April 18, 2025
First day of school, 1984
School crossing guard Cecil Smith helped Sarah French, 6, cross Woodland Avenue at the end of her first day of school at Maxwell Elementary in August 1984. Fayette County public schools started the school year today. Photo by David Cooper
Bicycling to Mammoth Cave, 1946
Marjorie Crozier, 21, a student at the University of Michigan, stopped in Lexington while on a bicycle trip from her home in Detroit to Mammoth Cave in July 1946. Crozier, a sophomore at Michigan, spent the night at Hamilton co-operative house at the University of Kentucky before starting the last lap of her 350-mile journey to the cave. She said she had no particular reason for coming south aside from the fact that she had been as far north as New York and as far west as North Dakota, and she wanted to meet some Kentucky people, who she described at the “friendliest people I’ve met”. A 10-pound sack held her belongings of a few changes of clothes, a plate, knife and fork, flashlight, maps and travelers’ checks to allow for about $10 a week spending money. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Walking to school in Whitesburg, 1983
Stephen Shepherd and Norman Collins, 15-year-old classmates, headed back to school in Whitesburg in February 1983 after lunch at a nearby fast-food restaurant. The old railroad trestle they were walking on crossed the North Fork of the Kentucky River. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
Juniper Drive protest, 1966
Traffic-ridden and speed-driven Juniper Drive residents formed a blockade in May 1966 in an effort to emphasize the need for official recognition of their “drag strip” problems. Talking with some of the mothers who marshaled the forces was Lexington Police Captain Espy Hedger. The blockaders, all women, mothers of some of the 63 children on the street, seated themselves in lawn chairs arranged across Juniper about midway between Balsam and Winterberry Drives. The mothers took action because they said that they had failed in more than a year to get action from the Lexington Police Department. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Versailles Road construction in Frankfort, 1959
Aerial view of the construction of the road project to four-lane and straighten a portion of U.S. 60 (Versailles Road) between Frankfort and Versailles in January 1959. This view of U.S. 60, bottom center, in Frankfort, running southeast through the center of the photo as it heads towards Versailles. The center of the photo shows work on the U.S. 421 (Leestown Road) intersection. Moore’s Point liquor store is at lower left. Photo by E. Martin Jessee | Staff
Sewing American Legion bugle corps uniforms, 1947
Women of the Man o’ War Post, American Legion worked to complete unique jockey-silks uniforms for their Drum and Bugle Corps in August 1947. The Corps was to travel by train to the National American Legion convention in New York City at the end of August to compete in the national drill competition. Shown at work are, from left, Mrs. Edward W. Howard, Mrs. Albert Owens, Mrs. E. F. Jacobs, Mrs. Fred Moilan, Mrs. Henry Hettel, Miss Ann Dearing, Mrs. Warren Osborne and Mrs. Tom C. Smith. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Larry Forgy at Fancy Farm, 1986
Republican candidate for governor, Larry Forgy, sang the National Anthem at the start of speeches at the 106th annual Fancy Farm political picnic in August 1986. Forgy withdrew from the race in 1987 citing difficulty with fundraising. His party’s nominee, John R. Harper, was defeated by Democratic businessman Wallace Wilkinson for the governor’s office. This year’s annual political event and fundraiser for St. Jerome Catholic Church in Graves County is today. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Oliver North speaks in Lexington, 1992
Oliver North, retired United States Marine Corps Lt. Colonel and former National Security Council aide, spoke to about 1,300 fans at the Gardenside Baptist Church in July 1992. North was in town to speak at the church’s “God Bless America” celebration. He was convicted in the IranÐContra affair of the late 1980s but his convictions were vacated and reversed, and all charges against him dismissed in 1991. North, now the president of the National Rifle Association will be the featured speaker for a Kentucky Republican rally tonight at Murray State University. Photo by Frank Anderson | Staff
Georgetown Country World Flea Market, 1990
Harold Guill of Frankfort, was looking for a wheel for his lawnmower in July 1990 at the Country World Flea Market in Georgetown. Photo by David Perry | Staff
Kentucky’s Alfred Rawls after 48-yard TD, 1988
Kentucky’s Alfred Rawls, (23), headed to the sideline along with quarterback Chuck Broughton, (14), after Rawls scored on a 48 yard TD against Georgia, Oct. 22, 1988 at Commonwealth Stadium. The run propelled unranked UK to a 16-10 win over N. 11 Georgia. Rawls, now a FedEx delivery driver, was recognized this week for exiting his truck last Thursday and push a man in a wheelchair out of traffic on Main Street and into Triangle Park. Photo by Tom Woods II | Staff
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