TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORYDecember 14, 2021December 14, 2021Kentucky TriviaLocaltonians wish a Happy Birthday to Dolly Wood, the first white female born in Mason County, in 1786.December 14, 1796, Montgomery County was created from Clark County and was named in honor of Richard Montgomery, military general killed at the Battle of Quebec. Mount Sterling is the county seat. Other cities and towns include: Camargo, Jeffersonville, Judy and Levee. Montgomery County was the 22nd county created and covers 199 square miles.December 14, 1796, Bracken County was formed from Campbell County and Mason County and was named in honor of William Bracken, trapper and frontiersman. Brooksville is the county seat. Other localities are Augusta, Foster and Germantown. Bracken County was the 24th county created and covers 209 square miles.December 14, 1798, Henry County was created from Shelby County and was named in honor of Patrick Henry, Revolutionary War-era legislator and U.S. founding father. New Castle is the county seat. Other cities and towns include: Bethlehem, Campbellsburg, Defoe, Eminence, Franklinton, Lockport, Pendleton, Pleasureville, Port Royal, Smithfield, Sulphur and Turners Station. Henry County was the 36th county created and covers 291 square miles.December 14, 1798, Cumberland County was created from Green County and was named for the Cumberland River, which flows through the county. Burksville is the county seat. Other cities and towns include: Marrowbone, Amandaville, Bakerton, Bow, Dubre, Green Grove, Grider, Judio, Kettle, Modoc, Peytonsburg and Waterview. Cumberland County was the 37th county created and covers 305 square miles.December 14, 1798, Gallatin County was created from Franklin County and Shelby County and was named in honor of Albert Gallatin, United States Secretary of the Treasury. Warsaw is the county seat. Other cities and towns located in the county include: Glencoe and Sparta. Gallatin County was the 30th county created, the second smallest and covers 105 square miles.December 14, 1821, Lawrence County was created from Floyd County and Greenup County and was named in honor of James Lawrence , naval commander during the War of 1812. Louisa is the county seat. Other cities and towns include: Blaine, Cherryville, Fallsburg, Kise, Ulysses, Lowmansville and Webbville. Lawrence County was the 70th county created and covers 420 square miles.December 14, 1825, Russell County was created from Cumberland County, Adair County and Wayne County and was named in honor of William Russell (1758–1825), pioneer and state legislator. Jamestown is the county seat. Other localities in are Russell Springs and Creelsboro. Russell County was the 81st county created and covers 250 square miles.December 14, 1882, Belle Brezing of Lexington was pardoned by Governor Luke P. Blackburn for keeping a bawdy House.Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Miss Kathleen Mulligan, born in 1889. Miss Mulligan was the first woman to sit as a judge in Kentucky when appointed as a Lexington municipal judge in 1928 and 1929. She was also the first woman vice president of the Kentucky Bar Association, the first woman on the Kentucky membership committee of the ABA, and first woman secretary of the Fayette County Democratic Committee.December 14, 1899, a meeting took place in the Capital Hotel, providing the first hint of dissension from Democrats to contest the November election in which a Republican won the governor’s mansion. Goebel, who traveled out of town on inauguration day, returned to Frankfort, having stated he was not eager to contest the election and would leave that up to his party.December 14, 1907, Town Marshal Albert Clutterbuck, Florence Police Department, was shot and killed by the town’s former marshal who held a grudge against him. The former marshal blamed Marshal Clutterbuck for being fired from the position earlier in the year.December 14, 1923, Deputy Sheriff James Farris Ball, McCreary County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed by an unknown person as he was attempting to arrest two suspects. His partner was also wounded.December 14, 1938, Judy Garland sang “My Old Kentucky Home, Good-Night!” live on the radio show America Calling. She later covered it again on The All Time Flop Parade with Bing Crosby and The Andrews Sisters.December 14, 1966, Navy PO3 James H. Daulton from Sloans Valley in Pulaski County died in the Vietnam War.December 14, 1967, Army SFC Louis W. Wadlington from Salem in Livingston County died in the Vietnam War.December 14, 1970, the survey below ran in the Lexington paper.December 14, 1981, four thousand two hundred gallons of oil spilled into the Cumberland River. The oil spilled from a corroded pipe leading from an oil well to a storage tank near the river. The oil was owned by a Kansas firm and was leaking for several days before it was noticed.December 14, 1985, Samuel Kern Alexander, Jr., became WKU’s 7th president. The Cumberland Countian, whose family who has long been involved in Kentucky education, as its new president was paid $75,000 for his first year. December 14, 1985, an early morning fire destroyed the First Unitarian Church of Louisville, a 114-year old downtown landmark.On December 14, 1990, the Kentucky lottery became official when legislators passed a bill that created an eight-member lottery board, headed by a president appointed by the governor and confirmed by the other seven members.December 14, 1990, a UK nuclear physics professor announced that he had invented a device that would make airline travel safer by detecting plastic explosives and narcotics hidden in airplane luggage.December 14, 1990, Governor W. Wilkinson began filming television commercials designed to showcase the accomplishments of his administration. Wilkerson’s press secretary made it clear that the move had nothing to do with Martha Wilkinson’s campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor. The governor’s term ended December 1991.December 14, 2000, the EPA called out Kentucky power plants for large amounts of mercury spewing from their wastewater, claiming it is a significant hazard to public health. The EPA mandated the pollution be reduced, with the new requirements taking effect in 2004.December 14, 2005, the U.S. Congress renewed and modified the Patriot Act, further eroding civil liberties in the name of protecting citizens against terrorists.December 14, 2005, Judge Sara Combs inspects sculptor Raymond Graf’s clay statue of Governor Bert T. Combs that would eventually be cast in bronze and stand in Powell County, Comb’s adopted county.December 14, 2015, Jordan Smith won season nine of the singing competition The Voice.December 14, 2020, healthcare workers received the first dose of the coronavirus vaccine in Kentucky. A total of 12,500 vaccines were en route to hospitals throughout the state. Meanwhile, the Electoral College announced Joe Biden reached 270 votes to win the presidential race officially.
