Kentucky in History

• 1774-06-16 Formation of Harrodsburg, Kentucky
• 1775-03-17 Transylvania Land Company, headed by Richard Henderson, buys most of Kentucky through treaty signed with Cherokee chiefs at Sycamore Shoals on the Watauga River (later declared illegal)
• 1789-11-08 Bourbon Whiskey 1st distilled from corn by Elijah Craig in Bourbon, Kentucky
• 1792-06-01 Kentucky admitted as 15th US state
• 1793-12-14 1st state road authorized, Frankfort, Kentucky, to Cincinnati
• 1795-12-19 1st state appropriation of money for road building, Kentucky
• 1798-11-16 Kentucky becomes first state to nullify an act of Congress
• 1801-11-10 Kentucky outlaws duelling
• 1821-12-17 Kentucky abolishes debtors' prisons
• 1838-02-16 Kentucky passes law permitting women to attend school under conditions
• 1849-06-12 Gas mask patented by Lewis Haslett (Louisville, Kentucky)
• 1851-11-09 Kentucky marshals abduct abolitionist minister Calvin Fairbank from Jeffersonville, Indiana, and take him to Kentucky to stand trial for helping a slave escape.
• 1861-05-16 Kentucky proclaims its neutrality
• 1861-05-20 Kentucky proclaims its neutrality in Civil War
• 1861-07-10 Lincoln writes to Kentucky's militia and says Union troops will not enter that state
• 1861-08-06 Lexington, Kentucky - Union military camp forms in neutral state
• 1861-09-03 Confederate forces enter Kentucky, thus ending its neutrality

• 1861-10-02 Former US VP John C Breckinridge flees Kentucky
• 1861-11-08 Battle of Mount Ivy, Kentucky: Union Commander General William "Bull" Nelson breaks up Confederate recruiting camp
• 1861-11-20 Secession ordinance is filed by Kentucky's Confederate government
• 1862-01-19 Battle of Mill Springs, Kentucky (Fishing Creek, Logan's Crossroads)
• 1862-02-26 Battle of Woodburn, Kentucky
• 1862-03-16 Battle at Pound Gap, Kentucky: Confederates separate battles
• 1862-07-09 General John Hunt Morgan captures Tompkinsville, Kentucky
• 1862-07-17 John Hunt Morgan's raid reaches Cynthiana, Kentucky
• 1862-08-17 Confederate troops under Edmund Kirby Smith enter Kentucky
• 1862-08-23 Skirmish at Big Hill, Kentucky (2 Federal regiments)
• 1862-09-17 Battle of Mumfordville, Kentucky, US Col J Wilder surrenders city
• 1862-10-03 Skirmish at Bardstown, Kentucky
• 1862-11-20 Confederate armies of Mississippi and Kentucky merge as Army of Tennessee, under General Braxton Bragg

• 1862-12-27 Battle of Elizabethtown, Kentucky
• 1863-07-02 R Morgan's: Burksville, Kentucky to Salineville, Ohio [->JUL 26]
• 1863-07-11 Battle at Green River, Kentucky (Morgan's Ohio Raid)
• 1864-06-10 Battle of Kellar's Bridge Kentucky (Licking River)
• 1864-06-11 Battle at Cynthiana Kentucky: General Hobsons unit caught
• 1864-08-21 Battle of Grubbs Crossroads, Kentucky

• 1871-05-12 Segregated street cars integrated in Louisville, Kentucky
• 1872-04-12 Jesse James' gang robs a bank of $1,500 in Columbia, Kentucky, 1 dead
• 1877-02-20 1st cantilever bridge in US completed, Harrodsburg, Kentucky
• 1882-08-07 Hatfields of south West Virginia and McCoys of east Kentucky feud, 100 wounded or die
• 1883-09-24 National black convention meets in Louisville, Kentucky
• 1888-02-24 Louisville, Kentucky, becomes 1st government in US to adopt Australian ballot (i.e. secret ballot on standard voting forms)
• 1890-03-27 A tornado strikes Louisville, Kentucky, killing 76 and injuring 200.
• 1893-10-23 C. Dazey's "In Old Kentucky" premieres in NYC (27 seasons)
• 1900-02-03 Gubernatorial candidate William Goebel is assassinated in Frankfort, Kentucky
• 1917-11-05 Supreme Court decision (Buchanan v Warley) strikes down Louisville, Kentucky, ordinance requiring backs & whites to live in separate areas
• 1930-07-28 114°F (46°C), Greensburg, Kentucky (state record)

