Kentucky Trivia
November 18, 1806, or thereabout, Capt. Lewis and Mr. Clark arrived in Frankfort with Mr. Chouteau, Chief Shahaka, his family, and an interpreter . A party of Osages also joined. They all went to Washington, D.C., except Mr. Clark, who visited his brothers in Louisville, then to D.C. to woo Julia Hancock. Mr. Clark was not interested in the January 1807 gala receptions in the nation’s capital to honor the expedition’s triumphant return. Hence, Capt. Lewis attended without his partner.
November 18, 1861, the Confederate Sovereignty Convention met in the Clark House in Logan County for three days . One hundred sixteen delegates from 65 counties passed an Act of Secession from the Federal Union. They established Bowling Green as the capital and George W. Johnson from Scott County as provisional governor. This is Kentucky by Robert A. Powell, pg: 116
November 18, 1883, all major cities in the U.S. operated under standard time . However, Lexingtonians lived and worked according to solar time (also called sun time or God’s time) because landowners (farmers) exercised a disproportionate amount of power in the region. Madam Belle by Maryjean Wall pg: 107
November 18, 1896, Cloverport native Eli Houston Murray passed away . He governed the Utah Territory between 1880 and 1886. Locals named Murray, Utah, for him. The newly appointed anti-Mormon territorial governor openly supported Utah’s Liberal Party.
Saturday, November 18, 1893, the annual Male-Manual football rivalry , the longest-running, continuously played high school football series in Kentucky, began.
November 18, 1903, the Carnegie Corporation of New York awarded Owensboro $30,000 to build a library.
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November 18, 1911, the last Battle on Broadway took place when Transy beat UK 12-5 in football . With the NCAA creation, Transylvania University entered Division III while Kentucky stayed in Division I. Almost a hundred years after the last game, the Lexington Herald-Leader wrote that the rivalry was “arguably more intense and controversial than any experienced in UK’s history.”
November 18, 1922, the Kentucky Wildcats shutout the Alabama Crimson Tide 6-0 in Lexington.
November 18, 1922, Dade Park opened the gates for their 1st thoroughbred meet . One month earlier, they officially opened with a Grand Circuit harness meet. Ellis Park, originally Dade Park, was built in 1922 by the Green River Jockey Club. The founders wanted the longest stretch run in America and the original plans were to create a track 1 1/2M long. Architect Ernest F. Bohme from Lexington developed the plans for Ellis Park, but he miscalculated and built the stretch 3/8 of a mile shorter.
November 18, 1945, after receiving a telegram from the house and senate leadership , Governor S. Willis conferred with Lt. Gov. Tuggle, Barbourville, and called a special session. Legislatures wanted to forestall a cut on public assistance.
November 18, 1949, V.P. Alben Barkley married Jane Rucker Hadley in St. Louis . She was his second wife, and he was her second husband. At the time of marriage, Barkley was 33 years her senior. He was 71 years old, and she was 38. Barkley’s first wife, Dorothy, had died in 1947. After meeting the young widow in May 1949 at a party in Washington, the Vice President courted her ardently. Their courtship captured national attention. Around 33 family members, one vice presidential aide, and about 60 reporters attended. Outside, an estimated 5,000 people cheered the couple as they departed in a black convertible.
November 18, 1950, the Kroger Company canceled delivery of all merchandise to its 74 grocery stores in Kentucky and Southern Indiana. They had to; Truck Drivers Local 89 went on strike and picketed the warehouses.
November 18, 1955, Kentucky and Indiana ruled out a specific bridge site asked for by New Albany. The two governors decided on a new location soon afterward.
November 18, 1967, Army SP4 James A. Dailey from Moorefield in Nicholas County died fighting in the Vietnam War.
November 18, 1967, U.S. Supreme Court Justice William O. Douglas (69) and his wife, Cathleen (24), led a five-mile hike in the Clifty Wilderness area in opposition to the proposed damming of the Red River Gorge . The Sierra Club invited the Justice, who had written many books about wilderness areas, to the protest hike to fight the construction of the proposed reservoir. “I don’t think the cause is lost,” Douglas said. “If I thought that, I wouldn’t be here.” The Douglas family visit drew local and national attention to the cause.
