Mark Patinkin: There's no place like home – even if it does have the same name

I wanted to know what was going on in town, so I called Providence City Hall and asked for the head guy.

I got transferred to the mayor, who picked up the phone.

But it wasn’t Brett Smiley.

Because I was calling Providence, Kentucky .

That’s as close to a same-named city as exists in America, and I was curious what it’s like.

There are four or five other Providences, but they aren’t much. Providence, Alabama, has 167 people. Providence, Indiana, and Providence, Arkansas, have fewer.

But Providence, Kentucky – different story. They have a few thousand.

I first reached Joy Shouse, the clerk who takes utility payments at the municipal office building, and asked her what kinds of things are going on in her Providence.

“Not much of anything,” said Joy. “We’re not very big.”

But they do have a July 4th celebration coming up, one of the town’s annual highlights – a familiar focus to those of us in Rhode Island.

I also learned Providence, Kentucky's "City Hall" sometimes gets calls from people looking for the other Providence. The city clerk, Tiffany Conrad, told me someone once phoned in having a fit about a parking ticket. But she didn't recognize the street. It turns out the guy was off by a thousand miles.

“That cracked me up a little bit,” Tiffany said.

After chatting with Joy, I asked if the head person was around. At that, she transferred me to James Hackney – hizzoner.

“Did I get the mayor?” I asked.

“You sure did,” Hackney said in a bit of Southern drawl.

He’s had the job for 18 months.

What was he doing before?

“Retired,” said the mayor.

He’s now 75 and grew up in Kentucky’s Providence, which, like ours, was named for “Divine Providence.” At least that’s what Wikipedia says.

I asked Hackney why he ran for office in his 70s.

“When I was a kid,” he said, “we had all sort of businesses uptown, coal mines were booming, three plastic factories. They’re all gone.”

The biggest company in Providence, Kentucky, today makes plastic pipe for field drainage.

“We got two pharmacies, three gas stations, one restaurant,” Mayor Hackney told me. “Most of the people who have to work, work out of town.”

I asked if either pharmacy was a CVS.

“We did, but they shut it down,” said the mayor.

I told him CVS headquarters was near my Providence and I could talk to them about putting it back.

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“Would you please?” Hackney said.

And Providence, Kentucky, also has its own city golf course, which the mayor likes to play. In fact, when I called the municipal offices to ask for a photo the next day, Tiffany, the city clerk, told me the mayor had just made a hole-in-one on a 110-yard par three. I like to think it's because his interview with The Providence Journal left him well-focused.

During our talk, Hackney told me 2,830 folks live in Providence, Kentucky, then asked me how big Providence, Rhode Island, is.

Just under 200,000, I said, but its metro area is a million.

“Wow,” said Hackney. That impressed him.

It turns out Providence, Kentucky, is coal country, or used to be. Hackney’s dad was a coal miner, as was one of his brothers. Hackney himself worked for the federal government as a coal-mining supervisor.

He also served four years in the Marines, including in Vietnam, where he got two Purple Hearts.

“Welcome home,” I told him.

“I’m glad to be here.”

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I asked what life is like in his Providence.

“It’s quiet,” said the mayor. “The biggest problem we have here is, oh, the water line being busted. And keeping people employed.”

I asked if there was much crime in Providence, Kentucky.

“I guess the biggest crime is not paying alimony or child support,” he said.

Then I told him our Providence had the world’s biggest termite on display – 58 feet of fiberglass, 928 times the size of a normal one. And it's blue. Did Providence, Kentucky, have anything like that?

That got a chuckle. They don’t. But they do have a life-size bronze statue of a coal miner. I almost told him we have an even bigger bronze statue – 11 feet tall – on top of our State House called the Independent Man, but I didn't want to show off.

I asked Mayor Hackney if Baptists were the biggest religion in town. He said he imagined they were. At that, I told him the country’s first Baptist church is in our Providence, and pilgrims from southern towns are known to visit the mother church here.

That impressed him, too.

Then he asked about our mayor.

Of course, I had to tell him about the former famous one, Buddy Cianci, who got kicked out of office by a judge after beating up his ex-wife’s boyfriend.

“Seems I remember something about that,” said Mayor Hackney. “It made the news.”

But people loved Cianci, I said, and he got reelected until he then had to do five years with the feds for corruption. Yet people still loved him.

We talked more about the decline of coal – they used to have over a dozen mines around Providence. But no more.

So Hackney is hoping to build the economy back up.

Meanwhile, he said it’s a lovely town, with great folks.

Then he had a call come in and had to get back to his municipal duties.

I thanked him for taking a moment to chat with me.

And share a glimpse into the other Providence.

mpatinki@providencejournal.com

This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Mark Patinkin: There's no place like home – even if it does have the same name