• 1936-01-11 Charles Anderson enters Kentucky House of Representatives
• 1936-08-14 Rainey Bethea is hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky in the last public execution in the United States
• 1939-07-05 Flash floods kill 79 in Northeast Kentucky
• 1943-01-02 University of Kentucky Wildcats men's basketball team begins 129 home game winning streak that only ends in 1955; incorporates NCAA titles in 1948, 1949 and 1951
• 1948-01-07 Thomas Mantell, a pilot for the Kentucky Air National Guard, crashes while pursuing a supposed UFO
• 1948-11-24 WAVE TV channel 3 in Louisville, Kentucky (NBC) begins broadcasting
• 1950-01-02 16th Orange Bowl: #15 Santa Clara beats #11 Kentucky, 21-13
• 1950-03-27 WHAS TV channel 11 in Louisville, Kentucky (CBS) begins broadcasting
• 1951-01-01 17th Sugar Bowl: #7 Kentucky beats #1 Oklahoma, 13-7
• 1955-01-08 Georgia Tech ends Kentucky's 130-game home basketball win streak
• 1958-09-05 WKPC TV channel 15 in Louisville, Kentucky (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1960-06-28 10.40" (26.42 cm) of rainfall, Dunmor, Kentucky (state 24-hour record)
• 1961-09-16 WLKY TV channel 32 in Louisville, Kentucky (ABC) begins broadcasting
• 1963-01-28 -34°F (-37°C), Cynthiana, Kentucky (state record)
• 1965-10-05 Dick McInnes from Henderson, Kentucky stays aloft almost 12 hours in a kite pulled by a speedboat along the Ohio River

• 1970-08-31 WKMJ TV channel 68 in Louisville, Kentucky (PBS) begins broadcasting
• 1971-02-28 WDRB TV channel 41 in Louisville, Kentucky (IND) begins broadcasting
• 1972-03-27 Adolph Rupp retires after 42 years of coaching University of Kentucky
• 1976-05-15 Kentucky Moonrunner by Cledus Maggard hits #85
• 1977-05-28 Beverly Hills Supper Club fire in Southgate, Kentucky kills 168
• 1981-02-13 A series of sewer explosions destroys more than two miles of streets in Louisville, Kentucky.
• 1983-11-08 Martha Layne Collins (D) elected 1st female governor of Kentucky
• 1983-12-13 Martha Layne Collins inaugurated as Kentucky's 1st female governor

• 1985-02-19 William Schroeder is 1st artificial heart patient to leave hospital He spends 15 minutes outside Humana Hospital in Louisville, Kentucky
• 1988-05-14 Carrollton bus collision: a drunk driver going the wrong way on Interstate 71 near Carrollton, Kentucky, United States hits a converted school bus carrying a church youth group. The crash and ensuing fire kill 27.
• 1991-03-27 New Kid Donnie Wahlberg, arrested on arson charges in Kentucky
• 1991-10-04 Whiteland Janice, driven by Mike Lachance, wins Kentucky Futurity
• 1992-01-06 Robert Schenkkan's "Kentucky Cycle" premieres in LA
• 1992-10-09 Great meteorite seen from Kentucky to New York
• 1993-11-14 "Kentucky Cycle" opens at Royale Theater NYC for 34 performances
• 1993-12-12 "Kentucky Cycle" closes at Royale Theater NYC after 34 performances

• 1997-11-01 Louisiana State University running back Kevin Faulk rushes for 212 yards and a school record 5 touchdowns in a 63-28 win at Kentucky's Commonwealth Stadium, Lexington
• 1999-04-17 NFL Draft: University of Kentucky quarterback Tim Couch first pick by Cleveland Browns
• 2005-11-06 The Evansville Tornado of November 2005 kills 25 in Northwestern Kentucky and Southwestern Indiana.
• 2006-08-27 Comair Flight 5191 crashes on takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, Kentucky, bound for Hartsfield-Jackson International Airport in Atlanta, Georgia killing 49 of 50 on board
• 2008-06-25 Atlantis Plastics shooting, An employee shot and killed five people after an argument, which ended in the gunman's suicide in Henderson, Kentucky
• 2008-09-21 Ryder Cup Golf, Valhalla GC: US lead from start to finish to win 16½-11½ and regain Cup after 3 consecutive European victories
• 2010-06-24 NBA Draft: Kentucky point guard John Wall first pick by Washington Wizards
• 2012-03-02 Tornadoes kill at least 27 people in the American states of Indiana and Kentucky

