PRIOR TO 1750
PRE-EUROPEAN
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Kentucky's first inhabitants are descendants of prehistoric people who migrate from Asia over the Arctic land bridge. Archaic people grow squash in the area, and Woodland people cultivate corn and beans.
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1541
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Hernando de Soto enters Kentucky and describes Native American tribes living in the western region between the Cumberland and Ohio Rivers.
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1650–
1750
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Shawnee tribes from north of the Ohio River and Cherokee and Chickasaw tribes from south of the Cumberland River fight for control of the "Great Meadow." During this time, no Native American tribe holds possession of the land that will become Kentucky.
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1739
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While commanding a French-Canadian military expedition against the Chickasaw Native Americans in the Mississippi River Valley, Captain Charles de Longueuil discovers the region of Big Bone Lick.
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1750–1774 EARLY
EUROPEAN EXPLORATION AND SETTLEMENT
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1750
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Dr. Thomas Walker, a physician from Virginia, explores Kentucky through the Cumberland River. His party includes the first Englishmen to see the area and builds the first cabin in the region.
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1763
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France cedes land, including Kentucky, to Britain in the Treaty of Paris, ending the French and Indian War.
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1774
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Named after James Harrod, who led a team of area surveyors, Harrodstown is established as the first permanent settlement in the Kentucky region. Native Americans force the settlers to withdraw, but they return the following year.
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1774–1800
REVOLUTIONARY KENTUCKY
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1775
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A party of 36 men and two women led by pioneer Daniel Boone blazes the Wilderness Trail to establish Fort Boonesborough in present-day Madison County.
The Kentucky Militia is organized, which will later become the Kentucky National Guard. It is one of the oldest military organizations in the U.S.
(March 17) Richard Henderson, a North Carolina judge representing the Transylvania Company, meets with three Cherokee Chiefs to purchase all the land lying between the Ohio, Kentucky, and Cumberland Rivers—about 17 to 20 million acres. It becomes known as the Treaty of Sycamore Shoals or The Henderson Purchase. The purchase is later declared invalid, but the land acquisition is not reversed.
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1776
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(September) During the American Revolutionary War, the 13-day siege of Fort Boonesborough becomes the longest siege in U.S. frontier history. Chief Blackfish, a Shawnee ally of the British, leads the attack. Blackfish's siege is unsuccessful, and Daniel Boone is subsequently court-martialed by American officers who suspect him of having British or Shawnee sympathies. Boone is acquitted and moves from Boonesborough.
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1782
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(August 19) One of the last battles of the American Revolution is fought at Blue Licks, near Mount Olivet. The battle occurs 10 months after Lord Cornwallis' famous surrender at Yorktown, which had ended the war in the east. On the hill next to the Licking River, a force of 50 British rangers and 300 Native Americans ambushes 182 Kentucky militiamen. It is the worst defeat for the Kentuckians during the war.
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1784
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The first of 10 conventions to discuss the separation of Kentucky from Virginia is held at Danville. Several factors contribute to residents' desire to separate from Virginia: Traveling to the state capital in Virginia is long and dangerous; use of the local Kentucky militia against Native Americans requires authorization from the Governor of Virginia; and Virginia refuses to recognize the importance of trade along the Mississippi River to Kentucky's economy.
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1789
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(July 17) The Chenoweth Massacre is the last major Native American raid in present-day Jefferson County. A large band of Native Americans attacks Chenoweth Station, where Captain Richard Chenoweth and his family are stationed. The attacks kill three of the Chenoweth children and two guards.
(November 8) Pioneering Baptist minister Elijah Craig of Bourbon, Kentucky makes the first Bourbon whiskey, which is distilled from corn and aged in charred oak casks. Today, 95 percent of the world's bourbon is distilled and aged in Kentucky.
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1790
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The first census shows African-American slaves comprise 16 percent of Kentucky's population. Slave labor is an integral part of the state, particularly in the central region with its rich farmlands.
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1792
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(June 1) Kentucky becomes the 15th state admitted to the Union.
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1794
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(August 20) The Battle of Fallen Timbers. Native American tribes and the U.S. struggle for control of the Northwest Territory in the final battle of the Northwest Indian War. The battle ends Native American attacks in Kentucky, and the territory of present-day Ohio is ceded to the U.S.
