Daniel Boone Escorting Settlers through the Cumberland Gap (George Caleb Bingham, oil on canvas, 1851–52)
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Kentucky Timeline History
1654:
Colonel Abram Wood
of Virginia arrives
to survey the area

1720s: The
French claimed
almost all of the
land, and
established trading
posts with the
assistance of local
American Indians

1750:
Thomas Walker, a
British
representative,
explores the area

1751:
Christopher Gist
explores the land
fronting the Ohio
River

1763: The
French and Indian
War ends, as the
French were defeated
by the British

1767:
Frontiersman Daniel
Boone, along with
John Findley, travel
into Kentucky across
the Cumberland Gap

1774: The
first permanent
European settlement
established at
present-day
Harrodsburg

1775:
Daniel Boone and
others build Fort
Boonesborough in
central Kentucky

1775-1802:
The British and
local Indians:
attacked local
Kentucky settlements
during, and after,
the Revolutionary
War

1792:
Kentucky becomes the
15th U.S. State

1799:
Mamouth Cave complex
discovered

1811: A
severe earthquake
rattles far-western
Kentucky

1811: The
first steamboat to
travel along the
Ohio River arrives
to great fanfare,
and four years
later, a steamboat
journeys from New
Orleans, Louisiana,
all the way to
Louisville, and the
economic impact of
that event changed
the state's economy

1818: The
western edges of the
state are purchased
from the Chicasaw
Indians, and is
referred to as the
Jackson Purchase, in
honor of Andrew
Jackson

1833:
Kentucky bans the
importation of
slaves into the
state. It would
later reverse
itself, and slave
traffic increased

1860: The
state tried to be
neutral during the
Civil War, with
Kentucky troops
joining both the
Union Army, and the
Confederate gray.
Sadly, both armies
invaded the state,
with costly results
to local property,
and significant loss
of life on both
sides of the battle

1875:
Louisville is the
site of the first
Kentucky Derby

1900:
Governor William
Goebel assassinated
by gunman

1905-09:
Local farmers -
during the Black
Patch War - burn
barns and fields
belonging to big
tobacco interests

1937: The
U.S. Treasury opens
their famous gold
depository at Fort
Knox. That same
year, devastating
floods damage Ohio
River valleys

1959:
Cumberland Gap
National Park is
dedicated

1969: The
Tennessee Valley
Authority builds its
largest steam
generating planet
ever: near
Paradise, in
Muhlenberg County

1977: A
nightclub fire in
Southgate kills 164

1988:
Kentucky establishes
a statewide lottery

1998:
University of
Kentucky wins NCAA
Basketball
Championship, their
2nd national title
in three years, and
7th overall
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