Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets
April 18, 1750, Thomas Walker wrote in his journal , “Indians have lived about this ford some years ago.” He may have alluded to the burial mound 400 yards from the Ford of the Cumberland River, present-day Pineville. The Woodlands people probably made the mound. Gateway – Dr. Thomas Walker & the Opening of KY by David M. Burns Pg: 19
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native Charles Henry Parrish , born into slavery in 1859. His wife, Mary Virginia Cook Parrish, and son, Charles H. Parrish Jr., also dedicated their careers to education.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Harrodsburg native Beriah Magoffin , born in 1815. A Centre College and Transylvania University graduate, Beriah became the 21st governor (1859-62). Legislators pushed him out of office due to Civil War politics after he rejected both sides’ requests for troops. The Commonwealth officially voted for neutrality.
April 18, 1818, John Boswell of Lexington and Charles Durand dueled “in the vicinity of this Lexington town.” Cause of the duel; unknown. At the 1st fire Boswell received a serious wound and died the same day. Durand received a slight injury. Famous Kentucky Duels by J. Winston Coleman, Jr.; pg: 139
Localtonians wish a Happy Anniversary to Antoine Bidermann du Pont, who married Ellen Coleman of Louisville in 1861 . They had eight children. Ellen and baby died giving birth of her last child. Mr. du Pont rests in Cave Hill Cemetery.
April 18, 1865, Taylorsville hosted one of the very last Kentucky Civil War skirmishes .
April 18, 1866, Mike Lipman’s Circus Menagerie opened in Louisville for four days . In one tent, they featured Grizzly Adam’s troupe of acting bears; in another tent, the celebrated Bedouin Arab Troupe and Sequence Q Stroke’s Stud of trained horses and ponies. The circus provided one of the main forms of entertainment for communities in the post-civil war South.
April 18, 1869, workers laid the last rail to complete the short-line railroad from Louisville to Covington . The 106 miles cost $3,933,401.
April 18, 1879, President Rutherford B. Hayes dedicated The High Bridge crossing the Kentucky River Palisades connecting Jessamine and Mercer Counties. The highest railroad bridge in the U S. over a navigable stream (308 feet) at its construction was also the tallest railroad bridge in the world until the 20th century.
April 18, 1882, Hawesville native John W. Cannon passed away in Frankfort ; he rests in the Frankfort Cemetery. In 1870, Cannon captained the steamboat Robert E. Lee in America’s most famous steamboat race. Newspapers called it the race of the century. Captain Cannon defeated the steamboat Natchez from New Orleans to St. Louis. The 1,154 miles took three days, 18 hours, and 14 minutes. Citizens on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean placed bets at unprecedented levels.
April 18, 1920, gasoline rose to $.29 a gallon .
On April 18, 1931, Deputy Sheriff Jess Pace died (and a miner wounded) in a gunfight at Evarts in Harlan County . Deputy Pace was trying to arrest some men accused of beating a man who crossed the picket line to work.
April 18, 1944, the U.S. Public Health Service hospital found Paul Surratt, 35, in a tunnel . The drug-farm patient had a key to open all doors inside. He stayed hidden for two days, but they eventually found him.
April 18, 1953, Army PVT Charles H. Howard from Trigg County , Army PFC Donald V. Maus from Kenton County , Army SGT Clent E. Parsons from Elliott County and Army PFC Lowell M. Ward from Johnson County , all died in the Korean War.
April 18, 1960, Muhammad Ali registered for the draft in the 1st round of his fight with the MIC .
April 18, 1965, Louisville native Robert Herman Nichols won the PGA-sponsored Houston Classic by one stroke for the 2nd time in three years. This time he earned $12,000. In 2022, the winner received $1,512,000.
April 18, 1968, Army PFC William F. Eldridge from Covington in Kenton County and Army SP5 Thomas J. Lawson from Beverly in Bell County , both died in the Vietnam War.
April 18, 1969, Army PFC Victor L. Mills from Harlan in Harlan County died in the Vietnam War.
April 18, 1970, Glasgow native Denny Doyle hit a lead-off single in the 1st inning against Nolan Ryan of the New York Mets . Doyle has the distinction of having the only hit in three one-hitters in his career. The other two came against Red’s pitcher Gary Nolan and Padre’s pitcher Steve Arlin.
April 18, 1974, architect Lawrence Melillo told the EKU Design Symposium , “A lot of Kentuckians, many in Louisville, don’t appreciate fine buildings from the past.” He referred to high bidders from other states who bought Kentucky architecture by the piece, loaded it on trucks, and hauled it out of state.
April 18, 1982, Louisville’s Kenneth Israel Synagogue held an art auction that included works by Norman Rockwell, Pablo Picasso, Marc Chagall, and Joan Miro.
April 18, 1998, Thunder Over Louisville kicked off the Kentucky Derby Festival
April 18, 2000, the Courier-Journal reported not a single stream in Jefferson County’s 11 watersheds was suitable for human contact or even wading . They claimed incidental ingestion of a drop of bacterial-laden water could lead to stomach cramps, intestinal-tract disease, and even worse.
April 18, 2003, UK announced it gave Coach T. Smith an 8-year contract that could reach $20 million and make him the highest-paid coach in college basketball. The school also announced ticket prices would increase. Tubby won it all in 1998 and left the program in 2007.
Friday, April 18, 2008, at 5:37 a.m., the earth shifted 7.4 miles below the ground in a small Illinois town. The resulting earthquake registered a 5.2; almost all of Kentucky and the Central U.S. felt it.
April 18, 2010, Army SGT Randolph A. Sigley, 28, of Richmond, died in Afghanistan . He passed in his quarters of unknown circumstances during Operation Enduring Freedom.
April 18, 2017, KentuckyOne Health cut 250 jobs to cut costs and improve efficiency while navigating a “difficult” environment . They did not explain what “difficult” meant. Still, KentuckyOne Health’s owner, Catholic Health Initiatives (CHI), the largest non-profit health care provider in the country, paid 24 executives over $49 million in 2019. The health care company recovered quickly from their “difficult” time.
April 18, 2019, Spalding University conducted their 47th annual Running of the Rodents to help kick-start the Kentucky Derby festival.
April 18, 2021, Dr. Fauci said he thought the J&J vaccine would be available again to the public by the end of the week with restrictions on age and gender . The CDC paused the experimental vaccine after blood clots appeared in several patients. Over 6.8 million people already received the medicine.