Skip to content

TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

June 28, 1792, Kentucky created Logan County from Lincoln County in the same year Kentucky received statehood. Locals named it in honor of Benjamin Logan, Revolutionary War General.  Russellville is the county seat.  Other localities include Adairville, Auburn, Lewisburg and Olmstead.  Logan County today covers 557 square miles and was the 13th county created.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Elizabethtown (Hardin County) native John Young Brown, Kentucky’s 31st governor, born in 1835.  Governor Brown signed two major pieces of legislation that progressed the women’s suffrage movement.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Hartford native James Earp, born in 1841 in Ohio County.  James was the lesser-known older brother of Old West lawman Virgil Earp and lawman/gambler Wyatt Earp.  Unlike his brothers, he kept a saloon and did not attend the gunfight at the O.K. Corral.

June 28, 1879, Brighton Beach Race Course opened at Brighton Beach on Coney Island, NY., by the Brighton Beach Racing Association.  Real estate developer William A. Engeman placed the one-mile track behind his Brighton Beach Hotel.

By N.Y. Lith. Co. – Library of Congress

Saturday, June 28, 1884, Washington Park held its inaugural race day.  Forty thousand fans packed the Chicago roads leading to the new track.  Ten gaily attired buglers sounded Boots and Saddles in unison before each race.  The 3rd race featured an event that would quickly become one of the country’s biggest.  The American Derby rivaled the Travers Stakes as the premier event in America for three-year-olds.  Both races at the time were far more prestigious than the Kentucky Derby.

On June 28, 1895, Tom Smith hung on the courthouse lawn for killing a Dr. John Rader, in bloody Breathitt County.

June 28, 1920, “Democrats Prepared To Fight” read headlines across the country as the National convention opened in San Francisco.  Much of the focus centered around The League of Nations, which officially formed six months earlier.  WWI ended in 1918.

June 28, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the “Treasury to Build a Gold Vault at an Army Post in Kentucky.”  He wanted the vault in the center of Fort Knox to host the growing bullion stock from coastal cities vulnerable to enemy attack.  In 1936, the U.S. Treasury Department began construction of the U.S. Bullion Depository.  The 1st gold shipments arrived in January 1937.

Kentucky Trivia:  Guarding Fort Knox and its gold reserves are members of the U.S. Mint Police.  Established in 1792, the Mint Police organization is one of the country’s oldest federal law enforcement agencies.  During World War II, they guarded the original copies of the Constitution, Bill of Rights, and Declaration of Independence; after the war in 1944, the documents returned to Washington.

June 28, 1937, Patrolman Bert Hampton, Louisa Police Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained the previous evening while arresting a drunk driver.

June 28, 1941, while Bracken County stayed dried by 235 votes, out of just under 3,000 votes, the IRS warned Kentucky farmers they had days to obtain a permit to grow hemp.  Around 300 growers applied.  Meanwhile, Madison County received the 1st hint the U.S. Army Depot would be coming soon.

June 28, 1951, Army PVT James W. Scolf from Fayette County died in the Korean War.

June 28, 1952, Army PVT James W. Phillips from Washington County died in the Korean War.

On June 28, 1955, critics along with the national press saw the 1st showing of Berea’s Wilderness Road at Indian Fort Theater, a symphonic drama of Southern Appalachia locals.  One wrote, ‘Wilderness Road is more than a pageant or acting; it is the spirit of right shining through the darkness of ignorance and prejudice.“

June 28, 1960, Dunmor in Muhlenberg County set a state record for rainfall with 10.4 inches.

June 28, 1971, Army SP4 Larry M. Livingston from Lexington died in the Vietnam War.

June 28, 1971, the Supreme Court (6-0) cleared Muhammad Ali (29) for refusing induction into the Army.  The decision came four years after a jury in Houston sentenced him to five years and stripped him of his belt.  The Supreme Court believed they improperly drafted him.

June 28, 1977, Steve Cauthen, on his 1st day as a jockey, won with his 1st three mounts at Belmont Park.

June 28, 1979, Lexington native Edgar Hayes died after a successful jazz career.

On June 28, 1980, between sips of diet soft drinks at the Long John Silver’s in Shelbyville, UK AD Cliff Hagan and UofL’s acting AD Jack Lengyel resolved the Commonwealth’s most burning basketball question.  The two teams would pick the rivalry back up.  Hagan called it “one of the most emotional issues I’ve been involved in.”  Ticket distribution and referees caused the most significant hurdles in the four-year deal.

On Sunday, June 28, 1981, Kentuckians learned how two men hatched a plot to profit off sick Americans on a Kentucky golf course.  With help from their close friend Mitch McConnell, the scheme succeeded beyond their wildest imagination, and healthcare for profit became a traditional part of American life.  The story started in 1961 when lawyers David Jones and Wendell Cherry played a round of golf.  Their idea turned into Humana.

June 28, 1989, Arlington International Racecourse reopened in Arlington Heights, Ill., after a fire destroyed the old facility in 1985.

On June 28, 1994, three of four federal mining inspectors indicted for taking bribes in Pike, Floyd, and Letcher Counties agreed to change their plea to guilty for their July court date.  The fourth man, another Letcher County inspector, wanted a trial for allegedly accepting a $200 bribe.

