TODAY IN KENTUCKY HISTORY

December 22, 2023December 22, 2023

On December 22, 1769, the Shawnee captured Daniel Boone’s hunting party near Eskippakithiki and took their hides and most supplies. They released Boone’s men, leaving them enough food for their journey home. The Shawnee gave them the warning, “never to come back or the wasps and yellow jackets would sting them.”

December 22, 1798, the Kentucky legislature passed an act merging rival Presbyterian learning institutions. As a result, the Kentucky Academy in Woodford County (Pisgah) and Transylvania Seminary of Lexington merged and became Transylvania University. The Squire’s Sketches of Lexington by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 24

Kentucky Trivia: Transylvania University opened the 1^st medical school and law school in the west and is the 16^th oldest institution of higher learning in the U.S. Transy has produced two U.S. Vice Presidents, two U.S. Supreme Court Justices, 50 U.S. Senators, 101 U.S. Representatives, 36 U.S. Governors, and 34 U.S. Ambassadors. By 1859, the Transylvania Medical College had produced 8,000 physicians.

December 22, 1798, the Kentucky General Assembly chartered the Shelbyville Academy with a grant of 6,000 acres south of the Green River. In 1836, the name changed to Shelby College. In 1841, the Protestant Episcopal Church took control. By now, the campus consisted of 18 acres, a brick building, and the president’s home. In the late 1840s and 1850s, the college expanded its curriculum for surveyors, civil engineers, astronomers, pharmacists, and physicians. The school’s main classroom building included an astronomical observatory built by Kentuckian Gideon Shryock. However, disputes over a lottery to provide funding hurt the college, and it closed in 1868. After the college closed, a school for boys and an elementary school occupied the main building. Later, locals razed it.

December 22, 1838, Washington native Albert Sidney Johnston became the Republic of Texas’s Secretary of War. He defended the Texas border against the Mexican invasion, and in 1839, conducted a campaign against Native Americans in Northern Texas. In February 1840, he resigned and returned to Kentucky, possibly back to his home in Mason County.

Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Vice President Adlai E. Stevenson and Letitia Green, who wed in 1866. They had three daughters, Mary, Julia, and Letitia, and a son, Lewis Stevenson. Letitia helped establish the Daughters of the American Revolution (DAR) to help heal the North and South after the Civil War. She succeeded President B. Harrison’s wife as the DAR’s 2^nd president-general.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native St. Elmo Brady, born in 1884, the 1^st African-American to receive a Ph.D. in chemistry. Equally as significant, Brady built chemistry curricula, faculty, programs, and facilities at four major historically black colleges and universities. He and his colleagues mentored multiple generations of African- American chemists.

December 22, 1892, Centre defeated Central University of Richmond 24-8. Centre went 6-0 in their 3^rd season.

December 22, 1898, Deputy Marshal Ren Ashby, Slaughtersville Marshal’s Office, died from a gunshot by the son of a man whom the town marshal had just arrested. The Marshal arrested the young man for violating the peace.

December 22, 1899, the election board meeting to canvass the votes of the 7^th congressional election put into motion the deadly fight for the governor’s mansion. Democrats dominated the Kentucky General Assembly, and a Republican won the governor’s race.

December 22, 1908, Deputized Civilian John Brooks Knox County Sheriff’s Office, died as they served a warrant on three men for robbing a miner. He had deputized four men, including John Brooks, to assist with the arrests. As another Deputy read the warrant to the three men, one of them produced a handgun and opened fire.

December 22, 1935, Patrolman Robert Rowland and Patrolman James Hays, Kentucky Highway Patrol, died while questioning two brothers about a stolen automobile at the garage they operated in Franklin. One of the brothers received a life sentence, and the other got six years. After doing six years, then murdered another police officer in Tennessee.

December 22, 1942, the Keeneland Association presented check number 2591 for $35,000 to the Community War Chest during WWII. Service members then received gifts and amenities from the foundation’s work.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Glasgow native Lila Diane Sawyer, born in 1945.

