Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Thomas Lincoln and Nancy Hanks, who wed in 1806. They married in the small community of Beechland, on the Little Beech River, and the Rev. Jesse Head officiated.
June 12, 1849, Louisville native Lewis Phectic Haslett received a patent for the gas mask. Inhalation and exhalation occurred through two one-way clapper valves: one permitting the air to enter through a bulb-shaped filter and the other allowing the exit of the air directly into the atmosphere.
Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to two-time Governor James B. McCreary and Catherine “Kate” Hughes, who married in 1867. Kate was the only daughter of a wealthy Fayette County farmer. The couple had one son, Robert Hughes McCreary (1868-1932), who married Jessica Cornelia Newberry in 1892 and lived in Chicago.
June 12, 1875, Calvin won the 9th Belmont Stakes at Jerome Park, going 1 ½ miles in 2:42 ¼ to win $4,450 over 13 other entries. Price McGrath, the winning owner and breeder, also owned the second-place finisher Aristides and the 4th place finisher Chesapeake. August Belmont entered two.
June 12, 1900, Covington Police Department Patrolman William McQuerry died by one of two murder suspects he was attempting to arrest. The murderer was later sentenced to life in the Kentucky Penitentiary at Frankfort and died while trying to escape in 1902.
June 12, 1908, Kentucky University officially changed their name to Transylvania University.
June 12, 1920, Man o’ War won the 52nd Belmont Stakes in a match race over Donnacona by 20 lengths setting a new world record of 2:14 1/3. He beat the world record by two seconds and Sir Barton’s American record by three seconds. Man o’ War won the Preakness a month earlier and, of course, didn’t run in the Derby. Donnacona became only the 3rd horse in history to run in all three Triple Crown events.
June 12, 1922, Deputy Sheriff Charles A. Murchison, Fulton County Sheriff’s Office, died by a gunshot while arresting a man wanted for moonshining.
On June 12, 1925, Robert P. Clay, the great-grandson of the great Pacificator, received his commission after graduating from the U.S. Military Academy in West Point, NY. He represents one of the Bluegrass’s oldest and most distinguished families and came from a line of soldiers. Cadet Clay is the son of Col. Charles D. Clay of Versailles Pike.
June 12, 1931, Fort Harrod State Park dedicated the Lincoln Marriage Temple 125 years after Abraham Lincoln’s parents wed.
On June 12, 1932, Jean (Bell) Thomas, a native of Ashland (Boyd County) and a promoter of folk festivals, organized the 1st American Folk Song Festival. The event featured 18 acts along the Mayo Trail, 15 miles south of Ashland. By 1938, the festival had expanded to include 38 acts and attracted an audience of 20,000 people.
June 12, 1933, Breathitt County Deputy Sheriff James Marshall died while walking a prisoner to the county jail in Jackson. A group of men on a bridge shot him and then fled.
On June 12, 1946, Louisville’s lucrative numbers racquet, a hush-hush matter for years, came to the public’s attention from the underworld by one of its bosses. John “Snow” Walker, 47, a Black politician, complained his arrest on lottery charges was due to “unscrupulous operators of lesser numbers games who were trying to get a foothold in the numbers business.” Some estimated Snow made $500,000 annually.
June 12, 1971, the widow of Whitney M. Young, Jr. unearthed his body for reinternment in New York. She wanted his body closer to her, and she objected to the “segregated nature of Greenwood Cemetery in Lexington. Mr. Young passed in March in Nigeria after a morning swim.
June 12, 1974, Ruffian ran her second race in Belmont in the 5.5F GIII Fashion Stakes, Jacinto Vasquez up. Copernica, a bay daughter of Nijinsky II, should have been the favorite due to her previous wins, but the crowd sent Ruffian off as the first choice. Also in the field was the unbeaten Jan Verzal, who was already a stakes winner, unlike Ruffian and Copernica. As in her maiden race, Ruffian gained the lead in the first few strides and easily held off Copernica’s game challenge. Winning by six and three-quarter lengths, Ruffian once again tied the track record. Copernica, finishing second, was thirteen lengths ahead of the rest of the field and gave everything she had to the race. Sadly, the brave little filly wasn’t the same horse after the Fashion Stakes. Ruffian had broken her heart.
On June 12, 1987, President Reagan declared in German, “There is only one Berlin,” as he stood in front of the Brandenburg Gate, the symbol of the divided city. He then challenged Soviet Leader M. Gorbachev to tear down the Berlin Wall. Two years and five months later, the wall came tumbling down.
