Kentucky (KY).

• Region: Eastern central United States
• Population: 4,512,310 (ranked 26th; 2022 estimate)
• Capital: Frankfort (pop. 28,391; 2022 estimate)
• Largest city: Louisville (coterminous with Jefferson County since 2003) (pop. 624,444; 2022 estimate)
• Number of counties: 120
• State nickname: Bluegrass State
• State motto: United we stand, divided we fall
• State flag: Blue field with state seal, goldenrod sprigs below, and legend “Commonwealth of Kentucky” above

Originally part of Virginia, Kentucky joined the Union as the fifteenth state in 1792. Located in the south central United States, Kentucky is bordered by West Virginia, Virginia, Tennessee, Missouri, Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio. Water boundaries include the Mississippi and Ohio rivers. Best known for its whiskey distilleries and thoroughbred horse breeding and racing (particularly the annual Kentucky Derby), Kentucky is also famous for its Appalachian culture and distinctive bluegrass music.

State Name: The name "Kentucky" is most likely derived from the Iroquois word "Ken-tah-ten," which means "Land of Tomorrow." The name has also been taken to mean "plain," "barrens," or "prairie." The state earned its nickname, the Bluegrass State, for the blue buds that grow on the state's grass during the spring, giving the meadows a blue tint. Officially, Kentucky is designated as a "commonwealth."

Capital:Frankfort is situated between the state's two major cities, Louisville and Lexington. Its selection as the state's capital was a compromise, since both Louisville and Lexington competed for the honor. The Kentucky River snakes through the city, separating the northern and southern sections. Surrounded by wooded hillsides, Frankfort is located in the state's Bluegrass region.

Flag: The flag of Kentucky depicts the state seal printed on a navy blue background, along with the words "Commonwealth of Kentucky." The seal shows a pioneer and a statesman, shaking hands, in an illustration of the state motto "United We Stand; Divided We Fall." Sprays of goldenrod, the state flower, form a half circle below the illustration.

Official Symbols

• Flower: Goldenrod
• Bird: Cardinal
• Tree: Tulip poplar
• Fish: Kentucky spotted bass
• Song: "My Old Kentucky Home" by Stephen Collins Foster

State and National Historic Sites

• Abraham Lincoln Birthplace (Hodgenville)
• Ashland, the Henry Clay Estate (Lexington)
• Blue Licks Battlefield State Resort Park (Carlisle)
• Dr. Thomas Walker State Historic Site (Barbourville)
• My Old Kentucky Home State Park (Bardstown)
• National Underground Railroad Museum (Maysville)
• Old Governor's Mansion (Frankfort)
• Perryville Battlefield State Historic Site (Perryville)
• T. Jeremiah Beam House (Loretto)
• Waveland State Historic Site (Lexington)

State-Specific Holidays

• Robert E. Lee's Birthday, January 19
• Franklin D. Roosevelt's Birthday, January 30

DEMOGRAPHICS

• Population: 4,512,310 (ranked 26th; 2022 estimate)
• Population density: 114.1/sq mi (2020 estimate)
• Urban population: 58.7% (2020 estimate)
• Rural population: 41.3% (2020 estimate)
• Population under 18: 22.3% (2022 estimate)
• Population over 65: 17.6% (2022 estimate)
• White alone: 86.9% (2022 estimate)
• Black or African American alone: 8.7% (2022 estimate)
• Hispanic or Latino: 4.3% (2022 estimate)
• American Indian and Alaska Native alone: 0.3% (2022 estimate)
• Asian alone: 1.8% (2022 estimate)
• Native Hawaiian and Other Pacific Islander alone: 0.1% (2022 estimate)
• Two or More Races: 2.3% (2022 estimate)
• Per capita income: $30,634 (ranked 44th; 2021 estimate)
• Unemployment: 3.9% (2021 estimate)

America Indians: Although American Indians lived and hunted for thousands of years in the area now known as Kentucky, few were left by the time European settlement began in the late 1770s. The major tribes that populated the area prior to that point were the Shawnee, Chickasaw, and Cherokee. The Shawnee people were particularly determined in their efforts to maintain control of their traditional hunting grounds and continued to raid the early European settlements and maintain claims to the land until after the War of 1812.