• 2015-06-25 NBA Draft: Kentucky center Karl-Anthony Towns first pick by Minnesota Timberwolves
• 2015-09-03 Kentucky clerk in Rowan County jailed for refusing to issue marriage licences to gay couples

Birthdays 1 - 100 of 304

• 1787-09-10 John J. Crittenden, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky), born in Versailles, Kentucky (d. 1863)
• 1796-04-10 James Bowie, American pioneer and soldier (Texas Revolution), born in Logan, Kentucky (d. 1836)
• 1796-05-04 Joseph Pannell Taylor, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1864)
• 1798-02-22 Charles Mynn Thruston, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1873)
• 1805-06-14 Robert Anderson, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1871)
• 1807-01-06 Joseph Holt, American lawyer, politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky (d. 1894)
• 1807-01-13 Napoleon Bonaparte Buford, American Major General (Union Army), born in Woodford County, Kentucky (d. 1883)
• 1807-08-11 David Rice Atchison, American politician (not President of the United States for a day on March 4, 1849), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1886) [1]

• 1808-07-09 Alexander William Doniphan, American lawyer and soldier, born in Mason County, Kentucky (d. 1887)

• 1809-07-28 Ormsby McKnight Mitchel, American astronomer and Union Major General, born in Union County, Kentucky (d. 1862)
• 1809-11-09 Albert Taylor Bledsoe, American Episcopal priest and Confederate Army officer, born in Frankfurt, Kentucky (d. 1877)

• 1810-10-19 Cassius Marcellus Clay, American Major General (Union Army), born in Madison County, Kentucky (d. 1903)
• 1812-05-30 John Alexander McClernand, American politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Breckinridge County, Kentucky (d. 1900)
• 1812-06-07 Theophilus Toulmin Garrard, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Clay County, Kentucky (d. 1902)
• 1813-01-07 Ann Rutledge, said to be Abraham Lincoln's true love, born in Henderson, Kentucky (d. 1835)
• 1813-05-10 Montgomery Blair, American lawyer (Dred Scott v. Sandford), born in Franklin County, Kentucky (d. 1883)
• 1814-04-04 John Blair Smith Todd, American politician and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1872)
• 1815-04-28 Andrew Jackson Smith, American Major General (Union Army), born in Livingston County, Kentucky (d. 1897)
• 1815-09-05 Tyree Harris Bell, Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Covington, Kentucky (d. 1902)
• 1815-10-24 John Edwards, American politician (US Representative Arkansas) Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1894)
• 1816-04-05 Samuel Freeman Miller, U.S. Supreme Court Justice, born in Richmond, Kentucky (d. 1890)
• 1816-10-16 William Preston, American lawyer, politician and Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1887)
• 1817-09-09 Speed Smith Fry, American lawyer, judge, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Mercer County, Kentucky (d. 1892)
• 1817-09-13 John M. Palmer, American politician (U.S. Senator from Illinois) and American Civil War General (Union), born in Eagle Creek, Kentucky (d. 1900)
• 1817-11-09 Edward Richard Sprigg Canby, American Major General (Union Army), born in Piatt's Landing, Kentucky (d. 1873)
• 1818-07-10 John Stuart Williams, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Mount Sterling, Kentucky (d. 1898)
• 1818-08-04 Lovell Harrison Rosseau, American lawyer politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Stanford, Kentucky (d. 1869)

