its Daviess County and Owensboro histories were assembled in one room known as the Kentucky Room. The current Kentucky Room now holds an immense collection of genealogy and local history resources and artifacts. Our staff of experienced genealogists and researchers are eager to help with any genealogy or history questions you may have.

*Due to time constraints we do not do full family trees. We will do up to 3 generations and help you with any brick walls you may come across.*

11/24/2025

Some of you may recall our Oct 27th post about the Flossie Flirt Dolls- an incentive by our newspaper to earn more subscriptions. In the Nov 24, 1925 Owensboro Inquirer, we found Geneva Stepp, the lucky recipient of a Flossie Flirt. We're not sure what became of Flossie, but we do know that Geneva lived in Owensboro throughout her life and married her husband, Lee. She died at age 86 in December 2003. Her obituary listed her survivors as two sons, Richard and David, three grandchildren, and her brother, Frank. It also mentioned her hobbies as sewing, furniture upholstery, needlepoint, and playing guitar. As Paul Harvey would say, and now you know the rest of the story!

11/21/2025

Cooking for the upcoming holidays? You might be surprised to learn that we have cookbooks in the Kentucky Room. Many are the fundraising cookbooks put out by organizations such as the Fleur de Lis Garden Club, Apollo Band Boosters and the Daviess County Homemakers (to name a few). You might recognize some names from the past and find someone's forgotten or misplaced recipe.

11/19/2025

This week is National Geography Awareness Week! A time to raise awareness of the importance of geography and its effects on our daily life, and a time for us to talk about some of the cool maps we have in the Kentucky Room. Lots of folks enjoy looking at our framed 1881 Bird's Eye View of Owensboro. The 1876 Atlas of Daviess County and the early 20th century Sanborn Insurance Map of Owensboro garner a lot of attention too! These are just a few of the historic maps we have. Come and take a look sometime.

11/17/2025

November 17th is National Take a Hike Day and Owensboro certainly has some lovely spots to get out and (gently) hike! What's your favorite spot? Joe Ford Nature Park? Rudy Mines? Yellow Creek Park? Panther Creek Park? The Greenbelt? Or maybe a stroll along the Riverfront? Weather permitting, lace up those boots today and get out and enjoy our neck of the woods.

11/13/2025

We MUST-ACHE you to take a look at our November display! In honor of NO-SHAVE NOVEMBER (a current trend to raise money and awareness for men's health issues), we've pulled some photos from our archives to show that facial hair was quite the fashion back in the day. But then, if your razors were like these from our Dawson Family Collection, would YOU shave everyday?

11/11/2025

On this Veteran's Day, we are thankful and remembering those who serve and have served our nation. Veterans, thank you for your service!

11/09/2025

Tomorrow, November 10 at 2:00, we will have our first of three sessions entitled "Leafing Out Your Family Tree". We will present different tips and tricks of our trade to find out more about your family- along with a detailed tour of the Kentucky Room! This event will be the same each time, we are trying to provide enough variety to where if you want to come, there will hopefully be a time and date that is convenient to you.

11/07/2025

The Battle of Tippecanoe was fought in Battle Ground, Indiana on this date in 1811. But how does that relate to Owensboro? Colonel Abraham Owen, a prominent Kentucky pioneer, lawmaker, and soldier was killed in the battle. Additionally, Joseph Hamilton Daveiss (that's not a typo) was mortally wounded in the same battle. If these names sound familiar, they should. In 1815, our new county was named after Daveiss (which a clerk misspelled) and in 1817, the Kentucky General Assembly named our town Owensboro, after Colonel Owen.

11/05/2025

According to the Nov 5, 1925 Owensboro Inquirer, "dopesters" predicted that R. Miller Holland would be the next City Attorney- and he was. In that office, he handled the legal work for the establishment for the new (1939) municipal light and water plant and the Owensboro Daviess County Hospital. We were surprised that "dopester" was used 100 years ago. For the record, at that time, it meant "to predict the outcome of events".

11/03/2025

One week from today, on November 10 at 2:00, we will have our first of three sessions entitled "Leafing Out Your Family Tree". We will present different tips and tricks of our trade to find out more about your family, and a detailed tour of the Kentucky Room! This event will be the same each time, we are trying to provide enough variety to where if you want to come, there will hopefully be a time and date that is convenient to you!

10/31/2025

To celebrate Halloween, take a look at these advertisements from old Owensboro Messenger newspapers. The first is an ad from 1912 for the Butter-Krust Bakery at the Owensboro Bread Company. The second is an ad from 1906 for Gropp's Shoe Store. While these businesses were very important to Owensboro, we here in the Kentucky Room find the artwork to be a little... unsettling. Something about those eyes just give us the heebie-jeebies. Which ad sends shivers down your spine?

10/29/2025

To celebrate the most beloved companions of most librarians, we present to you, "Fuzzy Wuzzy", a little white kitten on a postcard from the Katherine Whitaker Postcard Collection. Comment a picture or the names of your cats and kittens at home, we'd love to see them!

Address

2020 Frederica Street
Owensboro, KY
42301

Opening Hours

Monday	9am - 9pm
Tuesday	9am - 9pm
Wednesday	9am - 9pm
Thursday	9am - 9pm
Friday	9am - 8pm
Saturday	9am - 6pm
Sunday	1pm - 5pm

Website

http://www.dcplibrary.org/genealogy

Alerts

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Our Story

This is the previous page for the Daviess County Historical Society. The Society disbanded in September 2018 and the Kentucky Room at the Daviess County Public Library now holds all the records for the previous society. This page is managed by workers in the Kentucky Room and posted material comes from it’s archives which include county records, photographs, genealogies and local histories.