Members of the Chickasaw tribe lived in western Kentucky in the region now known as "the Purchase." They gave up their claim to this land and moved west in 1818. Members of the Cherokee tribe lived in the southeastern part of the state and some intermarried with early settlers. Most of the people of American Indian ancestry found in Kentucky today are descended from the Cherokee.

ENVIRONMENT AND GEOGRAPHY

• Total area: 40,407 sq mi (ranked 37th)
• Land area: 39,486 sq mi (97.7% of total area)
• Water area: 921 sq mi (2.3% of total area)
• National parks: 7
• Highest point: Black Mountain (4,145 feet)
• Lowest point: Mississippi River (257 feet)
• Highest temperature: 114° F (Greensburg, July 28, 1930)
• Lowest temperature: -37° F (Shelbyville, January 19, 1994)

Topography: Kentucky has six geographic regions: Mountain, Bluegrass, Knobs, Pennyrile, Western Coalfield, and Purchase.

The Mountain region, in the eastern part of the state, is a sloping plateau that includes the Cumberland and Pine mountain ranges with their narrow valleys, deep gorges, natural rock arches, and steep pinnacles. The Cumberland Gap, a natural passageway through the mountains, is located here. The area also contains the state's great eastern coal fields. Located at the heart of the state, the Bluegrass region is named for the great pastures of grass that grow there, allowing for the prosperous horse farms that have made Kentucky famous. Abutting the Bluegrass region, the Knobs region is a horseshoe-shaped area characterized by rounded hills and soil that is easily eroded making the area more suitable for forestry than farms.

South of the Knobs, the Pennyrile region (which gets its name from the pennyroyal, a plant that grows throughout the area), is known for its rocky forested hillsides, cliffs, small farms, and the many caves that dot the area. It shares a border with every other region of Kentucky except the Bluegrass. Encircled by the Pennyrile and the Ohio River, the Western Coalfield is known for both mining and farming. Located in the state's southwestern corner, the Purchase is composed of wide floodplains punctuated by low hills, swamps, and lagoons. It is one of Kentucky's most fertile areas.

Major Lakes

• Barren River Lake
• Carr Creek Lake
• Fishtrap Lake
• Green River Lake
• Lake Barkley
• Lake Cumberland

Major Rivers

• Big Sandy River
• Cumberland River
• Green River
• Kentucky River
• Licking River
• Mississippi River
• Ohio River
• Salt River
• Tradewater River

State and National Parks: Kentucky has many state parks, including several resort parks with a variety of accommodations. The Cumberland Falls State Resort Park and the Natural Bridge State Resort Park are located within the Daniel Boone National Forest, which is known for hunting, fishing, boating, and hiking.

Kentucky also has several sites managed by the National Park Service, including Mammoth Cave National Park, which has the longest system of caves in the world. The Cumberland Gap National Historical Park, the largest national historical park in the country, is located in the state's southeast corner.

Natural Resources: Kentucky has nearly 12.4 million acres of forest, comprising about 48 percent of the state's land area. It is one of the biggest producers of hardwood among all the states. Kentucky is also among the nation's top producers of coal. Other principle minerals and mineral by-products found in Kentucky include crushed stone, natural gas, and petroleum. Kentucky also has more miles of running water than any other state except Alaska.

Plants and Animals: While 75 percent of Kentucky was once covered with stands of yellow poplar, oak, chestnut, sycamore, and walnut, by 1900 most of the state's virgin forest had been cut down. Today, maples, beeches, and magnolia are found throughout the state, while native hardwoods and pines are found on the eastern slopes and bald cypresses in the western river marshes. The mountains boast many flowering plants including rhododendron, laurel, dogwood, redbud, and trillium.

Once the home of bison, elk, and moose, today the only hoofed animals remaining in Kentucky are deer. Small mammals frequently found in Kentucky include rabbits, squirrels, foxes, raccoons, opossums, and woodchucks. Bats and rodents inhabit the state's many caves. Over three hundred species of birds have been identified in the state, with more than two hundred species found in the northwest corner alone, which lies along one of the greatest migratory bird routes in the world. The American egret, great blue heron, and double-crested cormorant are found in the marshes along the Kentucky-Tennessee border. Over one hundred different species of fish are found in Kentucky's streams, rivers, and human-made lakes, including the muskellunge.