President George Washington approves a measure to add two stars and stripes to the American flag, following the admission of Kentucky and Vermont to the Union. The number of stripes is later reduced to the original thirteen.
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1798
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(November 16) Legislature passes the Kentucky Resolutions, opposing the federal Alien and Sedition Acts, whose constitutionality remains in question. With the resolutions, Kentucky becomes the first state to nullify an act of Congress.
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1800–1849
STATE OF KENTUCKY
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1801
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More than 20,000 people attend the great church camp meeting at Cane Ridge, a benchmark event of the Second Great Awakening, a period of rapid and dramatic religious revival that takes place across the country and supports the growth of the Methodist and Baptist denominations.
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1811–12
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Western Kentucky is heavily damaged by the New Madrid earthquakes, a series of the most intense recorded earthquakes in the contiguous U.S. They cause the Mississippi River to change course and create the "Kentucky Bend."
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1812
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The War of 1812. More than half of all Americans killed in action are from Kentucky.
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1818
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The Jackson Purchase. Under President Andrew Jackson, the U.S. government purchases an area of southwestern Kentucky from the Chickasaw Native Americans in the Treaty of Tuscaloosa. It also purchases all the Chickasaw land east of the Mississippi River and north of the Mississippi state line for $300,000.
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1819
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The first commercial oil well is created on the Cumberland River in McCreary County.
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1833
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The Nonimportation Act bans Kentucky's commercial "importation" of slaves to be resold to the South. The legislation slows down the immigration of slaves but doesn't stop it. The Act is repealed in 1849.
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1846–47
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More than 5,100 Kentuckians enter military service to fight in the Mexican-American War.
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1850–1900
THE CIVIL WAR AND RECONSTRUCTION ERAS
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1861
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Governor Beriah Magoffin refuses Lincoln's request for troops to help suppress the rebellion in South Carolina and issues a proclamation of state neutrality.
(April 12) The Civil War Begins. During the war, Kentucky supplies 86,000 troops to the north and 40,000 troops to the south. Ironically, Kentucky is the birthplace of both the Union president, Abraham Lincoln, and the Confederate president, Jefferson Davis, further exemplifying the state's ambivalence.
(September 4) Confederate General Leonidas Polk breaks Kentucky's neutrality by invading Columbus, Kentucky. As a result, Union General Ulysses S. Grant enters Paducah, Kentucky. Angered by the Confederate invasion, the State Legislature orders the Union flag to be raised over the state capital in Frankfort on September 7.
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1862
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(January 10) The first major Civil War battle on Kentucky soil occurs near Prestonsburg. Union and Confederate Kentucky troops fight in hand-to-hand combat, and the Confederates are driven back to Virginia.
(October 8) The Battle of Perryville. The bloodiest Civil War battle fought on Kentucky soil, it is considered a strategic Union victory after Confederate General Bragg withdraws to Tennessee leaving Kentucky in Union hands for the rest of the war.
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1867–81
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After the Civil War, the Ku Klux Klan becomes active in Kentucky. The Frankfort Weekly Commonwealth newspaper reports 115 incidents of shootings, lynchings, and whippings of African Americans.
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1875
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The first Kentucky Derby is held at Churchill Downs. The race still occurs annually on the first Saturday in May and is the most attended horse race in North America. It will later become part of the Triple Crown with the Preakness and Belmont Stakes.
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1878–91
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The Hatfield-McCoy feud involves two warring families of West Virginia and Kentucky backcountry. The feud begins over a pig and escalates into murder, claiming the lives of more than a dozen members of the two families. It becomes headline news around the country, and compels the two states' governors to employ state militias to restore order. The families agree to stop fighting in 1891.
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1884
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(February 19) A series of tornadoes hits seven states, including Kentucky, leaving 800 people dead.
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1888
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State Treasurer James "Honest Dick" Tate embezzles $247,000 and flees the state, never to be found. His thievery will be cited in Kentucky's fourth constitutional convention as a reason to impose term limits on elected officials.
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1894
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The Weissinger Act, also known as the Married Women's Property Act, passes, allowing married women to own property separately from their husbands.
The Louisville Slugger trademark is registered. The baseball bats were previously made under the name "Falls City Slugger" until Bud Hillerich took over his father's company. In 1916, the company's name will become Hillerich and Bradsby, and by 1923 it will sell more bats than any other manufacturer in the country.