November 18, 1971, Army PFC Charles H. Richie from Berea died fighting in the Vietnam War.
November 18, 1972, eleven people died in a twin-engine plane crash in a farm field near Elkton, in Todd County , returning from a high school football game between Madison and Trigg Counties. Ten of the victims were from Richmond.
November 18, 1977, the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the city of Southgate received sovereign immunity and were dropped as a defendant in the Beverly Hills Supper fire six months after the tragedy.
November 18, 1978, Morehead State quarterback Phil Simms, in his last Eagle’s game, scrambled under pressure from an Eastern Kentucky defender during the Colonels’ 30-0 win in Richmond. The future Super Bowl XXI MVP finished his college career with 5,545 yards passing, an Ohio Valley Conference record.
November 18, 1980, the 1st Kentuckian received $172,170 in federal court after the swine-flu vaccine paralyzed him . Guillain-Barre Syndrome resulted from the government’s 1976 swine-flu inoculation program.
November 18, 1982, Lexington police charged a man infected with the AIDS virus with wanton endangerment for allegedly having sex with his girlfriend and not telling her he was HIV positive.
November 18, 1985, Vice President George Bush dedicated the Lucille Parker Markey Cancer Center at UK. He then attended a $500-a-couple fundraising dinner for U.S. Rep. Larry Hopkins in downtown Lexington.
November 18, 1988, Rep. Donnie Gedling of Hardinsburg, Chairman of the Kentucky General Assembly’s Tobacco Taskforce , said that UofL’s proposal to segregate smokers and ban smoking on campus is an insult to Kentucky farmers.
November 18, 1995, the 14th annual Kentucky Book Fair occurred in Frankfort and featured 130 regional and national writers . The event drew 5,000 participants and sold about 11,000 blocks. Andy Rooney and Nick Clooney attended.
On November 18, 2001, Rick Pitino coached his 1st basketball game as UofL’s head coach . The Cardinals crushed South Alabama 92-38.
November 18, 2004, in a 4-3 decision, the state supreme court reversed Shane Ragland’s 2002 murder conviction of 30 years , saying a prosecutor improperly mentioned to the jury Ragland’s decision not to testify. In 2007, he pleaded guilty to manslaughter and received a sentence of time served – six years.
November 18, 2005, Muhammad Ali joined his family, friends, colleagues, and admirers from 12 countries and 32 states to celebrate the grand opening of the $54 million Muhammad Ali Center.
November 18, 2006, the Santa Special rolled into Shelbiana, Pike County, for the 64th year . Volunteers tossed armfuls of candy, moon pies, coloring books, dolls, and other toys from the parked train cars. The annual expedition delivers more than 15 tons of Christmas gifts to children living along a 110-mile stretch in the rural mountains of Kentucky, WVA, and TN.
November 18, 2012, Allan Hsiao, the son of Taiwanese immigrants who attended high school in Louisville, became a Rhodes Scholar , one of 32 Americans to do for the year.
November 18, 2016, after decades of discussion and 3.5 years of construction, officials and citizens celebrated the substantial completion of the Louisville downtown crossing portion of the Ohio River Bridges Project, a $1.3 billion endeavor.
On November 18, 2020, as the U.S death toll hit 250,000, Governor A. Beshear unveiled wide-ranging restrictions to curb the 3rd surge of coronavirus , from shutting schools down to eliminating indoor restaurant seating. Restaurant owners claimed, “This is the breaking point.” Meanwhile, the KHSAA vote to delay and shorten the basketball season.
Positives: 2,753 / 144,753Deaths : 15 / 1,712 – 1st Death 3/16/2050&over :49-30 29&under : 3
On November 18, 2022, the Sporting Art Auction, conducted by Cross Gate Gallery of Lexington and Keeneland, held the most successful sale in its 10-year history , with 90% of its lots sold this past weekend. Friday’s auction drew in 300 buyers from nearly a dozen countries and grossed nearly $2.5 million. The highest-grossing piece was the sale of famed Kentucky artist Henry Faulkner’s Floral, signed oil on Masonite, which went for $123,375.
