For Immediate Release
October 29, 2001
Contact: Linda Boatwright  (270) 898- 2431 

Patton Names Purchase Parkway for Former Governor Carroll

Paducah, Ky. - A large crowd of admirers gathered Monday afternoon in Marshall County at the intersection of US 62 and the Purchase Parkway to witness a ceremony honoring former Governor Julian Carroll as Governor Patton renamed the Purchase Parkway the “Julian M. Carroll Parkway”.

“It’s a privilege and honor to pay tribute to one of the great sons of the Commonwealth of Kentucky…Governor Julian Carroll”, Governor Patton said.  “It’s very fitting that we name this Parkway for Governor Carroll because this roadway travels through the Purchase area where he grew up…where he was educated…where he served as a state legislator…and an area he helped grow as a governor.” 

State Highway Engineer, J. M. “Mac” Yowell, representing the Kentucky Transportation Cabinet, paid tribute to Governor Carroll by saying, “Every step of the way, Governor Carroll focused his activities and achievements on his family, his faith, and his fellow Kentuckians. It’s appropriate that we honor him and to recognize one of Kentucky’s true heroes.” 

Carroll said, “I love western Kentucky, and one of the regrets I have is that we’ve not spent our recent years in our homeland.  The naming of the parkway gives us an attachment that makes us proud to be western Kentuckians and to have represented western Kentucky in Frankfort.  I am humbled by the recognition of having a major landmark that will bear my name. The purchase parkway is a useful road to the people of western Kentucky, and it’s an honor my name will be on it forever.”

The 52-mile parkway travels through Marshall, Graves, Hickman and Fulton Counties. Construction began on the parkway in august 1966 and was completed two years later at a cost of more than 31-million dollars.

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