Kentucky Trivia ● Kentucky Tweets

Do Not Mix Business With Pleasure.  Georgia Davis Powers

October 19, 1775, Mary Ingles and an old Dutch woman decided to escape from Big Bone and their Native American captures.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Madison County native Cassius Marcellus Clay born in 1810, nicknamed “The Lion of White Hall.”

October 19, 1818, Kentucky gained 2,000 square miles with the Jackson Purchase.  The agents included the U.S. and the Chickasaw Nation.  The aging Isaac Shelby and Gen. Andrew Jackson represented the U.S.  Levi and George Colbert, Chinubby (the Boy King), and Tishomingo represented the Chickasaws.  The purchase included eight Kentucky counties.

October 19, 1826, the Williams Race Track held racing for three days in Lexington for the Kentucky Association, until land could be purchased and a racecourse built.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Cobb native Dr. David Amoss, born in Caldwell County in 1857.  The tobacco farmer helped his peers break free of the Duke Tobacco monopoly.

October 19, 1895, Deputy Marshal Todd Vittitoe, Elizabethtown Police Department, died from a gunshot wound as he and the town marshal attempted to break up a fight between two men.  One of the men in the fight shot at the other one, but missed, and the round fatally struck the marshal.

October 19, 1895, Kentucky State College (UK) defeated Centre 6-0.

October 19, 1901, Kentucky State College (UK) beat Georgetown’s 2^nd string team 17-0 in Georgetown.

October 19, 1920, Isham Talbot became Kentucky’s 6^th Class III U.S. Senator.   The seat sat empty for six months.

Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Jimtown native Georgia Davis Powers, born in 1923.  Ms. Powers served for 21 years as a state senator in the Kentucky Senate.  In 1967, she became the 1^st person of color and the 1^st woman elected to the Senate.  During her term, she advocated for blacks, women, children, the poor, and the disabled.”

October 19, 1951, Air Force SSGT N. Brandon from Princeton in Caldwell County, Army CPL Denver King from Letcher County and Army PFC Franklin H. Watts from Mercer County, all died fighting in the Korean War.

October 19, 1952, Army PVT Ronald D. Jacobs from Bracken County died fighting in the Korean War.

October 19, 1970, Army SSG Donald C. Gay from Frankfort died fighting in the Vietnam War.

October 19, 1970, the annual Court Days in Mt. Sterling began.  Like the last 100 years, people came to town to swap knives, guns, dogs, antiques, and hundreds of other items.  Court Day is a throwback to the pioneer era when the circuit judge came to town, for the day, each quarter of the year.  Initially, locals only traded mules and hound-dogs.

October 19, 1974, Kentucky defeated LSU 20-13 in Lexington.

October 19, 1980, Presidential candidate Ronald Reagan arrived at Standiford Field and later rode the Belle of Louisville with campaign workers and school children.  Today the airport is named the Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport.

October 19, 1987, federal officials stopped a caviar theft ring in Cumberland County acquired through illegal fishing.  The officials charged the ring with conspiracy to bribe a U.S. deputy game warden in order to fish illegally, along with other federal crimes.

October 19, 1990, Governor W. Wilkerson barred new landfills in Kentucky temporarily.  He also capped the amount of waste that existing landfills could accept so the state wouldn’t be a “dumping ground” for out-of-state trash.  He did this to ensure that legislators would pass new landfills laws.

October 19, 1997, in a move described as unprecedented, the state pushed ahead with plans for a new Bullitt County Courthouse, even though county officials, while not opposed to the idea, never formally voted for the $6.4 million project.

October 19, 1998, the PGA announced the Valhalla Golf Club would be home to the 2004 Senior PGA Senior Championship and the 2008 Ryder Cup.  Valhalla had already successfully hosted the 1996 PGA Championship won by Mark Brooks.

October 19, 2000, the Kentucky State Data Center announced that Lexington would pass Louisville as the state’s largest city if Louisville did not approve the Louisville-Jefferson County measure.  From 1990 to 2000 Louisville population declined to 253,128 loosing 16,710 while Lexington grew by 18,149 to 243,785.  Based on the trend, Lexington would become the largest city by 2001.

On Friday, October 19, 2012, Spindletop Hall kicked off a weekend celebration with a Texas Barbeque, followed by a gala dinner dance on Saturday, and Sunday, finished with a horse and carriage brunch. All to celebrate the 75^th anniversary of its completion and the 50^th anniversary of a UK Country Club.

Kentucky Trivia:  Spindletop included a 1,066-acre farm and a 45,000-square-foot mansion.  Pansy Yount flew in European artisans to create the woodwork.  The vast gothic library had a hammer-beam roof, and a mantel salvaged from an English Castle.  Pansy designed her home around the Kimball organ that sent music to almost every room in the house.

October 19, 2016, Louisville reached a grim milestone when it recorded its 100^th homicide for the year, reaching the triple digits for the first time in four decades.  The FBI’s 2016 Crime report revealed that Louisville’s homicide problem was deeper than the numbers suggested.

On October 19, 2019, Warren Rosenthal died, builder of the iconic restaurants Jerry’s and Long John Silver’s.  The CEO of Jerrico enjoyed a family of white thoroughbreds that lived on his Patchen Wilkes Farm, across the street from Hamburg Farm in Lexington.

On October 19, 2020, the governor used scare tactics when he claimed the cold weather would spread the virus even more as people gathered inside.  He then stated hospitalization for the virus was at an all-time high for two days.  Thirty-five percent of Kentucky hospital beds and 29% of ICU beds were available on this date.

Positives:  647 / 88,247
Deaths:  9 / 1,326 – 1^st Death 3/16/20
50&over:  1,289 / 49-30: 35 / 29&under: 2

October 19, 2021, dignitaries gathered in Somerset to celebrate a new distillery.  Horse Solider Distillery moved from Ohio after Kentucky provided $30 million of incentives.