Climate: Kentucky enjoys a temperate climate. Rainfall is plentiful and occurs throughout the year, and the average annual rainfall statewide is about 45 inches, with the southern section receiving the largest amount (about 48 inches) and the northeast section receiving the least (about 40 inches). Due to climate change, by the 2020s annual rainfall had increased and was becoming heavier. Summer is the most humid season. In Louisville, temperatures usually range between 24 and 41 degrees Fahrenheit in January, and July temperatures average between 68 and 88 degrees.

EDUCATION AND CULTURE

Major Colleges and Universities

• Asbury University (Wilmore)
• Bellarmine University (Louisville)
• Berea College (Berea)
• Centre College (Danville)
• Eastern Kentucky University (Richmond)
• Georgetown College (Georgetown)
• Kentucky State University (Frankfort)
• Kentucky Wesleyan College (Owensboro)
• Midway University (Midway)
• Morehead State University (Morehead)
• Murray State University (Murray)
• Northern Kentucky University (Highland Heights)
• Transylvania University (Lexington)
• Union College (Barbourville)
• University of the Cumberlands (Williamsburg)
• University of Kentucky (Lexington)
• University of Louisville (Louisville)
• University of Pikeville (Pikeville)
• Western Kentucky University (Bowling Green)

Major Museums

• American Saddlebred Museum (Lexington)
• Behringer-Crawford Museum (Covington)
• General George Patton Museum and Center of Leadership (Fort Knox)
• Headley-Whitney Museum (Lexington)
• International Museum of the Horse (Lexington)
• John James Audubon Museum (Henderson)
• Kentucky Derby Museum (Louisville)
• Kentucky Military History Museum (Frankfort)
• Oscar Getz Museum of Whiskey History (Bardstown)
• Speed Art Museum (Louisville)
• University of Kentucky Art Museum (Lexington)

Major Libraries

• Kentucky Historical Society Library (Frankfort)
• Lexington Public Library (Lexington)
• University of Kentucky Library (Lexington)
• Western Kentucky University Library (Bowling Green)

Media

Prominent newspapers in Kentucky include the Courier-Journal (Louisville) and the Sentinel News (Shelbyville). The state is served by nearly thirty television stations and several radio stations.

ECONOMY AND INFRASTRUCTURE

• Gross domestic product (in millions $USD): 260,304.1 (ranked 28th; 2022 estimate)
• GDP percent change: 1.8%

Major Industries: While the state is well-known for breeding thoroughbred racehorses and distilling whiskey, the major share of its income can be attributed to industry.

Major groups of manufactured goods produced in Kentucky include electrical equipment and parts, paper products, automobiles and automotive parts, metal products, iron and steel, chemicals, aerospace products, and plastics. Service industries, including government and financial, have also been important.

Tourism: Tourism is among Kentucky's largest revenue-producing industries. Despite travel interruptions and limitations caused by the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic declared in early 2020, tourism activity still contributed $8.9 billion in total business sales to the state's economy that year. By 2022, that figure had risen to $12.9 billion, the highest total ever reported by Kentucky's tourism industry. Taken together, the tourism and travel industries are among the state's largest private employers.

Tourism highlights include sites related to Kentucky history, such as the Cumberland Gap National Historic Park, which contains the first passageway through the Appalachian Mountains, traveled by frontiersman Daniel Boone between 1775 and 1810. Visitors flock to see the Kentucky Derby, the first jewel in thoroughbred racing's Triple Crown, which takes place the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville. Many visitors come to explore caves and caverns, the most famous of which is Mammoth Cave National Park, which boasts a network of mapped subterranean passageways over four hundred miles long.

Energy Production: Kentucky is one of the nation's top producers of coal, and most of the state's electricity comes from coal. Large power plants in the Western Coalfield region (in west-central Kentucky) consume thousands of tons of coal daily, supplying about 71 percent of electricity generation in 2021. Natural gas accounts for a growing share of electricity generation, from one-tenth in 2016 to 23 percent in 2020. Most of the state's remaining power is generated by hydroelectric and biomass facilities.