• 1819-05-15 Thomas Leonidas Crittenden, American lawyer, politician, and Major General (Union Army), born in Russellville, Kentucky (d. 1893)
• 1821-02-19 Francis Preston Blair Jr., (Rep-Missouri), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1875)
• 1822-01-04 Joseph Jones Reynolds, American engineer, educator, and Major General (Union Army), born in Flemingsburg, Kentucky (d. 1899)
• 1822-03-16 John Pope, American Major General (Union Army), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1892)
• 1822-11-14 William Harrow, American lawyer and a controversial Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Winchester, Kentucky (d. 1872)
• 1823-07-16 James Isham Gilbert, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1884)
• 1823-09-25 Thomas John Wood, American Major General (Union Army), born in Munfordville, Kentucky (d. 1906)
• 1823-11-25 Joseph Alexander Cooper, American civil servant and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Whitley County, Kentucky (d. 1910)
• 1824-01-07 James Morrison Hawes, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1889)
• 1824-07-25 Richard James Oglesby, American politician and Major General (Union Army), born in Oldham County, Kentucky (d. 1899)
• 1824-09-27 William "Bull" Nelson, American Major General (Union Army), born in Maysville, Kentucky (d. 1862)
• 1825-04-28 James Winning McMillan, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Clark County, Kentucky (d. 1903)
• 1825-07-11 Edward Henry Hobson, American merchant, banker, politician, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Greensburg, Kentucky (d. 1901)
• 1826-03-04 John Buford, American Major General (Union Army), born in Woodford County, Kentucky (d. 1863)
• 1826-07-04 Green Clay Smith, American politician and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Richmond, Kentucky (d. 1895)
• 1827-02-27 Richard W Johnson, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Livingston County, Kentucky (d. 1897)
• 1827-07-07 James Murrell Shackelford, American lawyer, judge, and Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Lincoln County, Kentucky (d. 1909)
• 1827-09-30 Kenner Garrard, American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Bourbon County, Kentucky (d. 1879)
• 1828-04-08 George Baird Hodge, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Fleming County, Kentucky (d. 1892)
• 1830-06-17 Richard Montgomery Gano, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Bourbon County, Kentucky (d. 1913)
• 1830-12-12 Joseph O. Shelby, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1897)
• 1831-08-19 Stephen Gano Burbridge, "Butcher of Kentucky", American Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Georgetown, Kentucky (d. 1894)
• 1832-09-10 Randall L. Gibson, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Versailles, Kentucky (d. 1892)
• 1833-08-12 William Price Sanders, American Brigadier General (Union Army), born in Frankfort, Kentucky (d. 1863)
• 1836-11-20 John Thomas Croxton, American attorney, diplomat, and Brevet Major General (Union Army), born in Paris, Kentucky, (d. 1874)
• 1838-05-28 Basil W. Duke, American Brigadier General (Confederate Army), born in Georgetown, Kentucky (d. 1916)
• 1846-06-11 William Louis Marshall, American general and engineer, born in Washington, Kentucky (d. 1920)
• 1846-11-25 Carrie Nation, American temperance advocate who smashed hotels with a hatchet, born in Garrard County, Kentucky (d. 1911)
• 1849-12-21 James Lane Allen, American writer (Kentucky Cardinal), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1925)
• 1855-11-06 Ezra Seymour Gosney, American philanthropist and eugenicist, born in Kenton County, Kentucky (d. 1942)
• 1856-11-13 Louis Brandeis, American lawyer and associate justice on the Supreme Court of the United States, born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1941)
• 1858-04-03 Matthew Ricketts, 1st African American man elected to Nebraska State Legislature, born in Henry County, Kentucky (d. 1917)
• 1859-06-27 Mildred J. Hill, American composer and musician ("Happy Birthday To You"), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1916)
• 1861-04-16 Isaac Murphy, American jockey (won 628 races), born in Clark County, Kentucky (d. 1896)
• 1861-06-17 Pete Browning, American baseball outfielder (AA batting champion 1882, 85 Louisville Eclipse/Colonels; Player's League batting champion 1890 Cleveland Infants), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1905)

• 1862-06-10 Mrs. Leslie Carter, American actress and writer (Rocky Mountain Mystery, The Heart of Maryland), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1937)
• 1866-09-25 Thomas Hunt Morgan, American evolutionary biologist, geneticist and embryologist (Nobel Prize 1933), born in Lexington, Kentucky (d. 1945)
• 1866-11-13 Abraham Flexner, American educator, born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1959)
• 1868-03-27 Patty Smith Hill, American composer, teacher and songwriter ("Happy Birthday To You"), born in Anchorage, Kentucky (d. 1946)
• 1873-03-07 Madame Sul-Te-Wan [Nellie Crawford], American actress (The Birth of a Nation, Uncle Tom's Cabin), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1959)

