Kentucky Trivia & Tidbits - Page 17

Looking for Kentucky trivia? Try our list Kentucky little know facts, tidbits and trivia.

The Don F. Pratt Memorial museum in Hopkinsville (pop. 31,300) is dedicated to Brig. Gen. Don F. Pratt, killed in action during the D-Day invasion of Normandy in World War II.

first appeared: 1/7/2001

Nearly 1,000 people attended the funeral in Lexington (pop. 242,300) of thoroughbred racing legend Man O' War, who died at age 30 in 1947. One of the greatest thoroughbreds in history, Man O' War never raced in the Kentucky Derby.

first appeared: 12/31/2000

Elizabethtown (pop. 18,167) is the home of the Brown-Pusey Community House, a former stagecoach inn where Gen. George Custer lived from 1871-73.

first appeared: 12/24/2000

Kentucky has more miles of running water than any other state except Alaska. Its numerous waterways provide 1,100 commercially navigable miles.

first appeared: 12/17/2000

Lexington’s Transylvania University, founded in 1780, has educated 36 state and territorial governors, two vice presidents, 34 U.S. ambassadors, 50 U.S. senators, 112 members of the U.S. House of Representatives, and Confederate President Jefferson Davis.

first appeared: 12/10/2000

Covington (pop. 40,300) is linked to Cincinnati, Ohio, by five broad bridges spanning the Ohio River. The 1867 suspension bridge from Third and Greenup Streets is the prototype of the Brooklyn Bridge in New York City.

first appeared: 12/3/2000

Kaelin’s restaurant in Louisville is credited with serving the first cheeseburger in 1934.

first appeared: 11/26/2000

John J. Crittenden, a U.S. senator from Kentucky, had two sons who served as generals in the Civil War—on opposing sides: Thomas for the Union, George for the Confederacy.

first appeared: 11/19/2000

Guthrie (pop. 1,504) is the birthplace of Pulitzer Prize-winning poet and novelist Robert Penn Warren. He was appointed the nation's first Poet Laureate in February 1986.

first appeared: 11/12/2000

Although called the “Bluegrass State,” Kentucky’s grass isn’t blue, but does produce bluish buds that, when seen in large fields, take on a blue tint. The nickname stuck when early traders asked the state’s pioneers for the seeds of the “blue grass from Kentucky.” The grass now grows in much of the U.S.

first appeared: 11/5/2000

All Chevrolet Corvettes now are manufactured at a plant in Bowling Green. They once were made in plants across the country, but production moved there in June 1981.

first appeared: 10/22/2000

Mildred and Patty Hill of Louisville are credited with writing Happy Birthday to You. Although written in the 1890s, it wasn’t published until the 1930s.

first appeared: 10/8/2000

Bourbon County, established in 1785, was named after the ruling family of France in the 1700s in appreciation of French aid during the Revolutionary War. Bourbon whiskey got its name when barrels of amber-colored spirits from the region were stamped with the county’s name.

first appeared: 9/24/2000

In 1980, Joe Bowen set the world record for stilt walking. He walked from Los Angeles to just outside his hometown of Bowen, Ky.—a distance of 3,008 miles—to raise $100,000 for muscular dystrophy.

first appeared: 9/10/2000

The World Peace Bell, the largest free-swinging bell in the world, is on permanent display in Newport. It weighs 66,000 pounds and is 12 feet tall. The bell, a symbol of freedom and peace, was installed in 1999 at the Millennium Monument.

first appeared: 8/27/2000

Ever heard of President David Rice Atchison? Atchison, born in Fayette County, was president of the United States for one day. The last day of James K. Polk’s presidency fell on a Saturday, and President-elect Zachary Taylor refused to be sworn in on March 4, 1849, a Sunday. Since there was no president or vice president in office, the presidency then fell to the president pro tem of the Senate—Atchison.

first appeared: 8/13/2000

John Bibb of Frankfort developed Bibb lettuce, a type of leafy lettuce with a mildly sweet taste, in the 1850s.

first appeared: 7/30/2000

Established in 1774, Harrods-town (now Harrodsburg) was the first permanent European settlement in the Kentucky region. The town is named after Capt. James Harrod, the man who led a group of surveyors into the area.

first appeared: 7/16/2000

THE TOWN OF MIDDLESBORO, KY., is built within a meteor crater. The site of the crash-which occurred 300 million years ago-is six kilometers in diameter, or almost four miles.

first appeared: 7/2/2000

Abraham Lincoln and Jefferson Davis were born in Kentucky about seven months and 100 miles apart. Lincoln was born in Hodgenville, Ky. Davis was born in Christian (now Todd) County, Ky. Lincoln was president of the United States during the Civil War; Davis was president of the Confederacy.

first appeared: 6/18/2000

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