Town file
Brandenburg, Kentucky
Brandenburg, Kentucky (Meade County, Kentucky) is the town in one episode of Small Town Murder, the comedy true-crime podcast: episode 379, "The Satanic Corporate Ladder" (13 April 2023). Brandenburg, Kentucky lies in Meade County, about fifty minutes from Louisville, in the part of the state the town motto calls the heartland of Kentucky.
- Town
- Brandenburg
- County
- Meade County
- State
- Kentucky
- Country
- USA
- Episodes
- 379
- Approximate location
- 37.997, -86.180
Episode 379 / 13 April 2023 / 161 min / full
The Satanic Corporate Ladder
"This is Brandenburg, Kentucky, and it is like it's over by Louisville, over in that side of the state there. It's about 50 minutes outside of Louisville. This is in Meade County." about 0:04:35
The case: Murder of Rhonda Sue Warford (April 1992). Read the case file.
The figures, as told in 2023
- Population
- 2,857
- Median age
- 34.1
- Median household income
- $39,440
- Median home value
- $253,900
- Two-bedroom rent
- $760
- Cost of living
- 85
- Religious
- 58.5%
- Property crime
- ▼ about half
- Violent crime
- ▼ about one third
History, in brief
- The town was built on a 3,000-acre tract of land called Falling Springs, purchased in 1804 by Solomon Brandenburg. about 0:05:29
- Brandenburg opened a tavern in the middle of the tract and the town grew around it. about 0:05:34
- By 1825 it had become the seat of the county. about 0:06:07
- It was not formally incorporated as a town until 1872. about 0:06:16
- In 1974 the town was pretty much levelled by an F5 tornado. about 0:06:20
- The tornado touched down near Hardensburg and moved north-east, growing into a half-mile-wide wedge tornado. about 0:07:09
- The tornado killed 31 people and injured 270. about 0:07:48
- All but three of the fatalities and most of the injuries were in Brandenburg. about 0:08:01
- 28 homes and 30 businesses were completely destroyed. about 0:08:09
- There was no early warning from tornado sirens or the weather wire service. about 0:08:15
- About half an hour later the same supercell spawned an F4 tornado in south-west Louisville, Jefferson County, killing three people and injuring 207. about 0:08:34
- The Brandenburg tornado remains the only F5 tornado in Kentucky state history since official record keeping began in 1950. about 0:08:57
- Later that day another F5 crossed the Ohio River from Indiana into Kentucky at Cincinnati and went back into Ohio, but did little damage in Kentucky so it was not counted. about 0:09:10
The reviews read out
5 stars
"Great community with the absolute best schools and teachers, peaceful with not a lot of crime, country life not too far from the city and a real small-town feel."about 0:09:36
4 stars
"Schools and teachers are some of the best in the state, with a small close-knit community and historical locations, but a lack of entertainment is the biggest con; the skating rink, theatre and arcade closed after teens fought."about 0:10:51
4 stars
"Lived there most of his life; an average Kentucky small town with history and a river view, and a good place to grow up."about 0:13:17
3 stars
"Overall Brandenburg is fine, but it needs more recreational activities for teenagers that are not the library."about 0:13:54
2 stars
"A very weird place where something seemed to be going on that only the townspeople knew; people were rude to the whole family except at the ball field."about 0:14:06
Nearest Small Town Murder towns
- Elizabethtown, Kentucky26 miles
- Jeffersonville, Indiana35 miles
- Depoy, Kentucky79 miles
- Cynthiana, Indiana84 miles
- Columbus, Indiana85 miles
- Madisonville, Kentucky85 miles
Everything here is as told in the episode, on the date it went out; figures and places may have changed since. Endings are covered: open an episode and use the spoiler switch to read them.