Paradise was a small town in Muhlenberg County, Kentucky, United States. The town was located 10.5 miles (16.9 km) east-north-east of Greenville and was formerly called Stom's Landing (sometimes incorrectly spelled Stum).[2][3] It was once a trading post along the Green River. The area was strip mined in the 20th century, and what was left of the town was bought-up and torn down in 1967 by the Tennessee Valley Authority due to health concerns related to its proximity to a nearby coal-burning electric plant, Paradise Fossil Plant.
History
Paradise was settled in the early nineteenth century when it was known as Stom's Landing, for Leonard Stom who founded the ferry there.[2][4] It may have once been named Monterey. The origin of its final name of Paradise is not known.[5] It is postulated the name was descriptive, for settlers who considered the setting to be paradise[6] when they arrived around 1797.[7][8]
Post office
A post office was established at Paradise on March 1, 1852; it closed in March 1967.[3][9][10] Though the town did endure numerous floods of the Green River during its lifespan, it survived.
Coal mining town
Paradise was considered to be a coal mining town; production of coal in the area dates back to the 1820s.[11]
In 1959, the Tennessee Valley Authority (TVA) began construction of a coal plant on the original site of the town of Paradise,[12][13][14] with the first unit of that plant being activated in May 1963.[12] The coal-fired plants remain controversial and the Paradise permits in particular, have been criticized by environmentalists for non-compliance with the Clean Air Act.[15] Since construction of new scrubbers on Unit 3 at Paradise, the plant's emissions from the massive unit have dropped dramatically in recent years; this in turn has led to a dramatic drop in toxic emissions from the plant overall. From 2017 through 2022, the plant went through a transition to be converted into a combine cycle plant that generates electrical power from natural gas; the transition was completed with the retiring of coal-fired Unit 3 in 2020.
Demise of the town
Some 800 residents lived in the town in its final years before it was disincorporated. The last of the town's residents were relocated from the area no later than December 30, 1967.[7]
John Prine
A song about Paradise, Kentucky, called "Paradise", was written and made famous by singer/songwriter John Prine. The lyrics attribute the destruction of Paradise to the Peabody company, referring to the fact that the town was a site for strip mining. The town continued to exist in partial form after the Pittsburg & Midway Coal Company and Peabody Coal Company stripped the coal around it. The Paradise Fossil Plant was initially erected with only two units; afterwards, the residents who were left in the village were bought out by the Tennessee Valley Authority after ash fall from the newly opened plant brought health concerns to the area. Soon after the TVA bought the town out, they tore down all the structures and constructed the largest cyclonic firedboiler in the world at the new "Paradise Unit 3". All that remains of the original town is a small cemetery at the top of a hill close to the plant.[citation needed]
Geography
Paradise was situated on the eastern edge of Muhlenberg County along the Green River. Kentucky Route 176 is the only major thoroughfare on and out of the area, leading west to the cities of Drakesboro and Greenville. Prior to the early 1960s, KY 176 also traveled eastward across the Green River into Ohio County to connect the area to Rockport.[16]