• 1877-03-04 Garrett Morgan, American inventor (gas mask and traffic signal), born in Claysville, Kentucky (d. 1963)
• 1880-03-26 Duncan Hines, American restaurant guide writer (Out of Kentucky Kitchens), born in Bowling Green, Kentucky (d. 1959)
• 1880-07-12 Tod Browning, American film director (Dracula), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1962)
• 1883-10-08 Dick Burnett, American musician ("Man of Constant Sorrow"), born in Monticello, Kentucky (d. 1977)
• 1884-02-14 Hezekiah M. Washburn, American Presbyterian Congo missionary, born in Brooksville, Bracken, Kentucky (d. 1972)
• 1888-08-02 Oscar Rasbach, American composer, born in Dayton, Kentucky (d. 1975)
• 1888-12-09 Mabel Stark, American tiger trainer "crazy Mabel", born in Tennessee or Kentucky (d. 1968)
• 1889-02-28 Victor Sutherland, American actor (Captive City), born in Paducah, Kentucky (d. 1968)
• 1889-09-28 D P "Dad" Carter, American gospel singer (Chuck Wagon Gang), born near Columbia, Kentucky (d. 1963)
• 1890-01-22 Fred M. Vinson, American Democratic politician, US Treasury Secretary (1945-46) and the 13th Chief Justice of US Supreme Court (1946-53), born in Louisa, Kentucky (d. 1953)
• 1890-07-07 Tom Powers, American actor (Station West, Destination Moon), born in Owensboro, Kentucky (d. 1955)
• 1890-10-03 Henry Hull, American actor (Tobacco Rd, Boys Town, High Sierra), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1977)
• 1891-01-15 Ray Chapman, American baseball player (Cleveland Indians) and only MLB player to die from an injury received during a MLB game, born in Beaver Dam, Kentucky (d. 1920)
• 1891-08-22 Francis McDonald, American actor (Will-Adv of Champion), born in Bowling Green, Kentucky (d. 1968)
• 1892-04-28 John Jacob Niles, American composer, born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1980)
• 1894-09-12 Billy Gilbert, American actor (Great Dictator, His Gal Friday), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1971)
• 1895-10-06 Caroline Gordon, American writer (Green Centuries), born in Todd County, Kentucky (d. 1981)
• 1897-06-18 Henry Wadsworth, American actor (The Thin Man, Applause, Fast & Loose), born in Maysville, Kentucky (d. 1974)
• 1898-05-28 Andy Kirk, American jazz drummer and bandleader (Clouds Of Joy - "I Won't Tell a Soul (I Love You)"), born in Newport, Kentucky (d. 1992)
• 1898-10-18 Bob Custer [Raymond Glenn], American silent and sound screen actor (The Fighting Hombre; The Law of the Wild), born in Frankfort, Kentucky (d. 1974)

• 1899-01-27 Granville English, American composer, born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1968)
• 1900-01-17 George Sperti, American inventor (Preparation H), born in Covington, Kentucky (d. 1991)
• 1900-07-03 John Mason Brown, American drama critic (Tonight on Broadway), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1969)
• 1900-07-28 Catherine Dale Owen, American actress (Behind Office Doors), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1965)
• 1901-08-23 John Sherman Cooper, American politician and U.S. Ambassador to East Germany, born in Somerset, Kentucky (d. 1991)
• 1902-02-19 John Bubbles, American rhythm tap dancer (No Maps on My Taps), born in Louisville, Kentucky (d. 1986)

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• 1996-06-16 Soap opera actress-singer Kassie Wesley (35) weds James De Paiva (39) in Morganfield, Kentucky
• 2000-06-17 Backstreet Boys member Kevin Richardson (28) weds Kristin Willits (29) at Lee County's Cathedral Domain in Kentucky

• 1936-08-14 Rainey Bethea, American murderer, hanged in Owensboro, Kentucky, last US public hanging
• 1959-03-15 Duncan Hines, American restaurant guide writer (Out of Kentucky Kitchens), dies at 78
• 1973-07-21 Russell Hardie, American actor (Sequoia, In Old Kentucky), dies after long illness at 69
• 1984-12-07 Jeanne Cagney, American stage, screen, and radio actress (Lion is in the Streets; Quicksand; Yankee Doodle Dandy), dies of lung cancer at 65
• 1994-03-29 William Natcher, American politician (Member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Kentucky 1953-94), dies at 84
• 1996-09-09 Bill Monroe, American singer known as the "Father of Bluegrass" ("Blue Moon of Kentucky"), dies at 84
• 2003-04-30 Mark Berger, University of Kentucky professor (b. 1955)
• 2007-08-23 William E. McAnulty, Jr., American lawyer (1st African American justice on the Kentucky Supreme Court), dies at 59
• 2008-03-31 Bill Keightley, American college basketball equipment manager known as "Mr. Wildcat" (University of Kentucky, 1962-2008), dies at 81
• 2012-01-04 Gatewood Galbraith [Louis], lawyer, American political activist, iconic Kentucky political figure, dies from pneumonia at 64
• 2015-01-22 Wendell Ford, American politician (Sen-D-Kentucky, 1974-1999), Governor of Kentucky (1971-74), dies at 90