Agriculture: Major livestock production focuses on horses, mules, cattle, and poultry. Significant crops include soybeans; corn, most of which is used in the distillation of whiskey; tobacco; and wheat. Many farmers choose to forego traditional field crops and concentrate their production on hay for use as livestock feed.

Airports: Kentucky is served by more than sixty airports, including two international facilities: Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport and Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport (SDF).

GOVERNMENT

• Governor: Andy Beshear (Democrat)
• Present constitution date: 1891
• Electoral votes: 8
• Number of counties: 120
• Violent crime rate: 259.1 (per 100,000 residents)
• Death penalty: Yes

Constitution: The state's first constitution was drafted in 1792, the year Kentucky became a state. It contained provisions for very few elected positions (the governor was elected by the Senate), and it called for the appointment of judges for terms of "good behavior," which usually meant for life. As people clamored for a more direct voice in government, the constitution was revised by constitutional conventions in 1799, 1849, and 1890–91. Each new version substantially increased the number of elected officials. The constitution has been amended several times since 1891, with each amendment approved by popular vote.

Branches of Government

Executive: The governor and the lieutenant governor are jointly elected to a four-year term, and each may serve up to two consecutive terms. The treasurer, auditor of public accounts, commissioner of agriculture, secretary of state, and attorney general are also elected executive-level positions.

Legislative: The thirty-eight members of the state senate each serve four-year terms, while the one hundred members of the House of Representatives are elected to two-year terms. Together, the Senate and House form the General Assembly, which meets in even-numbered years.

Judicial: Kentucky has a seven-member supreme court whose members, along with those of the court of appeals and the circuit courts, are elected to eight-year terms. District court judges are elected to four-year terms.

HISTORY

c. 1700 The area that is present-day Kentucky is a hunting ground for American Indian tribes including the Shawnee and Cherokee.

1700s French and Spanish explorers and traders begin to enter the Kentucky region.

1750 The first documented expedition through the Cumberland Gap is led by Dr. Thomas Walker, on behalf of Virginia's Loyal Land Co.

1750–60s American Indian resistance combined with the rugged terrain deter exploration of the region.

1767 Frontiersman Daniel Boone visits Kentucky for the first time. Boone and his party of hunters cross the Cumberland Gap on their way from North Carolina.

1769 Daniel Boone successfully reaches the central plateau region, the section of the state now known as "bluegrass country." That same year, he returns to North Carolina to retrieve his family.

1774 Colonel James Harrod, a surveyor from Virginia, establishes Kentucky's first permanent settlement at present-day Harrodsburg (originally called Harrodstown).

1775 Daniel Boone blazes the Wilderness Trail through the Cumberland Gap and founds Boonesboro.

1776 Kentucky becomes a county of Virginia.

1778 Ambushed by the Shawnee at Blue Lick, Daniel Boone and his party surrender; Boone spends five months with the Shawnee before escaping. That year, Colonel George Rogers Clark establishes Louisville, named in honor of King Louis XVI of France.

1780s General James Wilkinson, founder of Frankfort, attempts to ally Kentucky with the Spanish Empire in the "Spanish Conspiracy." After his death in 1825 he was found to have been a Spanish spy for much of his career in the US military and government.

1784John Filson publishes the first history of Kentucky, entitled "Kentucke."

1784–92 The courthouse of Constitution Square in Danville hosts ten constitutional conventions.

1787 The first horse race in Kentucky history is held in Lexington.

1790 Kentucky delegates accept the terms set forth by Virginia for separation.

1792 Kentucky enters the Union as the fifteenth state. Isaac Shelby serves as the first governor of the Commonwealth of Kentucky. Frankfort is selected as the state capital.

1794 American Indian resistance to the settlement of Kentucky is quelled by US General Anthony Wayne's victory at the Battle of Timbers.

1795Pinckney's Treaty grants Americans the right to navigate the Mississippi River. Trade and shipping centers spring up along the river in Kentucky in the years that follow.

1798 Kentuckians vigorously oppose the federal Alien and Sedition Acts, measures meant to control criticism of the government.

