Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

On March 3, 1783, Harrodsburg held its 1^st court session months after Virginia law created the Kentucky District Court in 1782.  Soon after, the court traveled to several stations around Kentucky before meeting in Danville on March 14, 1785.

On March 3, 1807, Thomas Todd served his last day as Chief Justice of the Kentucky Court of Appeals.  His new job started the next day as an Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court.

On March 3, 1820, Lexington’s historical Postlethwaite Traven burned for the 1^st time.  Capt. John Postlethwaite started the establishment, then shifted to Joshua Wilson, then to Sanford Keene when the fire occurred.  Capt. John Postlethwaite took over operations after the fire until he died in 1833.  It burned for the 2^nd time in 1879 when and then rebuilt as The Phoenix Hotel.   History Of Fayette County, Kentucky Edited By William Henry Perrin; pg: 281

March 3, 1828, John Carpenter Bucklin became Louisville’s 1^st mayor, one month after the state legislature passed Louisville’s city charter.  Bucklin would serve six, one-year terms.  The mayor’s powers were somewhat limited in the early charter.  A Unitarian; his pastor called him: “so complete a skeptic that he will believe nothing he has not seen or touched.  He thinks the sciences of chemistry, geology, anatomy, geology, etc., are all humbug.”

On March 3, 1828, Kentucky burned $400,000 of Commonwealth bank notes.

March 3, 1837, the federal government announced that Louisville would receive a U.S. Marine Hospital, one of seven such wards built along the Mississippi River.

March 3, 1842, Kentucky created Letcher County from Perry County and Harlan County, named in honor of Robert P. Letcher, Kentucky’s 15^th governor.  The county seat is Whitesburg.  Other localities include: Blackey, Fleming-Neon, Jenkins, Mayking, McRoberts, Millstone, Payne Gap, Beefhide, (partial) Burdine, Deane, Dunham, Eolia, Ermine, Gaskill, Gilley, Hemphill, Isom, Jeremiah, Letcher, and Seco.  Letcher County was the 93^rd county created and covers 339 square miles.

March 3, 1863, John J. Crittenden served his last day as Kentucky’s U.S. Senator.  He died three months later.  Crittenden served as a U.S. representative, U.S. senator, Kentucky governor, Kentucky secretary of state and U.S. attorney general.

March 3, 1876, “flakes of meat” fell from the sky around Mrs. Allen Crouch as she made soap in her Bath County garden.  An art professor at Transylvania University, Kurt Gohde, studied the story and uncovered many theories but no definite answers.

Saturday, March 3, 1877, Rutherford Birchard Hayes became the 19^th U.S. President in the Red Room of the White House, the 1^st president to take the oath in the White House.  The public ceremony occurred on Monday, March 5.

March 3, 1908, State University, Lexington (UK) hosted and defeated Georgetown College 18-13 in the State College Gymnasium.  Early in the second half the Cadet lads took the lead and held their opponents down during the remainder of the contest.  Kentucky had an unknown coach.

March 3, 1911, State University, Lexington (UK) ended their season by hosting and defeating Transylvania University in the Buell Armory Gymnasium.  More than 500 watched the 3^rd game of a new rivalry.  Kentucky Coach Harold J. Iddings’s high scorer was Louisville native Frank Marx.

March 3, 1917, the Vols defeated the University of Kentucky (UK) 30-20 in the Knoxville Central Y.M.C.A.  At no stage of the game were the Wildcats ever dangerous and their playing did not come up to the contest on Friday night when they held the U.T.

March 3, 1932, thousands of anti-tax store owners rallied in the rain on the Capitol lawn.  Then they raided the governor’s mansion, scaring the staff, trashing the floors, and slightly damaging some furnishings.  The raid made headlines across the states.

March 3, 1933, Chief of Police Orville Gross, Wallins Creek Police Department, succumbed to a gunshot wound sustained the previous day while investigating a domestic disturbance. 

March 3, 1944, the Germans shot down Mt. Victory native and ACE Vermont Garrison and then took him prisoner.  The Russians liberated him on May 1, 1945, and he remained in Europe as part of the Army of Occupation until 1946.  He is one of only seven men to become an ACE in both World War II and Korea.

March 3, 1967, Army PFC Ronald L. Mikesell from Louisville died in the Vietnam War.

March 3, 1969, Army SGT William O. Walters from Melber in McCracken County died in the Vietnam War.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Beaver Dam native Jason Crabb, born in 1977; the front man for The Crabb Family Christian music group.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Winchester native Yeremiah Bell born in 1978.  After playing football for EKU from 1999-2001 and several NFL teams, Yeremiah retired in 2014.

March 3, 1980, Governor John Y. Brown, Jr. appointed Phyllis George Brown full-time chairman of the newly created Kentucky Film Commission.  The 1^st Lady promoted film making in Kentucky without pay.

March 3, 1985, Bill Shoemaker became the 1^st jockey whose mounts surpassed $100 million in career earnings.  He rode Lord at War to a one and three-quarters-length victory in the $500,600 Santa Anita Handicap before a record crowd at Santa Anita Park.  Shoemaker, 53 years old, went into the day needing $82,977 to top $100 million.

On March 3, 1992, a state senator said, By God….I need a little Gubstake, one of many quotes from BOBTROT.   He allegedly conspired with others in the Capital to get what he considered an overdue payoff for helping pass the 1984 banking legislation.

March 3, 2001, Denny Crum coached his last regular season game at home.  The win came against the Memphis Tigers, coached by John Calipari in Freedom Hall.

March 3, 2011, Governor Steve Beshear’s Communications Office released a press statement headed, “Beshear signs landmark corrections reform bill into law.”  The bill decriminalized the personal use of marijuana, up to eight ounces, reducing it to a minor offense.

March 3, 2015, the Kentucky Natural Lands Trust started a new fundraiser to buy 9,000 acres in four counties.  High on the list was 1,200 acres in Harlan County, home to the largest tract of old-growth forest in the Commonwealth.

March 3, 2018, Gulfstream Park’s GII $400,000 Fountain of Youth Stakes finished with Keeneland graduates placing 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 6^th.   

March 3, 2020, Kentucky officials prepared for the coronavirus to land in Kentucky and began discussing if entertainment and other venues should remain open and or limited.  Washington, D.C. told the American public, “The average American doesn’t need to go out and buy a mask.”  Meanwhile, a Kentucky legislative committee approved a bill to establish the Kentucky Center for Cannabis Research at UK to advance cannabis for medical treatment.

March 3, 2021, Kentucky continued declining infections with a 4.6% positivity rate.  Governor A. Beshear, “Let’s remember as we work defeating this virus, we can’t quit,” he said, reiterating the importance of keeping in place a state-wide mask mandate and rules limiting in-person interactions.

On March 3, 2022, the Georgia General Assembly moved forward on a horse racing bill; local media covered it well.  The proponents showed models of new horse racing tracks in Georgia and discussed the possibility of $1.3 billion for new state revenue.