November 5, 1768, the Haudenosaunee and Great Britain signed the Treaty of Fort, which established a property line following the Ohio River. The boundary ceded the Kentucky portion of the Colony of Virginia to the British, as well as most of what is now West Virginia.
November 5, 1788, Virginia passed a law to create Mason County. The new county formed on May 1 the following year from Bourbon County. Mason was the 1st county made that did not take land from the original three counties. Locals named the county after George Mason, a statesman known as the “Father of the Bill of Rights.” Maysville is the county seat. Other localities include; Dover, Germantown, Maysville, Sardis, Mays Lick, Fernleaf, Helena, Lewisburg, Minerva, Orangeburg, Shannon, Somo, and Weedonia. Mason County covers 246 square miles and was the 8th county created.
November 5, 1792, John Edwards and John Brown took their seats as 1st U.S. Senators from Kentucky during the 2nd session of the 2nd U.S. Congress in Philadelphia. The 2nd Congress adjourned after two years.
November 5, 1896, the Louisville Athletic Club defeated Centre College in Danville 28-0.
November 5, 1897, Patrolman John T. O’Brien, Louisville Police Department, died while investigating a disturbance on Marshall Street. Four drunken men had started to chase another man involved in an argument. As Patrolman O’Brien helped one man up, who fell, another opened fire.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Lexington native John Winston (“Squire”) Coleman, Jr., author and historian born in 1898. Coleman began researching, collecting, and writing Kentucky history in 1932 and became renowned for his work in state and local history, especially on the Bluegrass Region. He wrote more than twenty books; the first, Masonry in the Bluegrass, was published in 1933. His better known works are Stage-coach Days in the Bluegrass (1935), Slavery Times in Kentucky (1940), A Bibliography of Kentucky History (1949), The Springs of Kentucky (1955), Historic Kentucky (1967), and Kentucky: A Pictorial History (1972). Coleman’s private collection on Kentucky history included approximately 3,500 books, pamphlets, manuscripts, maps, atlases, and more than two thousand photographs and negatives. Mr. Coleman donated most of his large collection of Kentuckiana to Transylvania University.
November 5, 1904, the Kentucky State College Blue and White Football team (UK) defeated the Kentucky Military Institute team 11-0 in Lexington at Stoll Field.
November 5, 1907, Officer Michael Murphy, Lexington Police Department, died from a gunshot while arresting a man causing a disturbance on Election Day at a polling place near High Street and Broadway.
November 5, 1910, on the 8th time they played, Kentucky defeated Tennessee 10-0 in Knoxville. The game broke the series tie with three wins apiece, and one 0-0 tie.
November 5, 1912, Constable Tomas “Tom” Campbell, Lee County Constable’s Office, died from a gunshot while arresting a father and son wanted on a bench warrant who had previously threatened the Constable’s life.
November 5, 1917, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled on Kentucky’s Buchanan vs. Warley. Buchanan was a white individual who sold a house to Warley, a black individual. Louisville had an ordinance that prohibited blacks from living on a block where the majority of residents were white. Since whites occupied 8 of 10 houses, Warley was not allowed to live on the block. Buchanan sued Warley in Jefferson County Circuit Court to complete the sale. Warley cited the city ordinance as the reason for the non-completion of the sale. Buchanan alleged that the ordinance violated the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment. The question went to the Kentucky Court of Appeals, which said the ordinance was fair. The U.S. Supreme Court overruled the Kentucky Court of Appeals. The ordinance did indeed violate the Due Process clause of the 14th Amendment lawsuit.
November 5, 1931, Deputy James W. Hogue of the McCreary County Sheriff’s Office died from a gunshot when he arrested an individual after raiding a liquor still with two other deputies.
November 5, 1935, Louisville native Charles W. Anderson, Jr. became the 1st African American elected to a Southern state legislature in the twentieth century. The Republican immediately began to improve educational opportunities and better access to public facilities for Kentucky’s African Americans.
November 5, 1946, click to see women’s professional wrestling at Woodland Auditorium. The auditorium, built at the turn of the century, showcased everything from professional wrestling to piano performers on the classical music circuit. Officials condemned it for public use in 1952 and tore it down in the 1970s. It stood near the corner of East High Street and Kentucky Avenue.
November 5, 1952, John Sherman Cooper began his 2nd of three terms as a U.S. Senator representing Kentucky. He served 20 years in Class II.
November 5, 1959, Coach Adolph Rupp, Kentucky Hereford Association President, presented a trophy to E.F. Fisher at Keeneland. Rupp stayed president of the association for 16 consecutive terms. They awarded $10,000 in prize money at the two-day event.
On November 5, 1970, two days after the election and 175 absentee ballots left to count, State Senator R. Mazzoli held a 227-vote lead over the incumbent W. Cowger for Kentucky’s 3rd Congressional seat. Meanwhile, doctors reported a new fatal disease that destroys arteries in “Meth” users.
On November 5, 1975, Kentuckians voted and overwhelmingly gave the nod to Governor J. Carroll to return to his office after serving 10 months after Ford resigned to be a U.S. Senator. The record-breaking margin, 191,793, crushed challenger R. Gable. Carrol won all six congressional districts, a feat no governor ever achieved. The final tally was 469,975 to 278,182.
