Paducah Tilghman High School

Paducah Tilghman High School is a public secondary school in Paducah, Kentucky. It is the only high school in the Paducah Independent School District. History The school opened at its first location in 1900, and was named Paducah High School, and was a segregated school for white students. In 1921, the school moved to a location on Jetton Boulevard, and the original building became the location for Washington Junior High School. That first building has since been demolished. The new school on Jetton Boulevard was named Augusta Tilghman High School in honor of Augusta Tilghman, whose sons donated $20,000 for the school's construction. Augusta Tilghman was the wife of Lloyd Tilghman, a Confederate States Army general and Paducah native who died in the Battle of Vicksburg. The building also housed Walter C. Jetton Middle School and both schools operated in the building until 1981. The Jetton Boulevard building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1995. The current school, named Paducah Tilghman High School, is larger than the previous two schools. In 1965, the Lincoln School, a segregated African American public high school in Paducah was consolidated into the Paducah Tilghman High School, which had existed as a segregated white school prior.