On June 12, 1988, watchdogs reported lobbying in Frankfort tripled in eight years. In the last session from January 5 to March 30, in which legislators often spoke of their independence, 448 lobbyists spent $3.1 million. In 1980, 373 peddlers spent $1 million. The growth bothered AG Fred Cowan. “Lobbying is growing out of control,” said Alane Goldstein, Director of Kentucky’s Common Cause. Ronald D. Adams, lobbying for banks, made the most, $79,690, followed by Robert Benson, who touted the Budget Rent-A-Car Corp for $75k.
Kentucky Trivia: In the first three months of 2025, 707 lobbyists in Frankfort spent $8.822 million on lobbying efforts. This included $7.936 million in compensation paid to lobbyists, over $229,000 for legislators’ receptions, meals, and events, $302,590 for administrative costs, and $260,912 for out-of-pocket expenses. The Chamber of Commerce spent the most, $150,114, followed by the KY League of Cities, $86,793; the Hospital Association ($74,298); Americans for Prosperity ($65,558); and Retail Federation, Inc. ($65,457).
June 12, 1993, the Harrison County Thorobreds blanked error-plagued Pleasure Ridge Park 6-0 to win the 53rd Kentucky State Baseball Championship.
June 12, 1996, the Songwriters Hall of Fame inducted Louisville natives Patty Smith Hill and Mildred Jane Hill posthumously for writing the words and melody to “Happy Birthday to You.” Patty spent most of her life teaching kindergarten at the Louisville Experimental School. She first wrote the lyrics to read “Good Morning to All” for her students in 1893 when she was 25. Her sister, Mildred Jane Hill, an accomplished musician and an authority on Negro Spirituals, provided the melody.
June 12, 1999, Danville’s Pioneer Playhouse launched their 50th season, the oldest outdoor theater in Kentucky.
June 12, 2001, Brigadoon State Nature Preserve in Barren County added 88 acres adjacent to the Barren River Lake for a total of 184 acres.
June 12, 2003, a federal judge blocked Louisville from enforcing most of its adult entertainment laws, including rules that prohibited nude and topless dancers from getting closer than three feet to customers or each other. Some viewed the ruling as a win for free expression.
June 12, 2012, case #4, a 4-year-old colt died after racing. Between November 4, 2011, and March 14, 2013, 16 months, Bob Baffert had seven horses die suddenly while racing or training at Hollywood Park’s main track.
On June 12, 2013, the South China Morning Post published an interview with Edward Snowden, who said that U.S. intelligence agents have been hacking networks worldwide for years. Days later, during a live online chat, Snowden claimed U.S. authorities had access to phone calls, e-mails, and other communications far beyond constitutional bounds. President Barry Obama was unhappy, so he started a prosecution against the whistleblower, one of many.
June 12, 2020, UK students, faculty, administrators, and President Capilouto, gathered around the school’s health colleges to show support against healthcare inequality. Donald Gillett II, executive director of the Kentucky Council of Churches, told the crowd to love others as they would love themselves and reform healthcare. Two days earlier, Governor A. Beshear promised healthcare to all black Kentuckians.
On June 12, 2021, while the AP News reported that new coronavirus infections and deaths declined “dramatically,” governors nationwide felt pressure to lift coronavirus restrictions. Meanwhile, Jeff Bezos auctioned off a seat to the moon next to his for $28 million.
On June 12, 2022, as demonstrators met in Frankfort to show support for stricter gun laws at the March for Our Lives rally, Senators in Washington, on both sides of the aisle, appeared to be united on the unsolvable issue weeks after another mass shooting. Meanwhile, the latest census numbers showed Lexington and Louisville lost residents while Richmond (Madison County) gained the most, followed by Bowling Green (Warren County) and Elizabethtown (Hardin County).
On June 12, 2023, a federal judge ruled that Lexington’s current ban on electric billboards was “a valid content neutral regulation of speech” and, therefore, constitutional. Lamar Advertising, which owned 100 billboards in Central Kentucky, filed the lawsuit in 2021.
June 12, 2024, post-war support for veterans has been spotty at best. In 2022, there were, on average, 17.6 suicides per day among Veterans. Americans are realizing that enlisting to fight the elites’ endless wars is not healthy. While America spreads democracy through bombs and drones, China travels the globe building infrastructure.