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TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

June 28, 1792, Kentucky created Logan County from Lincoln County and 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 native John Young Brown, Kentucky’s 31st governor, born 1835.  As 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 was a saloon-keeper and was not present at 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.

588px Brighton Beach Race Course N.Y. Lith. Co. 198 Fulton St. N.Y. LCCN91719974
By N.Y. Lith. Co. – Library of Congress

Saturday, June 28, 1884, Washington Park held its inaugural day of racing.  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 that day featured an event that would quickly become one of the country’s biggest, The American Derby.  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, 1935, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt ordered the “Treasury to Build a Gold Vault at an Army Post in Kentucky” and “Orders Rush Construction in Centre of Fort Knox in Line With Policy of Moving Mounting Bullion Stores From Coast Cities Vulnerable to Enemy Attack.”  In 1936, the U.S. Treasury Department began construction of the U.S. Bullion Depository.  The first gold shipments arrived from January to July 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 attempting to arrest a drunk driver.

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.

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 in the first place.

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.

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

June 28, 2000, Fuchasi Pegaus, winner of the 2000 Kentucky Derby, sold for $72 million.  Coolmore and Japan’s Shadai Farm spilt it 60% and 40%.  Unlike most owners, Mr. Sekiguchi gave up all future rights.

June 28, 2005, Thomas Dionysius Clark died.  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.”

June 28, 2012, the Wildcats set an NBA draft record with six players picked in the 2012 NBA Draft.  Anthony Davis becomes the second UK player to be picked No. 1 overall and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist goes No. 2 overall, becoming the first teammates in NBA Draft history to go 1-2 in the same draft.

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 will see 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.  We currently rank 24th among states in BroadbandNow’s annual rankings of internet coverage, speed, and availability.  In 2017, we ranked 48th.

June 28, 2020, Lexington announced they would purchase 800 body cameras for $2.6 million.  The police department tested several body cameras and chose the Taser Axon body camera.

June 28, 2021, the UK’s 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 their Padres game.