Kentucky Trivia

December 6, 1792, Kentucky created Clark County.  It was the first county formed from two counties, Fayette and Bourbon.  All previous counties had split off from one county.  Clark was named in honor of George Rogers Clark, Revolutionary War General.  Winchester is the county seat.  Other localities include: Becknerville, Bloomingdale, Colby, Combs Ferry, Ford, Goffs Corner, Lyndale, Pilot View and Trapp.  Clark County was the 15th county created and covers 255 square miles.

Localtonians wishes a Happy Birthday to Little Dixie native Ewing Galloway, born in 1880, in Pike County.  Ewing was a journalist who owned a photography agency that provided works focused on the economy and transportation.  The Ewing Galloway Agency was, at one time, the largest photography agency in the U.S.

December 6, 1885, Lieutenant Edward B. Harding, Louisville Police Department, was shot and killed while investigating a disturbance at a local saloon on the corner of Ninth Street and Walnut Street (Present day Muhammad Ali Boulevard).

December 6, 1889, Jefferson Finis Davis, from Christian County, now Todd County, died in New Orleans, LA.  After the Civil War, Jefferson Davis was imprisoned at Fort Monroe, VA, for two years.  He was never tried for treason and released on bond in May 1867.  Davis, with his family, traveled for some time in Europe before returning to the American South.  They first took up residence in Tennessee then relocated to the Mississippi gulf coast, where Davis lived out his retirement years at his Beauvoir estate near Biloxi.  Mississippi tried to return him to the U.S. Senate, but he was not legally qualified to serve since he refused to request an official pardon from the U.S. for his role in the Civil War.  Like many of his contemporaries, Davis wrote about his wartime experiences, entitled The Rise and Fall of the Confederate Government, published in 1881.

December 6, 1899, several thousand people witnessed Richard Coleman tied to a tree and burn after a frenzied mob took him from Maysville deputies.  The black man was accused of murder.

December 6, 1911, the cornerstone for Abraham Lincoln School was laid in Lexington.  The school was a progressive model for elementary education with facilities and programs far ahead of the times.  The modern facilities had a playground, swimming pool, carpenter shop, kitchen, sewing room, rooftop garden, neighborhood laundry, circulating library, and domestic science department.  The Lincoln School also exemplified the era of school segregation in Lexington.  Black students were not allowed to attend Lincoln throughout its fifty-five years of service as a public school.  The school closed in 1967.
The Kentucky Encyclopedia edited by John E. Kleber; pg: 118

December 6, 1922, Patrolman Alford Holland, Hazard Police Department, succumbed to gunshot wounds sustained two days earlier while questioning two drunk brothers about gunshots fired in town.

December 6, 1947, the Kentucky Wildcats met the Villanova Wildcats in Cleveland Stadium to play the one and only Great Lakes Bowl.  Coach Bear Bryant, in his second season, entered the game 7-3 with losses to AL, TN, and Ole Miss.  Kentucky won 24-14, with George Blanda scoring the first points with a 27-yard field goal.

December 6, 1950, Army CPL James R. Bissell from Crittenden County, Army PFC Leslie Click from Floyd County, Army PFC Billie J. Hash from Whitley County, Army PFC Freeman Linsey from Breckinridge County, Army PVT James L. Mason from Bell County and Marine Corps SGT Ray M. Pope from Lebanon in Marion County, all died fighting in the Korean War.

December 6, 1953, the Alcoholic Beverage Control Board revoked the liquor license for Yorkshire Bar, a swank Newport night spot.  The club was operating card games, dice games, three crap tables, roulette wheel, three “beat the dealer tables,” and a “chuck-a-luck” table.

December 6, 1961, Deputy Sheriff Leonard Adams, Sr., Letcher County Sheriff’s Office, was shot and killed while attempting to arrest a man for being drunk in public in Mayking.  He was in the area on other business when a citizen informed him of the drunken man.  Deputy Adams located the subject carrying a 12 gauge shotgun at the railroad crossing over Cram Creek.

December 5, 1961, letters on Frankfort’s floral clock were changed from “Kentucky” to “Peace on Earth” for the Christmas season.  The clock was also made to look like a wreath, making it the largest one on earth at the time.

December 6, 1965, Army SSG Daymon D. Horn from Lexington died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 6, 1967, Marine Corps SGT Montague Lyons from Walton died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 6, 1968, Army PFC Ronald L. Million from Danville died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 6, 1970, Army SSG Walter V. Marcum from Louisville died fighting in the Vietnam War.

December 6, 1975, after hours of talks, the National Forum on Alternatives: The Quest for Quality Education and Social Integration, could not produce any magical ideas to solve their problems.  Therefore, Louisville schools continued busing children mandated by the federal government.  Protestors stood outside in fierce opposition.  

December 6, 1980, Kentucky beats Isiah Thomas and the Indiana Hoosiers 68-66 in Bloomington.

December 6, 1990, the Green River Female Academy building in Todd County was added to the U.S. National Register of Historic Places.

December 6, 1991, Calumet Farm received a bid from an unidentified group of $32.1 million for the farm, and all of its stallions, well above the $26.27 million bid received the previous week.  A few hours later, Mutual Benefit Life continued with foreclosure, stating the offers were not sufficient.  The Calumet auctioned took place the following March.

December 6, 1991, a standing-room crowd packed the rotunda, which overflowed into capitol corridors, and lined two upper mezzanines for Governor Bert T. Combs’s eulogy given by journalist John Ed Pearce.  He was buried in Clay County the following day.

December 6, 2003, Trinity beats St. Xavier 17-14 to win the 4A Kentucky State High School Football Championship.

December 6, 2003, legendary former UCLA basketball coach John R. Wooden held the game trophy with the UK team after the Wildcats beat the Bruins 52-50 in the John R. Wooden Classic in CA.  UK players in front include, from left, Erik Daniels, Gerald Fitch and Antwain Barbour.

December 6, 2009, Michael Polakovs died in Ashland.  Michael was a circus clown who performed in the U.S. under the name of Coco the Clown, a moniker that his father, Nicolai Poliakoff, had made famous in Europe.

December 6, 2005, the World Equestrian Games picked the Kentucky Horse Park for their 2010 games.  With total attendance estimated at 300,000, state officials expect it to be the largest sporting event in Kentucky history and generate $100 million for the area’s economy.

December 6, 2014, Trinity beats Dixie Heights 47-14 for the Class 6A KHSAA Commonwealth Gridiron Bowl.

December 6, 2019, after 32 years of marriage, the wife of Papa John’s founder John Schnatter files for divorce.  Schnatter’s estimated wealth was around $500 million and the two settled amicably.

December 6, 2020, nine months after the first case of coronavirus in Kentucky, the state passed 200,000 positive cases.  Governor Beshear said the even though the past week was a record breaker for positive cases, the virus seems to be slowing down?