TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

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January 6, 1775, Richard Henderson reorganized the Louisa Company, adding new members and forming the Transylvania Company, with an agreement outlining the form of government the new colony would take.  Henderson commissioned Daniel Boone to begin land purchase negotiations with the Cherokee Nation.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Breckinridge County native Joseph Holt born in 1807.  Mr. Holt was the 18th U.S. Postmaster General and 25th U.S. Secretary of War.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Bardstown native Robert Charles Wickliffe born in 1819, the 15th Governor of Louisiana.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Chloe Creek native Effie Waller Smith, born 1879 in Pike County.  Effie was an African-American poet of the early twentieth century who published three volumes of poetry: Songs of the Month (1904), Rhymes From the Cumberland (1904), and Rosemary and Pansies (1909).  Her poetry appeared in the publication Harper’s Weekly and various regional newspapers.

Horse Racing Trivia:  Tiznow is the only horse to have won the Breeders’ Cup Classic twice, once in 2000 and again in 2001.

January 6, 1906, Town Marshal T. H. Kirby, Scottsville Police Department, was accidentally killed when his revolver fell from its holster and discharged, striking him in the heart.  He was supervising prisoners working on Main Street when the accident occurred.  Marshal Kirby had been sworn in only seven days into his second term.

January 6, 1920, on the first day of the General Assembly, Kentucky ratified the Nineteenth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, giving women the right to vote.

Jan 6 19th Amendement
Governor Edwin P. Morrow signs the ratification as members of the Kentucky Equal Rights Association look on. Suffrage leader Madeline McDowell Breckinridge stands behind Morrow (second from right). KHS Collections.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Lynn native Donald Edward Gullett, born in 1951 in Greenup County.  Don was a member of the Cincinnati Reds dynasty that won four National League pennants and two World Series championships between 1970 and 1976.  He was a member of the New York Yankees who won two consecutive World Series championships in 1977 and 1978.

January 6, 1964, the owner of the Kansas City A’s, Charlie Finley, signed a two-year deal that would shift the club to Louisville.  The deal would have the Athletics playing ball at Louisville’s Fairgrounds Stadium.  The city and state guaranteeing the stadium would undergo a renovation that would raise the seating capacity from 20,100 to 30,632.  Other MLB owners would not approve the deal.

January 6, 1969, Army PFC David L. Johnson from Flemingsburg died in the Vietnam War.

January 6, 1970, falling snow and plunging temperatures put education on ice in 43 Kentucky counties and slowed Kentucky highways to a standstill.  The city of Louisville declared an emergency.

Jan 6

January 6, 1971, the Kentucky Colonels take on the Virginia Squires.

Jan 6 colonels

January 6, 1976, three women were driving home from dinner on US 27 in Stanford when they saw what they thought was an airplane on fire falling from the sky.  But the object stopped on a dime less than 100 feet from the ground beside them and, the women claim, caused the car to accelerate uncontrollably.  They could now see what they described as a disc-shaped craft with revolving yellow lights that maneuvered behind them and began pulling their vehicle toward it.  A blue light then filled the car and the next thing the passengers remember was being back on the highway, driving home, but confused and noticeably hot like they had been subjected to powerful sunlamps.  Residents of nearby counties independently reported the same UFO around the time of the alleged encounter.

January 6, 1980, Gov. John Y. Brown and Agriculture Commissioner Alben Barkley II met at Cave Hill, the Governor’s Lexington mansion.  They discussed their differences in the Agriculture department’s operation.  The two men were at odds on how to promote Kentucky Ag products.  Brown claimed Barkley was uncooperative and Barkley claimed Brown was meddling, possibly unlawful, in his department.

Jan 6 Cave Hill

January 6, 1996, the Warren Hotel in Bowling Green caught on fire and killed three guest and injured more than a dozen others.

Kentucky Trivia:  KFC wasn’t always called Kentucky Fried Chicken. While it did originate in Kentucky, Harland Sanders first sold his fried chicken out of the front of the gas station he operated, and he named the restaurant Sanders Court & Cafe.

On January 6, 2000, officials discovered $300,000 of financial irregularities in Frankfort.  Deputy Education Commissioner Randy Kimbrough abruptly resigned.

January 6, 2000, Kentucky lawmakers finally made it a felony to steal someone’s identity.

January 6, 2005, a federal judge ordered Saddlebred Wild-Eye and Wicked exhumed after dying under mysterious circumstances.  The Kentucky State Police started the investigation.  Wild-Eye and Wicked was a two-time winner of the Saddlebred industry’s Triple Crown.

January 6, 2006, Ralph Annis, who escaped a Kentucky prison and lived on the lamb for 15 years, accepted a plea deal to serve 14 more years.  He murdered a 10-month-old baby in 1978.

January 6, 2008, the Midway Christian Church re-created an Old-Time Christmas with a Medieval Epiphany feast celebration with a locally raised hog instead of a wild boar.

January 6, 2015, Sen. Brandon Smith, R-Hazard was pulled over in Frankfort on the first day of the 2015 legislative session for drunk driving and speeding.  He was later acquitted, by a jury, for drunk driving but the speeding charge stuck.

January 6, 2020, Kentucky Judge Dawn Gentry who was accused of ethics violations including having sex with staff members in the courthouse was suspended from the bench with pay.

January 6, 2020, the federal government announced its intentions to take away David Bruce Coffey’s $1.6 million in assets.  Authorities alleged that Coffey ran drug clinics in Eastern Kentucky that illegally prescribed millions of pills to feed the Kentucky drug epidemic.