Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

July 2, 1819, President James Monroe, accompanied by General Andrew Jackson, arrived in Lexington while touring the country.  During a four-day stay, he spoke at Transylvania and was given a large banquet at Mrs. Keen’s Postlethwait’s Tavern, where Governor Isaac Shelby and other dignitaries entertained him.
Lost by Lexington, Kentucky by Peter Brackney, pg: 44

July 2, 1853, William F. Talbott placed an advertisement around Lexington offering to buy slaves to take to the New Orleans market.  Talbott offered $1,200 for “No. 1 Young Men” and “$900 for No. 1 Young Women.”  His office was located on Broadway.

July 2, 1863, CSA Morgan’s Raiders entered into Kentucky and battled with the Union forces in Burkesville.

July 2, 1874, Constable Joseph Mefford, Scott County Constable’s Office, died from a gunshot while attempting to arrest a drunk man causing a disturbance at a community picnic six miles north of Stamping Ground, near the Owen County line.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native Sweet Evening Breeze, born in 1892.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Millersburg native Blanton Long Collier, born in 1906.  He attended Paris High School, and after graduating from Georgetown College, he returned to his old high school to teach and coach sports for 16 years.  After the war, Paul Brown, a Navy friend, hired Collier as an assistant coach for the Browns, a team under formation in the All-America Football Conference (AAFC).  After seven years as Brown’s top aide, a span over which the Cleveland team won five league championships, Collier took a job as head football coach at Kentucky in 1954.  His Kentucky Wildcats teams amassed a 41–36–3 win-loss-tie record over eight seasons. His coaching staff at Kentucky featured future coaching legends Chuck Knox, Howard Schnellenberger, and Don Shula.

On July 2, 1921, Governor Morrow ordered the Kentucky National Guard to Sandy Hook, Elliott County, to guard the courthouse during the trials of several bootlegging and moonshining cases.

July 2, 1921, Democratic voters in Boyd County proudly nominated their candidate for the Kentucky legislature for the 89^th district.  The candidate, Mrs. Mary Elliott, was believed to be the 1^st woman in Kentucky to be a candidate for a state office.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native Thomas Pearce Bell, born in 1922.  Bell played football under John Heber at Henry Clay High School and A.D. Kirwan at UK.  Coach Bear Bryant encouraged Bell to officiate SEC games in 1952.  After ten years in the SEC, Bell moved to the NFL where he became one of the most celebrated and respected of NFL referees.  He led the referee crews in five NFC championship games, two AFC championship games, and two Super Bowls III and VII.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Somerset native Jack I. Gregory, born in 1931.  Jack was a former general in the U.S. Air Force and the former commander in chief of the Pacific Air Forces.

July 2, 1934, Deputy Sheriff Clark Smith, Knox County Sheriff’s Office, died from a gunshot while attempting to arrest a drunk man in Artemus.

July 2, 1951, Air Force 1stLT Eugene L. Ruiz from Louisville died from in the Korean War.

July 2, 1952, Army PVT Granville Johnson from Whitley County died in the Korean War.

July 2, 1952, this link shows a picture of the 1^st class of the Appalachian School of Practical Nursing graduates at Good Samaritan Hospital in Lexington.

July 2, 1960, Kentucky accepted a 525-acre tract of land in Boone County to be developed as a state park to showcase Kentucky’s pre-historic past and the location of one of America’s earliest animal inhabitations.

July 2, 1967, Army CPL Frank W. Sawyer, Jr. from Louisville, Army PFC Denton R. Slack from Fordsville in Ohio County, and Marine Corps PFC William L. Stevenson from Leitchfield in Grayson County, died in the Vietnam War.

July 2, 1969, Army SGT Jim Allen Wray from Coxs Creek in Nelson County died in the Vietnam War.

July 2, 1971, a horse bolted during the post parade for the 3^rd race at Miles Park in Louisville and crashed through the fence into the spectators.  At least 12 people went to the hospital but all were treated and released.  Meanwhile a few miles away, a Jefferson County Juvenile Court judge, speaking at a drug abuse seminar, told the audience that marijuana should be legal.

July 2, 1972, Air Force 1STLT John M. Cole from Williamsburg in Whitley County died in the Vietnam War.

July 2, 1976, Chuck Berry performed at the Gram Parsons Memorial Country Rock Festival at the UK’s Memorial Coliseum.  Berry went on at 1 a.m. After a lengthy set, he refused to leave the stage until promoters finally turned the power off at 2:30 a.m.

July 2, 1978, ex-President Richard Nixon made his 1^st formal speech since resigning from the Presidency when he attended the opening of the new Richard M. Nixon Recreation Center in Hyden.

July 2, 1989, jockey Steve Cauthen became the first rider in history to sweep the world’s four major derbies after winning the Irish Derby with Old Vic.  He had previously won the Kentucky Derby with Affirmed (1978), the Epsom Derby twice with Slip Anchor (1985), Reference Point, (1987) and the French Derby with Old Vic (1989).

July 2, 1992, a white Corvette Convertible rolled off the assembly line in Bowling Green and into the history books.  It became the one-millionth Corvette built.

July 2, 2001, Robert Tools, 59, the first recipient of a self-contained artificial heart, died yesterday at Jewish Hospital in Louisville.  The device and other equipment in his chest weighed more than four pounds and made a constant whirring sound. But ”as long as I can hear the sound, I know I am here,” Mr. Tools said, adding that he preferred it to the alternative, death.  He lived five months.

July 2, 2006, Louisville native Dan Uggla was named to the 2006 Major League Baseball All-Star Game as a reserve.  He was the first player in baseball history to be selected for the All-Star Game in the same season in which he had been a Rule 5 pick.

July 2, 2019, a Jim Beam warehouse in Woodford County went up in flames.

Kentucky Trivia:  Jim Beam is the No. 1 seller overall by volume in the world.

July 2, 2020, several states postponed or reversed plans to reopen their economies, as the U.S. records 50,000 new cases, the largest one-day spike since the pandemic’s onset.  New Mexico also extended the state’s emergency public health order through July 15 and implemented a $100 fine for those not adhering to required mask usage.  In Kentucky cases top 16,000 and AG D. Cameron joins a Northen Kentucky suit claiming Governor A. Beshear Went to far on his mandates.

July 2, 2020, Keeneland announced they had appointed their 1^st woman president, Shannon Arvin, and their 8^th overall.