1808 Thomas and Nancy Lincoln settle in a one-room log cabin on Sinking Spring Farm, where their son, Abraham Lincoln, is born in 1809.

1811 Earthquakes in New Madrid create Realfoot Lake.

1812 The War of 1812. Kentucky leaders, including Henry Clay and Richard Johnson, are instrumental in persuading Congress to declare war against Great Britain. More than 7,000 Kentucky men fight in the war.

1818 Kentucky charters new banks allowing them to issue their own currency; the banks soon collapse.

1830 The opening of the Portland Canal establishes Louisville as an important link in the river traffic between Pittsburgh and New Orleans.

1831 Construction begins on Kentucky's first railroad. Rail service commences four years later.

1833 The Kentucky legislature forbids the practice of bringing slaves into the state for resale.

1838–39 Forced out of their ancestral lands in Georgia, 15,000 Cherokee follow the Trail of Tears, passing through Hopkinsville, Kentucky, on their journey to Oklahoma.

1850 US Senator Henry Clay, former Kentucky state legislator, fashions the Compromise of 1850, which helps prevent the southern states from seceding from the Union for another ten years.

1851 Inspired by her travels in Kentucky, author Harriet Beecher Stowe publishes the antislavery novel Uncle Tom's Cabin.

1853Stephen Foster composes the state song, "My Old Kentucky Home."

1855 Anti-Catholic and anti-foreigner sentiments lead to the death of twenty-two people in the infamous "Bloody Monday" riots in Louisville.

1860 The Crittenden Compromise, authored by US Senator John Crittenden of Kentucky, is the final, failed attempt to keep the Southern states from seceding from the Union.

1861Jefferson Davis is elected provisional president of the Confederacy. Although Kentucky attempts to remain neutral in the Civil War, the state eventually sides with the Union.

1862 Following the Battle of Perryville, Confederate soldiers withdraw from the state, leaving Kentucky under Union control for the rest of the Civil War.

1865 Kentucky-born president Abraham Lincoln is assassinated by Confederate sympathizer John Wilkes Booth in Washington, DC.

1875 Churchill Downs racetrack opens in Louisville and hosts the first running of the Kentucky Derby.

1878 The legendary eleven-year feud between the Hatfields and McCoys (of Pike County, Kentucky) begins when Floyd Hatfield takes a hog from Randolph McCoy.

1884 Bud Hillerich produces the first wooden baseball bat, known as the "Louisville Slugger," at his father's woodworking shop in Louisville.

1894 The name "Louisville Slugger" is registered with the US government as an official trademark. The Lexington Jockey Club, which maintains the records of nearly two million racehorses, is organized the same year.

1900William Goebel is assassinated for appealing the results of Kentucky's gubernatorial election. Before he dies, Goebel is declared the winner of the disputed election.

1904 The Black Patch War begins as farmers from western Kentucky attempt to break a tobacco-buying monopoly.

1905 The first known endorsement of a retail product by a professional athlete takes place when Pittsburgh Pirates baseball player Honus Wagner gives J. F. Hillerich permission to use his autograph on Louisville Slugger bats.

1915 Kentucky's last stagecoach makes its final run.

1916 After several name changes, the company that produces the Louisville Slugger becomes the Hillerich and Bradsby Company.

1917 A mine explosion in Webster County kills sixty-two.

1928 The Louisville Palace theater opens in Louisville, specializing in vaudeville productions.

1937 Approximately two hundred Louisville residents die in a flood that displaces 230,000 people. That year, the bombproof US Bullion Depository is constructed at Fort Knox.

1947 Thoroughbred Man o' War, considered by many the greatest racehorse of all time, dies, is embalmed, and lies in state for three days before being buried at Kentucky Horse Park in Lexington.

1951 Construction begins on General Electric's huge Appliance Park complex in Louisville.

1953 The first Corvette rolls off the assembly line at the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green.

1955 The Wayne County school system is the first in Kentucky to desegregate after the US Supreme Court declares racial segregation in public schools illegal.

1959 Cumberland Gap National Historic Park is established.

1960 Kentucky institutes its first state sales tax.

1964 Kentucky becomes the first southern state to pass a civil rights law.

1970s Nationwide energy shortage creates renewed demand for Kentucky's coal, leading to almost a decade of prosperity.

