July 17, 1778, one of the men taken prisoner at Salt Camp, William Hancock, returned to Fort Boonesborough . He had news that Boone’s escapee did delay the intended attack on the fort. A History of the Daniel Boone National Forest, 1770-1970 by Robert F. Collins; pg: 102
On July 17, 1789, Shawnees attacked Jefferson County’s Chenoweth’s station , a fort-springhouse built in 1785 by one of Louisville’s founders, Richard Chenoweth. Five pioneers died and one burned at the stake. The natives scalped Mr. Chenoweth’s wife; however, she survived and lived to age 80.
July 17, 1804, William Lowery of Lexington and Thomas Hurd of Georgia dueled at Kaskaskia in Illinois . A tavern political debate caused the trouble when “Hurd bestowed on Lowery several indecent expressions.” Lowery received a mortal wound in the side of which he died the next day. Hurd received a flesh wound. Famous Kentucky Duels by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 136
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lickskillet native Robert S. James , born in Logan County, in 1818. His sons grew up to be famous bank robbers.
On the morning of July 17, 1862, Confederate Colonel John Hunt Morgan moved his forces northeast from Georgetown towards Cynthiana, a small town along the South Fork of the Licking River. The Kentucky Central Railroad also cut through town. The Federals surrendered after 60-90 minutes of fighting. Morgan’s men placed the prisoners on the second floor of the courthouse. The Battle of Cynthiana took place mid-way through Morgan’s 1st Kentucky raids.
July 17, 1882, Owensboro native Thomas Cruse earned the Medal of Honor fighting in the Battle of Big Dry Wash in Arizona. The U.S. Army’s 3rd and 6th Cavalry Regiments fought members of the White Mountain Apache Tribe.
July 17, 1887, Madison County lynched John Thomas , a black male, for rape.
July 17, 1891, Bell County lynched Frank Rossimus , a white male, for murder.
July 17, 1894, Boone County lynched Louis Laferdetta , a white male, for murder.
July 17, 1900, James R. Keene’s Voter set a new world record of 1:38.00 for a mile on the dirt, at the Brighton Beach Race Course.
July 17, 1902, Daviess County lynched Joshua Anderson , a white male, for murder. The last recorded Kentucky lynching occurred in 1926 according to one source.
July 17, 1922, a nine-year-old bay mule, an army saddle, one bridle, and a pair of saddlebags went on trial in federal court in Jackson for transporting whiskey for the 3rd offense. Police seized the mule, appurtenances, and 8.5 gallons of moonshine. A seven-year-old bay received its 1st charge. Both riders jumped off and ran through the hedges.
July 17, 1940, as the 4th annual Lexington Junior League Horse Show at the trotting track got underway , Senate Majority Leader Alben Barkley and Senator H. Chandler kept their names open for the V.P. nomination as the convention headed into the final day in Chicago.
July 17, 1953, Army SFC Clofus O. Farris from Kenton County , Army PFC James P. Hayes from Adair County , and Marine Corps CPL James D. Welch from Middlesboro in Bell County , died in the Korean War.
July 17, 1961, the Jerry’s Restaurant in Paris opened, according to Maxine Pulliam, the widow of the original owner and operator. This Jerry’s is the last of the Mohicans from a once popular southern restaurant chain.
July 17, 1966, Louisville native Bobby Nichols won the 4th edition of the PGA’s Minnesota Golf Classic by one stroke in Edina, MN.
July 17, 1967, Army SP4 Wesley E. Bellamy from Catlettsburg in Boyd County and Army SGT Michaelle Hoggie from Load in Greenup County , died in the Vietnam War.
July 17, 1971, Ack Ack, at 134 lbs., won the Hollywood Gold Cup and became the 1st horse in California racing modern history to win a handicap race with such a high weight assigned. C. Whittingham when asked how much weight he could take, “I’ve already balked. If we keep running Ack Ack in handicaps like this, it’s only a question of time before they put enough weight on him to get him beaten.”
July 17, 1975, jockey Laffit Pincay Jr. notched his 3,000th career victory , aboard Lexington Lark at Hollywood Park.
July 17, 1976, the Kentucky Colonels ceased to exist as John Y. Brown, Jr. agreed to fold the Colonels in exchange for $3 million. Brown used the money to purchase the Buffalo Braves of the NBA. The Braves are now known as the Los Angeles Clippers.
On July 17, 1980, over 750 people died in a heat wave spread across 17 states . Nine individuals from Louisville died.
July 17, 1987, J. Clifford Todd rode his bicycle from his home in Simpsonville to federal prison to serve his six-month sentence for aiding the private prison industry. Mr. Todd died in 2021.
July 17, 1989, Gerald Gallagher from Louisville caught a state record Grass Pickerel that weighed .63 lbs. in the Wilson Creek in Bullitt County.
July 17, 1991, Wendover (Frontier Nursing Service Headquarters) in Leslie County , the 1st American organization to professionalize midwifery, became a National Historic Landmark.
July 17, 1994, thieves cut telephone lines and the silent alarm system and stole 50 to 60 pieces from the Headley-Whitney Museum making it Kentucky’s largest jewel heist . George Headley created the opulent jewelry for leading Hollywood actresses Judy Garland, Joan Crawford, Mae West, and Fanny Brice. His Bel Air Hotel, Los Angeles, boutique frequently used dogs to model his creations around the hotel’s pool for wealthy patrons, according to Lisa Blackadar, the museum’s curator. “It’s all irreplaceable,” Jim Frazier, president of the museum’s board.
On July 17, 1995, Keeneland experimented with satellite telecasting by beaming the July Selected Yearling Sale worldwide. If you tuned in, you could only watch and not bid. Meanwhile, IBM bought Lotus for $3.5 billion, the largest acquisition in software history.
On July 17, 2006, Ron Geary, a Kentucky businessman, purchased Ellis Park from Churchill Downs for an undisclosed sum. The tracks shifted dates, so racing could began at Ellis on July 4. The Claiming Crown highlighted the 2007 meeting, the 1st Claiming Crown in Kentucky and the 1st time held elsewhere other than Canterbury Park since Philadelphia Park hosted the 2002 edition.
July 17, 2008, Governor S. Beasher took three planeloads of officials with him to Pikeville at a cost of more than $7,000 for his 1st stop in a six-week statewide tour. Days before, the governor gave tips to state workers on how to commute to work to save fuel.
On July 17, 2019, Coach Mark Stoops and John Daley shared a cart during the Barbasol Pro-Am in Nicholasville. Before the day got started, however, a truck turned over in downtown Louisville with 178 pigs. Exactly 110 died. Animal activists, including the volunteer group Louisville Pig Save, kept everyone in line.
On July 17, 2020, the Kentucky Supreme Court put all lower court rulings involving Governor A. Beshear’s emergency orders on hold . It meant all of his orders, including mandatory masks in public, stayed in effect. The unanimous decision by the state’s highest court came hours after a Boone Circuit Court judge indicated he would void all of the governor’s executive orders. Beshear said he was “relieved” with the Supreme Court order.
As of July 17, 2021, Kentucky had not mandated the coronavirus vaccine and never did; however, Berea College, Simmons College of Kentucky, UofL Health, Atria Senior Living, and many other large institutions throughout America had.
July 17, 2022, the fear campaign continued when the CDC reported nearly all Eastern Kentucky counties reached the “high community level” along with many western counties. The number of Kentucky counties considered “high” almost doubled from 37 to 61 in one week.