August 6, 1801, Edward West, who had 1st exhibited his miniature steamboat on the waters of the Town Branch in 1793 , showed a vastly improved model. The following year he would receive a patent. The Squire’s Sketches of Lexington by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 24
On August 6, 1855, Kentucky held an election, later known as Bloody Monday , all due to anti-immigrant sentiment . In one of Louisville’s darkest days, rumors started that foreigners and Catholics had interfered with the voting process. Therefore, the American Know-Nothing Party formed mobs, positioned themselves at various polling places, and started two bloody riots. The 1st riot occurred in the German district at 4 p.m. in the 1st Ward on Louisville’s east end. The 2nd riot occurred from 6 p.m. until midnight in the Irish 8th Ward in the west end. Officially, 22 individuals died; however some estimates place the number much higher.
August 6, 1923, Miss Chloe Gifford passed the bar, the only female graduate of UK’s law school . Meanwhile, Governor E. P. Morrow returned from a Wisconsin fishing trip at Camp Tenderfoot on Tenderfoot Lake. The governor and his party enjoyed lavish entertainment at the millionaire summer colony.
August 6, 1932, Deputy Sheriff Frank Bowman, Bell County Sheriff’s Department , died while arresting two men for being drunk in public. Deputy Bowman told them to walk the railroad tracks and leave; instead, one man turned around and shot him. They arrested the subject, convicted him of manslaughter, and sentenced him to 10 years. He paroled in 1940 and died from a gunshot blast in 1947.
On August 6, 1941, Lexington expected record crowds for the traveling circus for a one night two performance stay . The festivities would open with a late morning parade of 40 animals, horse-drawn floats, and music. The 1st show began at 2:30 pm and the 2nd at 8:00 pm.
August 6, 1950, Army PVT Manuel H. Neff from Harrison County died in the Korean War.
August 6, 1954, state officials expressed concern over Frankfort’s plans to lease the northwest section of the Old Capitol grounds for a 150-car parking lot. Governor L. Weatherby agonized, and the Filson Club urged him to stop the “desecration.” The grounds had been a public square for 168 years.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to London native James Darrell Scott , born in 1959.
August 6, 1967, Marine Corps LCPL Bobby R. Mefford from Russellville in Logan County died in the Vietnam War.
August 6, 1969, Army SP4 Roy L. Felty from Brooklyn in Butler County died in the Vietnam War.
August 6, 1972, an equal number of blacks and whites went head to head in the Kentucky State Reformatory’s courtyard near LaGrange. An estimated 300 to 400 prisoners rioted until guards shot three inmates.
August 6, 1975, Governor J. Carroll picked D.W. Harrison to head the New Department of Energy .
August 6, 1984, Kentucky Chief Justice Robert F. Stephens swore in a robot as a Kentucky State Trooper with badge #219. The Chevron Corporation donated the $14,750 robot, which taught traffic safety in Kentucky schools. Governor Martha Layne Collins tried to be kind during the ceremony. “I’m saying he, but we’ll let that go,” she said.
August 6, 1985, for the 2nd time in four years MLB players went on strike . The 1981 strike lasted 50 days.
The August 6, 1986, aerial view showed construction of the Toyota Motor Manufacturing plant in Scott County near Georgetown on. Toyota’s largest manufacturing plant outside of Japan, began production in May 1988, building the 1989 model four-cylinder Camry.
August 6, 1994, Bill Clinton finally made it to Fancy Farm’s political picnic in the form of a life-size cutout. Mitch offered a quarter to politicians who wanted their picture taken with the President. Senator W. Ford and Governor P. Patton obliged within 10 seconds. Candidates across the nation shunned the President who helped kill America’s middle class with NAFTA. Later, he gifted Wall St. the repeal of Glass-Steagall in 1999.
August 6, 2002, workers covered Churchill’s fabled 107-year-old twin spires from view for renovation repairs after they discovered water damage. Two weeks before the Derby, track officials noticed the kingpole above the north tower leaning to the south.
August 6, 2005, Marine Lance CPL Chase J. Comley, 21, of Lexington , died fighting in Operation Iraqi Freedom.
August 6, 2010, the race heard around the world ran . Usain Bolt experienced his 1st defeat in two years after Lexington native Tyson Gay beat him at 100 meters in Stockholm. Their record stood at 2-1 with the nod to Bolt.
Saturday, August 6, 2011, it takes a 3rd party candidate to tell it like it is . Gatewood Galbreath let corporate lawyer turned politician, Governor S. Beshear, have it and held nothing back.
August 6, 2013, Deputy Sheriff Chad Shaw, McCracken County Sheriff’s Office , suffered a fatal heart attack following an arrest earlier in the day. Deputy Shaw had responded to an automobile accident, where he discovered one of the drivers had an active warrant. He placed the driver into custody and completed the arrest, but collapsed a short time later.
On August 6, 2020, President D. Trump predicted that an experimental vaccine would be available by November 9; his critics said that was too hopeful . Senator J. Biden sounded vaccine-hesitant and believed the new drug would “not likely to go through all the tests that need to be and the trials that are required.” Meanwhile, Governor A. Beshear informed Kentuckians the Kentucky State Fair would be closed to the general public, and extended the mask-wearing mandate. He did not know what would happen for the September 5 Kentucky Derby. America provided the vaccine in December 2020.
August 6, 2021, all Kentucky universities and colleges required masks on campus for the fall 2021 semester , regardless of vaccine status, due to the Delta variant. Additionally, the Railbird Music Festival announced all attendees must be vaccinated or have tested negative within 72 hours.
August 6, 2023, X posts from Kentucky’s governor and a U.S. Representative.