1977 Following passage of the Federal Surface Mining Control and Reclamation Act, Kentucky is required to restore land scarred by coal mining to its original condition.

1984 The state's first woman governor, Martha Layne Collins, is elected.

1986 Japan's Toyota Motors builds an assembly plant in Lexington.

1992 The one-millionth Corvette rolls off the assembly line at the General Motors Corvette Assembly Plant in Bowling Green.

1999 Two months after the Kansas Board of Education approves a similar measure, the Kentucky State Education Department announces it will substitute the phrase “change over time” for the word “evolution” in middle school and high school science curricula. The decision adds to the nationwide debate regarding the teaching of evolution and creationism in American schools.

2006 Ken Ham, founder of the fundamentalist Christian organization Answers in Genesis, announces the construction of a $25 million, 60,000 square foot Creation Museum in Petersburg. The museum, which opened in June 2007, includes a theater and a re-creation of a section of Noah’s Ark.

2007 Kentucky and other southeastern states begin to experience one of the worst droughts in regional history. Meteorologists note that 2007 is the driest in over 113 years. Watering bans and water rationing initiatives are instituted in Kentucky and other states.

2009 In January, an ice storm takes place over the central plains and Midwest United States. Western Kentucky is hardest hit, leaving over half a million residents without power, many for over a week. The storm is blamed for thirty-five deaths in the state.

2015 Coal mines, especially those in eastern Kentucky, report historic lows in employment as companies have been forced over the years to lay off workers in the face of competition from natural gas and cheaper prices.

Rowan County clerk Kim Davis makes national headlines when she refuses to issue marriage licenses or certificates to same-sex couples and spends five days in jail for contempt of court and for defying the Supreme Court ruling Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage legal in the US.

2017 Legislators pass a "right-to-work" law enabling nonunion members to work in union-represented companies without paying union dues.

2018 Two bourbon warehouses collapse within a couple of weeks of each other, a notable disaster in the state.

2021 Governor Andy Beshear signs a bill partially banning the use of no-knock warrants by police—prompted by protests of the death of Breonna Taylor, an emergency medical technician who was shot and killed by police during a raid on her Louisville home in early 2020.

2022 Historic flooding from heavy rainfall in Eastern Kentucky during the summer kills forty people and causes significant damage to the surrounding area.

FAMOUS PEOPLE

Sophia Alcorn, 1883–1967 (near Lexington) , Teacher who developed the Tad-Oma method for teaching deaf and blind children to speak.

Muhammad Ali, 1942–2016 (Louisville) , Boxer, world heavyweight champion.

Alben William Barkley, 1877–1956 (Graves County) , Thirty-fifth vice president of the United States.

Roy Bean, 1825–1903 (Mason County) , Infamous hanging judge in Texas.

James Bowie, 1796–1836 (Spring Creek) , Texas ranger who died at the Alamo; inventor of the Bowie knife.

Louis Brandeis, 1856–1941 (Louisville) , US Supreme Court Justice from 1916–39.

John Cabell Breckinridge, 1821–75 (near Lexington) , Fourteenth vice president of the United States; Secretary of war for the Confederacy.

Madeline McDowell Breckinridge, 1872–1920 (Woodlake) , Leader of the national women's suffrage movement.

William Wells Brown, 1816–84 (near Lexington) , Writer, historian, and abolitionist

Kit Carson, 1809–68 (Madison County) , Frontiersman and guide.

Laura Clay, 1849–1941 (Whitehall) , Woman's rights advocate; First woman nominated for president of the United States

George Clooney, 1961– (Lexington) , Actor, director.

Irvin Shrewsbury Cobb, 1876–1944 (Paducah) , New York humorist and columnist.

Jefferson Davis, 1808–89 (Fairview) , President of the Confederate States of America.

Johnny Depp, 1963– (Owensboro) , Actor.

Mary Desha, 1850–1911 (Lexington) , Cofounder of the Daughters of the American Revolution.

Irene Dunne, 1898–1990 (Louisville) , Actor.

Crystal Gayle, 1951– (Paintsville) , Singer.

