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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

On October 7, 1873, Louisville dedicated the 1st school in Kentucky, built with public funds solely for educating African-American children, named Central Colored School, better known as Central High School.  Although public schools existed in 1829, blacks were not privileged to free education until after the Civil War.  The First Baptist Church sang and opened the program appropriately titled I Waited Patiently.  The 1st day included 27 students, one teacher, and one principal.  Within three years, 1,000 children attended.  African Americans had only one public high school until 1956.

October 7, 1887, Patrolman Joseph Boyle, Louisville Police Department, died in the line of duty.

October 7, 1899, Centre College smothered Georgetown College 43-0 on the Georgetown gridiron.

October 7, 1916, Kentucky beat Centre 68-0 in Lexington, the 1st time they played.  J.J Tigret coached the Cats in his last year.  The series would end after 13 games, with Centre winning eight and Kentucky five.

October 7, 1917, 28-year-old Special Policeman James Brown, Wayland Police Department, died from a gunshot while attempting to arrest a group of men who were creating a disturbance in the town.  Policeman Brown had served with the Wayland Police Department for only ten months.

On October 7, 1920, a Lexington barber died, and a night operator at the Midway’s Louisville & Nashville railroad station received injuries when they responded to a robbery at the Midway distillery.  Bandits shot them as they stole several cases of whiskey.  The Lexington barber was in Midway substituting for his brother, a mail carrier on vacation.

October 7, 1928, Constable Alex Webb, Bell County Constable’s Office, died from a gunshot while he slept at his home at Pine Mountain, in retaliation for an investigation of two men who were operating a still.  Both men were arrested and charged with his murder.

On October 7, 1930, a large crew started work on a power line near the Kentucky River in another move in the frantic race to complete the water pipeline from the River to Lexington before the city’s water supply ran dry.

October 7, 1932, Chief of Police John Dee Clark, Flemingsburg Police Department, died from a gunshot while approaching a drunk and disorderly suspect. 

October 7, 1942, Louisville’s famed Kentucky Hotel received a 68-page indictment from Federal Court that charged the V.P. of “exceeding rental rates for rooms ranging from .25 cents to $3.50 a day during April and May.

October 7, 1944, Patrolman Vadas G. Richardson, Kentucky Highway Patrol, died when he stopped to render aid to a vehicle parked on the side of Highway 25 near London.  As he approached the vehicle one of the occupants opened fire, striking him in the chest.

October 7, 1950, the 6th ranked Kentucky Wildcats crushed Dayton 40-0.  Bear Bryant’s team would go on to win the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans.

October 7, 1951, Army PFC Eother L. Sneed from Barren County and Army PVT Homer R. Ballow from Bullitt County died fighting in the Korean War.

October 7, 1952, Marine Corps PFC Eunis O. Payton from Daviess County died fighting in the Korean War.

October 7, 1961, Muhammad Ali (9-0) fought Alex Miteff (25-10-1) in Freedom Hall State Fairground, Louisville.  Miteff, a 26-year-old from Argentina, was a promising heavyweight contender known for his body attacks, but he was no match for Clay.  The “Louisville Lip” must have taken to heart the booing from his previous fight because he brutally pounded Miteff, knocking him out in the 6th round.  Miteff retired after losing his next fight.  He tried to come back five years later but retired for good after being KO’d by Jerry Quarry in the 3rd round in April 1967.  Miteff had a small part in the movie Requiem for a Heavyweight, which starred Anthony Quinn and Jackie Gleason.

October 7, 1968, Governor Louis B. Nunn established the “Wild Rivers” Commission.  The five-member commission recommended legislation to preserve Kentucky’s “Wild Rivers.”

October 7-10, 1976, locals held the Grand Opening for the Lexington Center/Rupp Arena.  As part of the events, the general public could take a guided tour of the “Downtown Dream Come True” for 99 cents.  Visitors toured the “largest sporting arena in the country,” with seating for more than 23,000 and a specially-designed 12,000-lbs. sound system lovingly nicknamed “Big Bertha.”

On October 7, 1984, 58-year-old Queen Elizabeth II arrived at the Lexington Airport for her 1st Kentucky visit and stayed for six days.  Her Royal Air Force Jet touched down at 4:31 p.m.  Governor Collins received her 1st, followed by other local dignitaries.  Hundreds waited in the rain to get a glimpse of HRH before leaving for Lane’s End Farm.

October 7, 1984, Louisville hosted the 1st Presidential Debate between candidates R. Reagan, 73, and W. Mondale at the Kentucky Center for the Arts, Barbara Walters moderator.  Reagan appeared tired and sometimes confused when he referred to having started going to church “here in Washington” and military uniforms as “wardrobe.”  He admitted to being “confused.”  The lead story the following day focused on whether Reagan’s age affected his performance as president.  Reagan responded, “I’ll challenge him to an arm wrestle any time.”  In Kentucky, Reagan received 822,782 votes to Mondale’s 539,589.  Seventy-five to a hundred million people watched the debate.

On October 7, 1987, Governor M. Collins called a special legislative session to close a deficit between state contributions to the worker’s Special Fund and disbursements.  The Special Fund made payments to workers with occupational diseases and workers whose work-related injuries could not be traced to any single employer. 

October 7, 1989, Belmont hosted the one mile and a half GI Jockey Club Gold Cup.

October 7, 2012, John C. “Johnny” Owens, 85, of Lexington, regarded as the most accomplished amateur golfer in Kentucky history, passed away.  His golf career included back-to-back state high school titles as a Henry Clay Blue Devil, a Southeastern Conference championship as a Wildcat, a pair of State Amateur crowns, and a British Senior Amateur title.

On October 7, 2018, banker Jack Graves, who helped get Rupp Arena built and became the 1st Chairman of the Lexington Civic Board, died.  As a 6th generation hemp farmer, he dedicated the last part of his life to legalizing the crop.

On October 7, 2019, as the House subpoenaed the DoD for documents to impeach President D. Trump, Donald threatened to stop the endless wars by pulling out of Syria and Turkey until his party went berserk and made him backtrack.

On October 7, 2020, due to a backlog of cases in Fayette County, the state announced a record 2,398 positive cases.  In reality, 926 positive cases occurred on the 7th, and 1,472 occurred a month and a half ago?

Positives:  2,398 / 76,587
Deaths:  5 / 1,223 – 1st Death 3/16/20
50&over:  1,191 / 49-30: 28 / 29&under: 2