June 28, 2000, Fuchasi Pegaus, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby, sold for $72 million.  Coolmore and Japan’s Shadai Farm split ownership 60/40.  Unlike most owners, Mr. Sekiguchi gave up all future rights, wanting nothing of the horse’s future.

June 28, 2005, Thomas Dionysius Clark passed.  In 1990, when the Kentucky General Assembly honored Clark by declaring him Kentucky’s Historian Laureate for life, Governor Brereton Jones described Clark as “Kentucky’s greatest treasure.”

On June 28, 2009, Kenny Perry, 48, put the disappointment of the 2009 Masters behind him once and for all by winning the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, CT, in complete domination.  Perry’s final round 63 brought him to 258 for the week and was the 4th best tournament score in PGA Tour history.  His 14th PGA victory would be his last.  He won $1,080 from the $6 million purse.

On June 28, 2012, the Wildcats set an NBA draft record with six players picked in the 2012 NBA Draft.  Anthony Davis became the 2nd UK player to be selected #1 overall, and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist went #2 overall, becoming the 1st teammates in NBA Draft history to go 1-2 in the same draft.

On June 28, 2014, locals saw the farm census data for the Bluegrass State.  We had 77,064 farms totaling 13 million acres; a family or individual owned 90%, and corporations only held 2.4%.  A majority of farms had 50 to 179 acres.  However, the average farm size was 179 acres.  The bad news; Kentucky had the largest loss of land space between 2007 and 2012 than any other state.

On June 28, 2016, Donald Trump, at a steel mill in Pennsylvania, “Globalization has made the financial elite who donate to politicians very wealthy.  But it has left millions of our workers with nothing but poverty and heartache.  America became the world’s dominant economy by becoming the world’s dominant producer, creating the biggest middle class the world has ever known.  But then America changed its policy, we allowed foreign countries to subsidize their goods, devalue their currencies, violate their agreements, and cheat in every way imaginable.”  He aimed the insult at Bill, as he ran against Hillary.  It must have resonated, Trump won the presidency five months later.

June 28, 2018, the U.S. Senate passed the 2018 farm bill, making hemp legal in the U.S.

On June 28, 2019, workers completed the 1st stage in bringing high-speed internet access to all Kentuckians.  This stage suffered delays, cost overruns, and squirrels chewing through cables.  The ambitious goal aimed to lay 3,000 miles of fiber optics installed.

Kentucky Trivia:  The Commonwealth is the 1st state in the nation to build an open-access fiber optic cable network in every county.  However, we currently rank 34th for best coverage, speed, and availability.  In 2017, we ranked 48th.

June 28, 2020, Lexington announced another level of militarism for their police department and purchased 800 body cameras for $2.6 million.  The police department tested several body cameras and chose the Taser Axon.

On June 28, 2021, Dr. Morens wrote to Baylor College of Medicine’s Peter Hotez that he had deleted all his emails related to the Covid origin, “When the s— started hitting the fan.  The best way to avoid FOIA hassles is to delete all emails when you learn a subject is getting sensitive.”  Dr. Morens then claimed Dr. Fauci deleted emails with Mr. Daszak also to avoid public disclosure.

June 28, 2021, the UK women’s volleyball team, the 2021 National Champions, announced a state tour for fans to see the trophy, meet the players, take photos, and get autographs.  One stop included a short ceremony by the Cincinnati Reds before the Padres game.

On June 28, 2022, 21 voting FDA advisers, including infectious disease experts and volcanologists, met to approve the next experimental booster shot.  Moderna President Dr. Stephen Hoge’s presentation had not been subject to peer review, had not been published in a medical journal, and it failed to mention infection data.  The FDA advisers approved an Omicron variant for the Covid-19 booster vaccine 19-2.  Dr. Offit, a professor of vaccinology and Dr. Henry Bernstein, a professor of pediatrics, voted in opposition.  Over the next month, the U.S. government announced agreements to purchase the new cocktail from Pfizer ($3.2 billion) and Moderna ($1.74 billion).

On June 28, 2023, Kentucky’s Energy and Environmental Cabinet requested an air quality alert for the entire state due to continued Canadian forest fires.  The two governor candidates told on each other to the FB.I. over…..what else…..campaign donations.  The race took in over $80 million for a job that paid $174,216.48 in 2023.

Kentucky Trivia:  The 2023 race set a state fundraising record, with candidates in the primary and general elections raising more than $44.6 million.  Independent political groups spent an additional $45.3 million, mostly on negative ads targeting Governor Beshear and D. Cameron.  When adjusted for inflation, the gubernatorial race ranks among the most expensive in Kentucky history.

On June 28, 2023, Andy Barr boasted that he secured nearly $4 million in federal grants for Goodwill Industries.  In 2023, Goodwill Industries International generated $7.6 billion in revenue.  Kentucky Goodwill Industries earned $127,918,534 from program services, investment income, and other sources.

On June 28, 2024, one day after Rhonda Massie’s passing, the Kentucky delegation and the governor united around Thomas Massie to show their support during his time of need.