TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Thank You For Visiting

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Colonel Richard Callaway, born in 1717.   “Probably no single man accomplished more than Callaway in laying the foundation that culminated in the admission of Kentucky into the Union.”  A quote by R. Alexander Bate A.B., M.D. in an article published in The Filson Club History Quarterly.

June 14, 1775, at the insistence of Judge Henderson the first fortified camp ever built in Kentucky was christened “Boonesborough.”

June 14, 1905, the Lexington Public Library, located on Second Street, opened to the public, thanks in part to the Andrew Carnegie Foundation.

June 14, 1914, Christian County native Adlai Ewing Stevenson died in Chicago at age 78.  He was the 23rd V.P for the 24th President, Grover Cleveland.

June 14, 1915, City Marshal Nimrod Showalter, Brooksville Police Department, was shot and killed, near the courthouse, after being released on bail, by a man he had arrested the previous day.

June 14, 1930, Police Officer August Schoo, Newport Police Department, was shot and killed by a an unknown man.  The prime suspect in his murder was later shot and killed in another shootout.

June 14, 1951, Army CPT Herschel E. Fuson from Bell County died in the Korean War.

June 14, 1953, Army PVT Kenneth E. Crawford from Webster County and Army PFC Frank X. Schmidt from Campbell County, died in the Korean War.

June 14, 1963, Fort Boonesborough State Park is established.

June 14, 1963, President John F. Kennedy announced that TVA would develop the land between Lake Barkley and Kentucky Lake.

June 14, 1968, Army PFC Darrell W. Maynard from Scottsville in Allen County died in the Vietnam War.

June 14, 1972, the Kentucky State Racing Commission began an investigation into two races that were run on Derby day.  The commission was particularly concerned about races two and ten about examples of “inconsistent wagering……and handling of the horses afterwards.”

June 14, 1975, Kentucky announced that owners of the Beverly Hills Supper Club apparently expanded and rebuilt parts of the facility without required approval of state fire officials.  The fire took place may 28, killing 162 people.

June 14, 1981, the percentage of students graduating from Kentucky’s High Schools continued to decline, and the state announced they were trying to figure it out.  Only 64.2% of the 45,445 freshmen in 1976-77 graduated in 1981.  The percentage of graduates had declined for five straight years.

Kentucky Trivia:  High School graduation for Kentucky and Iowa, in 2019, boasted the highest rates in the country with 94%.  Massachusetts, Missouri, Nebraska and Texas followed closely behind, with 93%.

June 14, 1990, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that the constitution permits police to stop drivers at roadside checkpoints and examine them for signs of intoxication.

June 14, 1996, Louisville’s Pleasure Ridge Park High School earned their third straight baseball state championship. They beat number one Greenup County 5-3 to become the first team to win three titles in a row since Ashland did it in the late 60s.

June 14, 2003, marked the official end to the Hatfield’s and McCoys’ feud when the families signed a truce on CBS’s The Saturday Early Show.  The feud ended decades before, but who doesn’t like to be on TV?

June 14, 2005, Army PFC Michael R. Hayes, 29, of Morgantown, died from a grenade in Baghdad fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.

June 14, 2007, a federal grand jury in Covington indicted three Lexington attorneys: Mills, Cunningham and Gallion for conspiracy to commit fraud and stealing $65 million.

June 14, 2012, in one of the most important developments in the storied history of the Kentucky Derby, Churchill Downs abandoned their graded stakes earnings criteria it has used since 1986 to determine which 20 horses get into the starting gate and instituted a point system to qualify instead.  The Road to the Kentucky Derby features 36 stakes races, including 17 marquee events in a 10-week event known as the “Kentucky Derby Championship Series.”

June 14, 2015, Lexington native Trevor Gott made his MLB debut for the Los Angeles Angels.

June 14, 2015, the construction of Noah’s Ark in Williamstown began.  The ark is 510 feet long, 85 feet wide, 51 feet high, and required 3.2 million feet of wooden planks.  If you laid the planks end-to-end, they would reach Philadelphia.

June 14, 2020, twenty protestors were arrested in Lexington as marchers gathered for a 16th straight night to call for more police accountability.  Meanwhile, Pulaski County High School offered a drive-thru / drive-in graduation ceremony.