Kentucky was admitted into the Union as the 15th state on June 1, 1792,
splitting from Virginia in the process. It is known as the "Bluegrass State", a nickname based on
Kentucky bluegrass, a species of green grass introduced by European settlers for the purpose of grazing in pastures, which has supported the thoroughbred horse industry in the center of the state.
Historically, Kentucky had excellent farming conditions, which led to the development of large tobacco plantations similar to those in Virginia and
North Carolina in the central and western parts of the state that utilized enslaved labor during the
Antebellum South and
Civil War periods. Kentucky ranks fifth nationally in goat farming, eight in
beef cattle production, and 14th in corn production. While Kentucky has been a long-standing major center for the
tobacco industry, the state's economy has diversified in multiple non-agricultural sectors, including auto manufacturing, energy fuel production, and medical facilities. The state ranks 4th among US states in the number of automobiles and trucks assembled. Kentucky is one of several states considered a part of the
Upland South. (Full article...)
Old Louisville is a
historic district and neighborhood in central
Louisville,
Kentucky, United States. It is the third largest such district in the United States, and the largest
preservation district featuring almost entirely
Victorian architecture. It is also unique in that a majority of its structures are made of brick, and the neighborhood contains the highest concentration of residential homes with
stained glass windows in the U.S. Many of the buildings are in the
Victorian-era styles of
Romanesque,
Queen Anne,
Italianate, among others; and many blocks have had few or no buildings razed. There are also several 20th-century buildings from 15 to 20 stories.
The history of Louisville, Kentucky spans nearly two-and-a-half centuries since its founding in the late 18th century. The geology of the
Ohio River, with but a single series of
rapids midway in its length from the confluence of the
Monongahela and
Allegheny rivers to its union with the
Mississippi, made it inevitable that a town would grow on the site. The town of
Louisville, Kentucky was chartered there in 1780. From its early days on the frontier, it quickly grew to be a major trading and distribution center in the mid-19th century and an important industrial city in the early 20th. The city declined in the mid-20th century, but by the late 20th, it was revitalized as a culturally-focused mid-sized American city.
The area's
geography and proximity to the
Falls of the Ohio River attracted people from the earliest times. However, prior to arrival of Europeans, the region was depopulated from the
Beaver Wars of the 17th century, and no permanent Native American settlements existed in the area. It was used as hunting grounds by northern
Shawnee and southern
Cherokee. By the late 18th century, as the Falls created a barrier to river travel, settlements by Europeans began to grow at this
portage point. The earliest such settlements occurred during the latter stages of the
American Revolutionary War by Virginian soldiers under
George Rogers Clark, first at
Corn Island in 1778, then Fort-on-Shore and
Fort Nelson on the mainland. At that time a part of
Kentucky County, Virginia, the town was chartered in 1780 and named Louisville in honor of
King Louis XVI of France. (Full article...)
... that in 1977,
Appalachian folk singer Phyllis Boyens performed at a Christmas benefit concert to support Kentucky coal miners who had been on strike for 17 months?
... that an
FBI investigation contributed to the cancellation of the Kentucky Derby Festival Basketball Classic, which had been the longest-running U.S. high school all-star basketball game?
... that Claudia Riner was falsely accused of distributing
lesbian erotica in the Kentucky House of Representatives?
... that in 1969, unknown persons dynamited the tower of a Kentucky TV station, leaving it leaning at a 15-degree angle?
... that a man found 700 gold coins on his own land in an undisclosed part of Kentucky?
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