Skip to content

TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

On July 13, 1750 Dr. Thomas Walker returned to Virginia.  He never returned to Kentucky.  However, he left a journal that gave an account of his exploration of Eastern Kentucky.  Among the accounts of the difficulties and hardships, Walker noted that during their journey his party killed 13 buffaloes, 8 elks, 53 bears, 20 deer, 4 wild geese, about 150 turkeys, besides small game.

July 13, 1843, Kentucky’s 11th Class III, U.S. Senator John Rowan, died.  Henry Clay took his seat nine months after it became vacant.

July 13, 1866, Richmond native Green Clay Smith became the 2nd Territorial Governor of Montana.

Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to William Bradley and Margaret Robertson Duncan, who wed in 1867.  The couple had two children, George Robertson Bradley and Christine (Bradley) South.  William became a U.S. Senator in 1909 and governor in 1895.

July 13, 1884, Jailer William J. Lucas, Daviess County Detention Center, died while attempting to protect to the jail from a mob of over 200 citizens who were trying to remove an inmate to hang him.  As some of the residents began to assault Jailer Lucas he opened fire with his revolver, killing two citizens.  Other citizens in the mob opened fire on Jailer Lucas, killing him, before removing the prisoner and killing him as well.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Point Leavell native William Bradley Kincaid, born in 1895, in Garrard County.

July 13, 1921, Fayette County sentenced a male to hang.  This was the first sentence under a 1920 state law that let counties dictate how they handle executions if the criminal attacked women.  Electrocution was the state’s execution method at the time.

July 13, 1922, Patrolman Clifford Hall, Fayette County Police Department, succumbed to injuries sustained in a motorcycle accident the previous day while attempting to stop a speeding automobile on Paris Pike.

July 13, 1926, G.L. Wainscott launched the Ale-8-One soft drink in Winchester.

July 13, 1928, Kentucky executed the most prisoners in a single day in America.  Seven men were put to death, one right after another, by “Old Sparky,” the nickname given to the electric chair.  The executions took place in Eddyville at the Kentucky State Penitentiary, also known as the “Castle on the Cumberland.”  The three black men and four white men had all committed murder.

July 13, 1932, Deputy Sheriff Marion Stapleton Menifee County Sheriff’s Office, died from gunshots and Deputy Sheriff Stanley Helton was mortally wounded by a man wanted for the murder of a local farmer the previous day.

July 13, 1951, Army SGT Wilson Craddock from Pendleton County died in the Korean War.

July 13, 1953, Army CPL Waldo M. Dingus from Morgan County died in the Korean War.

July 13, 1968, favored Indian Emerald breezed to a 6-length Junior Derby victory in front of 6,851 at Miles Park.  Leslie Combs consigned the horse for $49,000 to a Chicago political boss. Meanwhile at Monmouth Park, Damascus finish 3rd in the Armory L. Haskell Handicap.

July 14, 1975, Louisville announced that representatives from every high school in Jefferson County would get together and think of everything that could possibly go wrong when desegregation starts.

July 13, 1985, the Berea Craft Festival celebrated their 36th annual show at Indian Fort Theater.

Effective July 13, 1990, Crider soil is named and designated as the state soil.

July 13, 1991, Mammoth Cave promoted “Tour Gide History Day” to celebrate 175 years of guided tours.

July 13, 1991, the U.S. Navy commissioned the USS Kentucky (SSBN-737), a U.S. Navy Ohio-class ballistic missile submarine.

USS Kentucky SSBN 737
By U.S. Navy

July 13, 1999, the suspected railway killer surrenders in Texas at the urging of his family.  Two Kentucky officials also flew to Texas to question the suspect for the murder of Christopher Maier, 21, who died close to UK’s campus.

Effective July 13, 2004, the blackberry is named and designated as the official fruit of Kentucky.

July 13, 2006, Jerry Ragland again posted a $1 million bond and his son is released from custody with an electronic-monitoring device pending a retrial.

July 13, 2008, Army PFC Sergio S. Abad 21, of Morganfield, died in Afghanistan fighting in Operation Enduring Freedom.

July 13, 2010, Army Staff SGT Christopher T. Stout, 34, of Worthville, died in Afghanistan fighting Operation Enduring Freedom.

July 13, 2015, University of Louisville’s board of trustees approved a 6% salary increase and a $150,000 bonus for their president.   This after a national poll indicated his $1,682,176 salary was well above the market rate.  The LSU president earned $636,000.

Kentucky Trivia:  President Capilouto received a 2% salary increase in 2019 for a base salary of $838,334.

July 13, 2020, positive cases of coronavirus had society on edge.  Las Vegas would soon shut down for the 2nd time in six months.  Governor A. Beshear gave a strong push toward masks.  Another judge made another ruling about masks, as the governor and AG played it out in court.  Meanwhile, the WHO traveled to Wuhan, they wanted to know more about the location where they say the virus originated.  They determined this in 2019.

July 13, 2021, Pfizer told Americans they would request the federal government to approve a 3rd dose of a coronavirus vaccine.  Pfizer made over $81 billion in 2021.

July 13, 2021, KET premiered the life of Kentucky author Walter Tevis, whose work inspired the popular Netflix miniseries “The Queen’s Gambit.”