November 5, 1988, Kentucky held their 1st Breeders’ Cup (BC) World Championship at Churchill Downs. In the 5th edition, fans witnessed some of the greatest performances in the sport’s history on this rainy day. Alysheba, who, under dark skies, won the $3 million Classic, (dubbed the “Midnight Classic”) to capture the Horse of the Year title. Trainer D. Wayne Lukas became the 1st trainer to win three BC races on a single card. Julie Krone became the 1st women BC jockey to ride three races. But the day’s most dramatic moment came in the $1 million Distaff. Undefeated Personal Ensign, trained by Lexingtonian Shug McGaughey III, will go down in history as one of BC’s most signature moments.
November 5, 1991, Kentuckians elected Brereton Jones, the 58th Kentucky governor, over Larry Hopkins. Incumbent Governor W. Wilkinson could not seek a 2nd term due to term limits. Jones received 540,468 to 294,452.
On November 5, 1992, Bobby Fischer, 49, became the king of chess after beating Boris Spassky in a nine-week rematch that ended after 30 games. Fischer won $3.35 million and claimed he was still the World Champion, but the World Chess Federation refused to acknowledge the match.
November 5, 1994, Europeans took a liking to the Churchill Downs turf course for the 11th Breeders’ Cup. The Distaff paid large and Pat Day won both 2-year-old races.
The GOP loomed large on November 5, 1996, despite a razor-thin victory for Bill Clinton in Kentucky and Patton in the mansion. Three years earlier, Democrats had four of the six congressional seats, then one, Scotty Baesler. Mitch won by an easy margin for the first time. In the Kentucky Senate, the GOP only needed two seats to take control, which wouldn’t take long.
November 5, 1997, The Artist formerly known as Prince took the stage at Rupp Arena during his “Jam Of the Year” tour. A crowd of 7,700 witnessed his 1st Lexington show in 13 years.
November 5, 1998, two fishermen found Kyle Breeden’s body in the Kentucky River, which began a nightmare for Susan Jean King. In September 2020, she settled a lawsuit with the KSP and received $750,000 after a detective railroaded her into a false confession.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Falmouth native Dontaie Allen, born in 2000. The 2019 Kentucky Mr. Basketball recently transferred from UK to WKU.
November 5, 2007, John Ferguson, representing Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al Maktoum, outlasted John Magnier of Coolmore to land English champion Playful Act (Ire) (Sadler’s Wells). When the dust settled, the Keeneland toteboard read $10.5 million, demolishing the previous record of $9.4 million for a broodmare achieved by Magical Romance at the 2006 Tattersalls December sale.
Saturday, November 5, 2011, for the 2nd year in a row Churchill Downs hosted Breeders’ Cup. Saturday’s card included nine races for the 28th edition.
November 5, 2012, Mandy Pope of Whisper Hill Farm paid $10 million for 2011 Horse of the Year Harve de Grace at the Fasig-Tipton November Sale in Lexington. The price ranked 3rd behind $10.5 million for Playful Act (IRE) in 2007 mare and $14 million for Better than Honour in 2008.
On November 5, 2014, Mitch McConnell won an unprecedented sixth term as Kentucky’s Class II U.S. Senator. The win was sweetened when the GOP did well coast-to-coast, catapulting him to his long-sought role of Majority Leader. Immediately after the victory, he stated he wanted to work with President Obama, and they did for the next three years. Their relationship helped solidify the Uniparty’s grasp on D.C. However, public spats were necessary to keep appearances.
Saturday, November 5, 2016, the 33rd Breeders’ Cup World Championships ended on Saturday with nine races. Nearly 73,000 fans packed Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California, a new record for Saturday since the event expanded to two days. In the Classic, Dubai World Cup (G1) winner California Chrome went off as the 9-10 favorite over 8-5 Arrogate and 8-1 Frosted, in a nine-horse field.
On Sunday, November 5, 2017, House Speaker Jeff Hoover announced the longest resignation in Kentucky history. Two months and one day later, he finally stepped down after being pushed out. Hoover had been speaker since January when the GOP took control for the first time in nearly a century. He lost his job because he couldn’t work well with others.
On November 5, 2020, Governor A. Beshear announced a single-day record for + cases, 2,318, and that 20 individuals had died with the virus. Every virus related stat had increased: hospitalizations, red zones, deaths, etc…The governor said, “It’s dangerous out there. It’s dangerous to you personally. It’s dangerous to especially those more at risk for the virus.” He continued about masks, “I’m not trying to tell you to do it to invade your liberty; I’m doing it because I want you to survive this thing and not harm anybody else.”
November 5, 2021, while Governor A. Beshear touted the new vaccine for children 5 to 11 years old, AG D. Cameron sued the federal government over mandating the vaccination on all companies with 100 employees or more, he felt it was a state issue. Meanwhile, government agencies across the board began to lose employees who refused to be vaccinated.
On November 5, 2022, Rex’s X account saw a significant increase in followers. The comments were brutal.
By November 5, 2023, Boyle County schools returned 100 books they had banned earlier in the year. The District reversed course due to their interpretations of Senate Bill 150, which prohibits instruction on sexual orientation and gender identity.