David Lewelyn Wark Griffin, 1875–1948 (La Grange) , Film producer.

Casey Jones, 1864–1900 (Jordan) , Locomotive engineer; Subject of popular American ballad.

Jennifer Lawrence, 1990– (Louisville) , Actor.

Abraham Lincoln, 1809–65 (Hodgenville) , Sixteenth president of the United States.

Mary Todd Lincoln, 1818–82 (Lexington) , Wife of President Abraham Lincoln.

Loretta Lynn, 1932–2022 (Butcher Hollow) , Country singer and songwriter.

Rose Will Monroe, 1920–97 (Pulaski County) , Basis for the character "Rosie the Riveter," used to urge women to take jobs during World War II.

Garrett A. Morgan, 1877–1963 (Paris) , Inventor and publisher.

Isaac Burns Murphy, 1861–96 (Frankfort) Jockey

Carry Moore Nation, 1846–1911 (Garrard County) , National figure in the temperance movement.

Patricia Neal, 1926–2010 (Packard) , Actor.

Suzan-Lori Parks, 1963– (Fort Knox) Playwright.

Diane Sawyer, 1945– (Glasgow) , Television journalist.

Adlai Ewing Stevenson, 1835–1914 (Christian County) , Twenty-third vice president of the United States.

Hunter S. Thompson, 1939–2005 (Stockton) , Author, journalist.

Bryson Tiller, 1993– (Louisville) , Singer, songwriter, and rapper.

Wes Unseld, 1946–2020 (Louisville) , Basketball player.

Robert Penn Warren, 1905–89 (Guthrie) , Novelist, poet, and critic.

Frederick Moore Vinson, 1890–1953 (Louisa) , Thirteenth Chief Justice of the United States Supreme Court.

Whitney M. Young, 1921–71 (Lincoln Ridge) , Educator and civil rights leader.

TRIVIA

• Kaelin's, a restaurant in Louisville, claims to have invented the cheeseburger in 1934.
• The underground vaults at Fort Knox hold 147.3 million troy ounces of gold, the largest amount held in any single place in the world.
• In 1883, Thomas Edison introduced the incandescent light bulb to the public for the first time at the Southern Exposition in Louisville.
• Mammoth Cave boasts the world's longest cave system, measuring 420 miles of known passages with the addition of another 8 miles discovered in 2021.
• Mother's Day was first observed by a teacher named Mary S. Wilson in 1887 in Henderson, Kentucky.
• The city of Middlesboro, Kentucky, is the only US city built inside a meteor crater.
• Harland David Sanders (better known as Colonel Sanders, founder of Kentucky Fried Chicken) first began serving travelers in the living quarters of the service station he ran in Corbin, Kentucky, in 1932.

Bibliography

Clark, Thomas Dionysius. A History of Kentucky. 1937, Jesse Stuart Foundation, 1988.

Craig, Berry. Hidden History of Kentucky in the Civil War. History P, 2010.

Economic Impact of Visitors in Kentucky 2022. Tourism Economics / Kentucky Department of Tourism, April 2023, www.kentuckytourism.com/media/docs/default-source/research/kentucky-tourism-economic-impact-2022---20220428.pdf?sfvrsn=55ccdedc‗1. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.

"Economic Profile for Kentucky." US Bureau of Economic Analysis, 31 Mar. 2023, apps.bea.gov/regional/bearfacts/. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.

"Federal Bureau of Investigation Crime Data Explorer." Federal Bureau of Investigation, 2022, crime-data-explorer.app.cloud.gov/pages/home. Accessed 7 Oct. 2022.

"Kentucky." Quick Facts, US Census Bureau, 1 July 2022, www.census.gov/quickfacts/fact/table/KY/PST045222. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.

"Kentucky: State Profile and Energy Estimates." US Energy Information Administration, 18 Aug. 2022, www.eia.gov/state/?sid=KY. Accessed 20 Sept. 2023.

"Kentucky: 2020 Census." US Census Bureau, 25 Aug. 2021, www.census.gov/library/stories/state-by-state/kentucky-population-change-between-census-decade.html. Accessed 3 Oct. 2022.

Harriet Webster