December 10, 1895, William O’Connell Bradley became Kentucky’s 1st Republican governor and 32nd overall . In his 1st legislative session, he wanted to ban cigarettes, concealed weapons, and gambling at racetracks and church fairs. Bradley did advance civil rights through his pardon powers and signed an anti-lynching bill. Tension ran high as a new party came to power. Their pettiness may have caused the governor’s mansion to burn while lawmakers delayed funds to make needed repairs. One legislative session ended when the militia rode into Frankfort after the senate failed to elect a U.S. Senator. The father of the Republican Party in Kentucky and Garrard County native died a U.S. Senator in Washington D.C.
Kentucky’s 1895 Inauguration
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Covington native Una Merkel, born in 1903.
December 10, 1905, Deputy Sheriff Ulysses Grant Holliday, Breathitt County Sheriff’s Office , died as he served a warrant on two brothers. He and two deputized civilians located the brothers outside of the Jackson City limits and informed them they were under arrest when they shot the sheriff.
December 10, 1907, Maysville native Augustus E. Willson became the 36th governor of Kentucky . The 3rd Republican had many enemies, especially after he pardoned several individuals related to the assassination of Governor Gobel.
Kentucky’s 1907 Inauguration
December 10, 1914, Special Deputy Marshal James Wood, Upton Police Department , died from a gunshot as he arrested a man for robbery in Elizabethtown’s Louisville & Nashville Railroad depot.
December 10, 1916, Chief of Police Guthrie Diuguid, Murray Police Department , died from a gunshot as he responded to a disturbance call.
December 10, 1921, Deputy Jailer Albert Roberts, Breathitt County Jail , died when seven men, all sentenced to life, broke out of jail. They also shot the jailer’s daughter and wife. Police apprehended four suspects; however they never caught the other three.
December 10, 1922, Special Deputy David George Treadway, Menifee County Sheriff’s Office , died from a gunshot while arresting a suspect who had murdered a Federal Prohibition Agent the previous day.
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Jean Byron , born Imogene Audette Burkhart in 1925 in Paducah. She is best known for the role of Natalie Lane, Patty Lane’s mother, in The Patty Duke Show .
December 10, 1926, The Queen of the Baths, a German silent comedy film starring Louisville native Mary Nolan
December 10, 1931, American folk singer, union activist, and Clay County native Aunt Molly Jackson recorded her 1st song.
December 10, 1933, Lexington native Thomas Hunt Morgan (1866-1945) became the 1st Kentuckian to win a Nobel Prize . Morgan distinguished himself as an evolutionary biologist, geneticist, and embryologist.
December 10, 1935, Corydon (Henderson County) native Happy Chandler became the 44th governor of Kentucky and the 41st man to hold the office.
Kentucky’s 1935 Inauguration
Localtonians wish a Happy Birthday to Louisville native Thomas Lee Kirk, born in 1941.
December 10, 1946, Patrolman Auldon LeGrande, Louisville Police Department , succumbed to injuries received two years earlier after a motorcycle accident while on duty.
December 10, 1955, Bob Burrow pulled down 34 rebounds, to equal a UK basketball record. Bill Spivey set the record four years earlier.
On December 10, 1956, the Blue Grass Trust (BGT) for Historic Preservation opened the Hunt Morgan House at 201 North Mill Street (corner with Second Street, facing Gratz Park) for public tours. Locals started the BGT a year earlier to save the house from demolition.
December 10, 1963, Hopkinsville (Christian County) native Edward Thompson Breathitt Jr. became the 51st governor of Kentucky and the 47th man to hold the office. Breathitt earlier defeated two-time former Governor Happy Chandler in the Democratic primary. It would be Happy’s last campaign.
Kentucky’s 1963 Inauguration
On December 10, 1976, William Lipscomb (1919-2011), who grew up in Lexington and graduated from the UK, became the 2nd Kentuckian to win a Nobel Prize . Lipscomb received the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his research in nuclear magnetic resonance, theoretical chemistry, boron chemistry, and biochemistry.
December 10, 1977, as top-ranked UK defeated Kansas on “Adolph Rupp Night” in Allen Field House in Lawrence, Kansas, the “Baron of the Bluegrass” passed .
On December 10, 1978, the Kentucky River crested 48.5 feet in Frankfort about one foot higher than the 1937 flood. Many citizens stayed trapped in their homes while 1,200 locals evacuated. The North Frankfort flood wall protected the downtown business district. The Kentucky River by William E. Ellis pg: 115
On Thursday night, December 10, 1981, Governor John Y. Brown, Jr., 47, from his 17-acre Cave Hill estate, said, “I’m happier than I have ever been in my life. I’m proud of my work. My marriage is well. The family is healthy. I’m secure. My life is complete.” The governor gave numerous half-hour one-on-one interviews throughout the afternoon to commemorate his administration’s halfway point.
December 10, 1991, Ohio native Brereton Chandler Jones became Kentucky’s 58th governor .
December 10, 1995, Louisville native and State Supreme Court Justice Charles M. Leibson , who brought profound changes in Kentucky jurisprudence, died hours before the court swore in his successor.
Tuesday, December 10, 2002, Deputy Jailer Howard E. “Buck” Callis, Trimble County Jail , succumbed to injuries sustained one week earlier when a tractor-trailer struck his vehicle on the Western Kentucky Parkway in Hopkins County.
On December 10, 2009, one year into his presidency, President Barack (Barry) Obama justified war as he accepted the Noble Peace Prize.
Obama’s Bombs Dropped in 2016
December 10, 2019, Louisville native Andrew Graham Beshear became the 63rd governor. We swore him in again in 2023.
December 10, 2020, Phizer’s experimental coronavirus vaccine passed a critical FDA milestone for emergency authorization for adults 16 and older.
During the late evening of Friday, December 10, 2021, a violent, long-tracked EF4 tornado moved across Western Kentucky , producing severe to catastrophic damage in numerous towns, including Mayfield, Princeton, Dawson Springs, and Bremen. Crossing through eleven counties of the Jackson Purchase and Western Coal Field regions, the tornados traveled 165.6 miles.
2021 Western Kentucky Tornado Swath by The Austin Man December 10, 2022, Governor A. Beshear remembered the 2021 devastating tornadoes.
On December 10, 2023, Kentucky’s 54th governor, Julian Carroll, an avid opponent of any third party in the Commonwealth who ended his career on a very sour note, passed away at 92. The West Paducah (McCracken County) native served two weeks short of five years.