December 22, 1946, Sheriff Joseph Jones Gibson, Wayne County Sheriff’s Office, died from a gunshot after responding to a disturbance call involving a man with a gun. The 28-year-old suspect was arrested, convicted of murder, and sentenced to death.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native George Wallace Adams, born in 1962.

December 22, 1962, Kentucky’s Cotton Nash battled for a loose ball as the #9 Cats played #7 West Virginia in the UKIT championship game in Memorial Coliseum. Despite trailing by five at halftime, UK went on to win, 79-75, behind Nash’s 30 points. UK would finish the season 16-9.

December 22, 1967, Army PFC Edward L. Polson from Eubank in Lincoln County died in the Vietnam War.

On December 22, 1970, Emma Parkes Watts passed away. Her home in downtown Richmond bordered the Eastern Kentucky University (EKU) campus. According to rumor, Emma despised EKU so much that she stipulated the 20-acre estate and 9,000 square-foot home could not be sold and must be maintained in its current historical condition. Her will prevented the university from acquiring the property until 2011. Emma had some faithful lawyers.

December 22, 1972, the U.S. Department of Agriculture killed a 36-year-old program that helped millions of farmers pay for projects designed to conserve soil and water and curb pollution on private land. Kentucky farmers lost $5 million per year on average.

December 22, 1980, a federal judge gave Kentucky more time to reduce the population of their two largest prisons: Kentucky State Reformatory and Kentucky State Penitentiary. Each prison had to reduce its population by 600. Most prisoners moved to the new Luther Luckett Correctional Facility in Oldham County.

December 22, 1981, nearly 500 visitors attended the Christmas open house at the Kentucky State Penitentiary in Eddyville. Superintendent Al Parke revived the prison’s Christmas open house on a scale never attempted before.

December 22, 1983, Jerry Claiborne’s team lost to WVA in the Hall of Fame Bowl 16-20 on Legion Field in Birmingham. The Cats won this bowl game in 1984 over Wisconsin by 1 point.

December 22, 1990, AN Navy Brent McCreight from Eminence died in Iraq fighting in Operation Desert Storm.

December 22, 2002, weeks before his confirmation, Governor P. Patton fired the Department of Workers’ Claims Commissioner. Lawyer Ched Jennings said he was stunned. The governor’s office gave no reason.

December 22, 2002, scientists delivered CC the cat, the 1^st cloned domestic pet, by cesarean section in a laboratory. CC became the 6^th kind of mammal created asexually from a single adult cell, after sheep, mice, cattle, goats, and pigs.

December 22, 2015, for UPS, three days before Christmas, is traditionally their busiest day.

December 22, 2015, Grant County residents voted to allow full alcohol sales by a margin of 56% to 44% in a special election.

On December 22, 2016, after eight years, the U.S. Marshals Service tracked down and arrested Springfield native Johnny Boone in a small town outside Montreal.

December 22, 2018, #19 Kentucky defeated #9 North Carolina 80-72 in Chicago in front of 15,124 spectators. A duo of Johnsons scored highest; Keldon for UK with 21 and 17 for UNC’s Cameron.

December 22, 2019, the average U.S. price of regular-grade gasoline dipped four cents per gallon to $2.61.

December 22, 2020, Norris Hardison became the 1^st Kentucky veteran to receive the coronavirus vaccine. He was one of 90 veterans and 100 staff who received the shot at the Thompson-Hood Veterans Center in Wilmore. Meanwhile, the virus started tp plateau according to Governor A. Beshear.

December 22, 2021, President J. Biden extended a pause on student loan payments for an additional 90 days. This gave 41 million people a break right before Christmas. Oddly, when corporations get their debt forgiven every year, no one makes a stink; when it happens to people who try to better themselves, Americans voice their opinions loud. We are well-trained to turn on each other; divide and conquer has always been a successful strategy.

10:00 p.m. December 22, 2022, the temperature in Central Kentucky averaged around 40 degrees; by 4:00 a.m., it dropped to 2 degrees, but it got colder. By 9:00 a.m., temperatures bottomed at -5 degrees with a -31 degrees wind chill. A highly unusual cold front brought an Arctic blast into the Ohio Valley.