On October 24, 1940, 120 Foxhounds and 19 saddle horses died when fire swept through the Nelson County Stockyards, bringing a tragic halt to the Kentucky State Fox Hunters Association’s annual meeting. Samuel Wooldridge of Versailles, former president of the association, claimed the best hounds in the U.S. perished, with many strains wiped out entirely, and some bloodlines would never return.
October 24, 1951, Army PFC Fredericke E. Fuhrman from Kenton County died fighting in the Korean War.
October 24, 1952, Army PFC Charles E. Liford from Harlan County died fighting in the Korean War.
On October 24, 1956, Kentucky approved a point system to punish reckless drivers. The state began keeping records of all drivers convicted of motor vehicle violations. The seriousness of the violations determined how many points the state applied. Governor A. Chandler approved the process.
October 24, 1963, Air Force SSGT Walter K. Morris from Paris died fighting in the Vietnam War.
October 24, 1964, Air Force COL Don I. Williamson from Louisville died fighting in the Vietnam War.
By Sunday, October 24, 1965, Kentucky reported 20 deaths from car wrecks in two days. The state total for the year already stood at 710, 19 less than the 1964 total. All who died passed away young, the oldest being 47.
October 24, 1967, Army PFC Gary W. Hawkins from Louisville died fighting in the Vietnam War.
October 24, 1969, Army SFC John T. Demarches from Bowling Green and Army PFC Joseph R. Hagy, Jr. from Lebanon both died fighting in the Vietnam War.
October 24, 1971, Kentucky Wesleyan College, in Owensboro, inaugurated Dr. William E. James as its 25th President. Over 2,000 visitors and delegates from 45 colleges watched as the United Methodist Liberal Arts School held ceremonies.
On October 24, 1972, Louisville passed its long-studied ordinance, which created a 15-year franchise to operate a cable television (CATV) system.
October 24, 1980, Waylon Jennings headlined the Kentucky Cowboy Roundup, a benefit for the Kentucky governor’s mansion renovation, at the Kentucky Horse Park.
October 24, 1984, senatorial candidate Mitch McConnell campaigned in Louisville and told the Rotary Club that one-third of all Americans receive some federal assistance. He preferred that corporations and foreign countries receive the money.
October 24, 1990, Arch Mining, the largest private employer in Breathitt County, began to notify 248 miners they would lose their jobs. The layoff also affected workers in Perry and Knott Counties, delivering another blow to the industry and locals.
October 24, 1995, Kentucky State University received $276,000 for research on the lowly Pawpaw Tree, which grows wild on the banks of Kentucky streams. A university official claimed the tree as a miracle plant and hoped to discover commercial relevance for the Kentucky native.
On October 24, 1997, the public became aware that three paintings from the Calumet bankruptcy were missing, or at least not where they were supposed to be, at the Kentucky Horse Park. The paintings included A Gleam & General Duke by James N. Slick and Barbizon by Richard Stone Reeves.
October 24, 2000, the public found out about a company internal memo that stated, “a blue glow reported by workers at the Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant could indicate nuclear reactions occurred underground in a top-secret burial pit for atomic weapons parts.” The memo written by a plant physicist stated a “blue glow” was 1st observed in the early 1980s.
On October 24, 2001, Stanford native Karen K. Caldwell became a U.S. District Court judge for the Eastern District of Kentucky. President G.W. Bush appointed her. She served until 2012, when she became Chief Judge of the same court.
Friday, October 24, 2008, changes continued for the Breeders’ Cup (BC) as it celebrated its 25th year under the San Gabriel Mountains in California. For the 1st time, BC used a synthetic track. The purses totaled $25.5 million and they expanded to 14 races, adding the Turf Sprint, Juvenile Fillies Turf, and the Marathon. The name of the Distaff changed to the Ladies’ Classic and four-year Zenyatta christened the new name with a win. BC raced five times on this day and nine races on Saturday.
On October 24, 2011, Henderson’s Ellis Park became the 2nd Kentucky racetrack to offer expanded gambling. The Kentucky Horse Racing Commission unanimously approved the track’s application for 252 instant/historic machines, the same ones at Kentucky Downs in Franklin.
October 24, 2015, Louisville businesses and individuals have paid more than $3.8 million in fines since 2003 to resolve violations of local air pollution. The #1 violators were faulty vapor controls on gas pump rules.
On October 24, 2020, Governor A. Beshear, free from quarantine, finally used the F word and called the new numbers “frightening.” Andy continued, “This is exploding all over the country. We’ve got to do better, and on Monday, we will be talking about new recommendations to counties that are in the red. We’ve got to tamp down these cases. The more cases, and the more people that end up in the hospital and the more people die.” The ages of the individuals who died with the virus: 69, 70, 71, 71, 79, 86, and 89.
On October 24, 2022, a judge told NY healthcare organizations they had to reinstate the healthcare workers they fired because they refused to take the experimental vaccine. The order commanded that all terminated petitioners be reinstated on October 25, 2022, and collect back pay from their date of termination.
October 24, 2023, Louisville native and rookie Brandon Pfaadt recorded the first 12 outs of Arizona’s 4-2, pennant-clinching win over the Phillies in NLCS Game 7. He struck out seven batters, bringing his postseason tally to 22 in four starts with a 2.70 ERA. “It feels unbelievable,” Pfaadt said. “To come up with the guys that I came up with, and look them in the face and say that we’re going to the World Series, it feels surreal.”
Fire By The Abandoned Grill