June 6, 1776, a meeting held in Fort Harrod elected George Rogers Clark and Gabriel John Jones to persuade the Virginia legislature to create a new county from Virginia’s extensive land holdings.
On June 6, 1792, Governor Isaac Shelby appeared before the legislature in Lexington and delivered his 1st message in person as the 1st governor. Kentucky in Retrospect 1792-1967 by Lila Jones Kington pg: 29
June 6, 1801, Henry Clay received his license to practice law, took the oath of office in Cynthiana , and the Quarter Sessions Court of Harrison County admitted him to practice law. Kentucky in Retrospect 1792-1967 by Lila Jones Kington pg: 42
June 6, 1867, Danville native Theodore O’Hara passed . Theodore is best known for the poem “Bivouac of the Dead,” a famous poem placed in cemeteries around the globe.
On June 6, 1879, Louisville’s 1st amusement park, Elm Tree Garden on Shippingport Island, opened to the public . The Garden featured mazes, puzzle gardens, a long rope walk, the Napoleon Distillery, and a racetrack.
On June 6, 1884, Lexington indicted Belle Brezing for nuisance. Madame Belle Brezing by Buddy Thompson, pg 190.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Mud River native William Anderson Alexander , a college football legend, born in 1889.
June 6, 1896, heavy favorite, Margrave gave five pounds to his three competitors to win the 21st Preakness Stakes . The 1 1/16 miles went in 1:51 to win $1,500. Harry Griffin, from New York City, rode the winner. The Belmont ran four days earlier and the Derby one month earlier.
June 6, 1919, Samuel D. Riddle’s Man o’ War made his racing debut at Belmont Park , going on a straight course of 5 furlongs against other two-year-olds. Despite having jockey Johnny Loftus using much restraint throughout the race, Man o’ War won by a comfortable six lengths and made quite an impression in the papers. Man o’ War won $500.00. Just three days later he won his second race at odds of 7-10.
On June 6, 1923, for the first time in 20 years, Frankfort had no street cars. Under the orders of the Kentucky Traction and Terminal Company, they sent all the street cars to Lexington. They never returned. Frankfort laid the tracks 50 years earlier for a mule car system. Later, the city electrified the system. The interurban service was not affected.
Hardinsburg hanged Sam Jennings in public on June 6, 1932, after a rape guilty verdict. Between 1920 and 1938, a Kentucky statute permitted a jury to impose public hanging for rape . This was the next to last public execution in America, the last being Rainey Bethea’s, carried out four years later in Owensboro.
June 6, 1936, Granville won the 68th Belmont Stakes by a nose over Mr. Bones , going the 1 1/16 miles in 1:45 and earning $29,800. Thirty-five days earlier, he finished last in the Derby, and on May 16 he finished 2nd in the Preakness.
June 6, 1951, Army PFC J.P. Melton from Wayne County , Army SFC Thomas P. Pettit from Grant County, and Army PFC Marvin W. Smith from Lincoln County , died in the Korean War.
June 6, 1956, Esker Carroll caught a state record Flathead Catfish weighing 97 pounds in the Green River . The all-tackle world record stands at 123 pounds caught in the Elk City Reservoir in Kansas in 1998.
June 6, 1970, High Echelon won the 102nd Belmont Stakes worth $158,750 over nine others on a sloppy track . Hall of Fame trainer Hirsch Jacobs died in January so his son took over for Echelon’s run at the Triple Crown series. They ran 3rd in the Derby and 4th in the Preakness.
June 6, 1980, after denying knowledge of payments twice while governor, ex-governor Julian Carroll, refreshed his memory in a courtroom and remembered discussing the controversial payment . The Paducah car dealer made the payment and received a state truck contact. Carroll testified in the car dealer’s theft by deception trial that happened during his administration.
June 6, 1992, a Keeneland graduate won the 124th Belmont Stakes and earned $458,880 . A.P. Indy’s 2:26 was the 2nd -fastest time in the Belmont Stakes, just two seconds slower than his maternal grandsire Secretariat. He is part of the only three-generation sequence of Belmont Stakes winners: His sire Seattle Slew won the race in 1977, A.P. Indy in 1992, and his daughter Rags to Riches beat the boys in 2007.
The Lexington Herald-Leader collected data on shock probations from January 1, 1990, to June 6, 1994. The results showed that courts released 2,154 White people compared to 579 Blacks.
June 6, 1996, Governor Martha Layne Collins accepted a new job with UK as Director of International Business and Management Center . She left her job as president of St. Catherine College after six years.
June 6, 1998, Victory Gallop won the 130th Belmont Stakes , by a nose, in 2:29.16 to win $600,000. Gary Stevens won his 2nd of three Belmonts on the Canadian bred in a thrilling classic. Trainer Elliott Walden placed 2nd in the Derby and Preakness behind Real Quiet.
June 6, 2001, Kentucky coal industry officials, frustrated by what they said were 1,000 mine jobs they couldn’t fill, began to recruit from Ukraine. Twenty men accepted the terms to work in Kentucky.
At 7:30 a.m. on Friday, June 6, 2003, a light earthquake shook portions of Western Kentucky. The epicenter of the 4.5 magnitude quake was one mile south of Blandville in Ballard County.
June 6, 2006, click to see Lexington Legends starting pitcher Roger Clemens , the Legend’s mascot, and 8-year-old Jonah Dixon, a member of the Southwest Lexington Reds, standing for the National Anthem.
June 6, 2009, Kentucky bred Summer Bird paid $25.80 when he won the $1,000,000 Belmont Stakes . The stewards disregarded an inquiry into the stretch run. Summer Bird died in Japan due to colic at age seven.
June 6, 2010, actor Mike Myers (Wayne’s World) told the Los Angeles Times that he was “kind of obsessed” with painting Harland Sanders. The Austin Powers creator had completed 15 oil paintings of the Kentucky Fried Chicken founder.
June 6, 2015, eight colts ran in the 147th Belmont Stakes in Elmont, New York at the Belmont Park for a $1,500,000 purse . ntucky bred American Pharoah earned $800,000, the Triple Crown (TC), and became the 1st horse to win the TC since Affirmed in 1978. The 12th TC winner ran in 2:26.65, the 6th -fastest of all time and the 2nd -fastest (following only Secretariat in 1973) amongst TC winners.
June 6, 2018, Kentucky’s Chief Justice denied a request by Governor M. Bevin to remove a judge the governor called an “incompetent hack” from presiding over a lawsuit challenging Kentucky’s new pension law. Meanwhile, Pike County received its 1st payment from a controversial $400,000 loan it gave to a company promising to create jobs; the company raised the money through cryptocurrency.
June 6, 2021, a key Democratic Senator, J. Manchin (W.VA) voted no for the largest overhaul of a U.S. election law in at least a generation , defying his party and the White House. Proving once again the left wing and the right wing belong to the same beast; war, corporate capture, donor privilege, for-profit healthcare, and election control.
On June 6, 2023, Merck Drug Company sued the U.S. of A. over the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that allowed the government to negotiate prescription drug prices with pharmaceutical companies. The law tried to cut costs for the elderly and disabled Medicare patients. Big Pharma cried and claimed it was nothing but “extortion.” Merck lost, but they are appealing.
On June 6, 2024, Barrier (Wayne County) native Hal Rogers, who served in the Kentucky and NC National Guard, made a rare post to his social media page. Meanwhile, Governor A. Beshear handed out another Big Check, this time to the good people in Shelby County.