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1900–1929
ERA OF SOCIAL UNREST
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1900
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(January 30) An unknown sniper shoots Governor William Goebel a day before he is sworn into office. When he dies February 3, Goebel becomes the only state governor in U.S. history to be assassinated while in office.
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1900–10
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Many Kentuckians shift from subsistence farming to coal mining, particularly in the Appalachian region.
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1904
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The Day Law establishes segregation in public and private schools by prohibiting any person, group, or corporation from teaching African-American and white students in the same school.
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1904–09
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The Black Patch War. Growers use violent acts to raise the price of tobacco. Night riders scrape or salt tobacco plant beds, destroy tobacco in fields, burn barns and warehouses filled with tobacco, and dynamite farm machinery. The term "black patch" refers to the regions of western Kentucky and northern Middle Tennessee where dark-fired tobacco grows.
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1917
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(November 5) The Supreme Court decision (Buchana vs. Warley) strikes down a Louisville ordinance that requires African Americans and whites to live in separate areas.
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1917–19
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The U.S. enters World War I. Nearly 100,000 Kentuckians serve in the war effort, with 3,000 losing their lives.
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1920
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(January 6) Kentucky becomes the 23rd state to ratify the 19th Amendment, granting women the right to vote.
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1930–1950
THE GREAT DEPRESSION AND WORLD WAR II
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1930s
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Harland Sanders creates a recipe for fried chicken for his "Sanders Court & Café" in Corbin during the Great Depression. The restaurant is so successful that in 1936 Governor Ruby Laffoon will grant Sanders the title of honorary "Kentucky Colonel." "Colonel" Sanders will found Kentucky Fried Chicken in 1952. In 2007, the restaurant chain will claim more than $520 million in revenue.
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1937
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The United States gold depository is built at Fort Knox. It's used to store a large portion of United States official gold reserves and occasionally other precious items belonging or entrusted to the federal government.
The Ohio River floods, submerging 30 percent of Kenton and Campbell counties and 70 percent of Louisville for a week. It leads to extensive flood prevention efforts and the construction of the Kentucky Dam the following year.
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1938–44
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The Kentucky Dam is constructed on the Tennessee River to improve navigation on the lower part of the river and reduce flooding on the lower Ohio and Mississippi Rivers.
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1944–45
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During World War II, Louisville becomes the world's largest source of artificial rubber, leading to the naming of "Rubbertown," a neighborhood that becomes home to many industrial plants during the World War II. Louisville's Ford manufacturing center also produces almost 100,000 Jeeps to aid the war effort.
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1950–PRESENT
MODERN KENTUCKY
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1952
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The 750-acre Paducah Gaseous Diffusion Plant begins operation in western Kentucky. The plant enriches uranium for use in domestic and foreign commercial power reactors. It's now the only operating uranium enrichment plant in the country.
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1960
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Heavyweight boxer Muhammad Ali throws his Olympic gold medal for boxing into the Ohio River after being refused service at a "whites-only" Louisville restaurant.
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1961
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Kentucky's Floral Clock is dedicated at the State Capitol. It takes more than 10,000 plants to make up the clock, which measures off the minutes a foot and a half at a time.
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1966
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Kentucky becomes the first Southern state to pass a comprehensive civil rights law.
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1970
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In Ohio, the state national guard fires on students protesting the Vietnam War, killing 4. At the University of Kentucky, students demonstrate against this action. A university building is burned. The Kentucky National Guard is called in to disperse the protestors.
(May 2) Diane Crump becomes the first woman jockey competing at the Kentucky Derby.
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1977
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(May 28) A nightclub fire at the Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate kills 164 people.
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1990
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The Kentucky Education Reform Act passes to improve student success regardless of the wealth of various public school districts. It becomes unpopular with Kentucky teachers, who find the programs difficult to implement.
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1996
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In Bardstown, a fire burns seven warehouses, destroying two percent of the world's bourbon supply.
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2012
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(March) Severe tornadoes sweep through the southern and midwestern United States, causing damage in Kentucky, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Ohio, and Tennessee. One tornado was classified as an EF4, the second most severe rating possible. At least 40 deaths were attributed to the storms.
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