December 23, 2024
Defying bad luck on Friday the thirteenth, 1949
Defying bad luck on Friday the thirteenth, Mrs. Robert Babbage, standing, Lexington Leader society reporter, looked through a dictionary in the Leader newsroom on Friday April 13, 1949. Other newspaper employees included, Betty Clardy, standing in background, promotion department, Mrs. Robert Mattingly, center, proofreader, Mrs. James L. Pace, at typewriter, a Leader reporter who said she didn’t believe in a Friday the thirteenth curse, but wouldn’t leave the newsroom until the ladder was removed. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Palace of Illusions at Bluegrass Fair, 1980
Tim Deremer beckoned fairgoers to his Palace of Illusions at the Lions Bluegrass Fair in June 1980. Visitors to the Palace of Illusions saw women with various deformities, like Exorcist Woman, who could spin her head 360 degrees, Miss Twisto, who could contort her body inside a box to avoid being stabbed as slats are pushed through, Iron Tongue Girl, who could lift a 30-pound weight with her tongue, or Radium Woman, whose face turned into a skeleton. Money from the show went toward the club’s main civic project, buying eyeglasses for needy children. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Jefferson Street viaduct, 1978
Shown in February 1978, the old Jefferson Street viaduct was deteriorating, with chunks of concrete falling from the structure. The state determined that the viaduct, built in 1920, and it’s link to Manchester Street would be unsafe for any traffic within two years. The state proposed replacing it with a $3 million viaduct which was started in 1979 and finished in September 1980. This area, behind Rupp Arena, is now know as the Cox Street parking lot. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
Riding side-saddle at Jr. League Horse Show, 1946
Sally Robbins, Springfield, Mass., gave a unique performance in the Ladies, Three-Gaited event at the Lexington Junior League Horse Show in July 1946, when she appeared riding side-saddle on Reverie May, owned by Miss Martha Van Hooser of Lexington. The Lexington Junior League held their first horse show on July 22, 1937. After 82 years the annual six-day show draws around 30,000 people and attracts nationally renowned competitors. The Lexington show is the largest outdoor show for the American Saddlebred in the world. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Fister children on a bike ride, 1950
A Leader photographer in search of a Spring-time picture came across the Fister children, Ted, 10, Suzanne, 11 and Nick, 12, riding their bicycles near their home on Old Frankfort Pike in April 1950. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Lexington Fourth of July Parade, 1985
Amie Winn was head-over-heels for Lexington’s Fourth of July parade in 1985. Winn, a member of Bluegrass Gymnastics, flipped, jumped and cartwheeled her way down Main and Vine Streets along with a group of her fellow gymnasts. Photo by Bruce Thorson | Staff
Patriotic Concert, 1997
Joshua McCann, Lexington, sang with the Central Kentucky Youth Chorus on July 3, 1997 under the large American flag hanging from Old Morrison on the Transylvania University campus during the annual Patriotic Music Concert. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
Junior High art exhibit, 1950
Four students from two city junior high schools showed the works of art which were among 40 exhibits displayed by the schools in the window of Kentucky Utilities building at Short and Limestone streets starting in April 1950. The students included: Seated, Pat Phelps, Morton Junior High and Sanda Hughes, Lexington Junior; Standing, Jimmy Hall, Morton Junior and Don Cox, Lexington Junior. The annual exhibit included the best work of eight and ninthe grade art pupils at the two Junior high schools. Approximately 40 works were hung. The works were created under the supervision of Miss Christine Brown, art teacher at Lexington Junior High and Miss Theresa Newhoff, art teacher at Morton Junior High. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Learn-to-swim class at Joyland Pool, 1961
In the summer of 1961 a record number of girls won beginners’ swim buttons in the Herald-Leader’s Free Learn-To-Swim course at Joyland Pool. Awards were won by 226 of the 705 girls enrolled. The number learning to swim topped all previous 11 years’ records for girls or boys. This group of 9-year-olds won swim buttons and included: Front row, left to right, Assistant instructor, Mrs. Estill Lyons, Constance Cannon, Diana Vice, Debra Gayle York, Lynne Catlett, Diane Sloan, Devonda Ramsey, Jolene Crouch and assistant instructor Helen Mangione; Second row, Rosemary Cleveland, Sandra Hill, Linda Sue Cox, Karen Holbrook, Frances J. Ches, Deborah Arnold, Susan Garrison, and Libby Raisor; Back row, Nancy Jo Stephenson, Cynthia and Pamela Feck, Rebecca Miles, Lynda Euster, Shirley Hall, Donna Dailey and Diana Wilson. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Miss Kentucky, 1961
Miss Lee Willis Grigsby, Miss Louisville, seated, was crowned Miss Kentucky of 1961 by the retiring Miss Kentucky, Miss Alice Chumbley on June 3, 1961 at Transylvania College’s McAlister Auditorium. The naming of the 18-year-old, soon-to-be University of Louisville freshman, climaxed a three-day pageant sponsored by the Lexington Junior Chamber of Commerce. Pamela Farris Brown, Miss Lexington was the runner-up. In third place was Linda Elizabeth Woodall, Miss University of Kentucky. Sylvia Sue Osborne, Miss Transylvania, took fourth place. This year’s Miss Kentucky Pageant concludes with the crowning of the 2018 Miss Kentucky tonight at the Singletary Center for the Arts. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Photo reprints
See a photo that you would like to have a reprint of? All photos that appear in this blog can be purchased from
MyCapture .
TITLE
 | Follow us on Twitter @KYPhotoArchive |
TITLE
Kentucky.com news feed
- Tennessee men arrested in KY after causing fatal crash that killed child, police say
- State police investigating shooting in Owensboro where multiple officers fired at suspect
- Kentucky man took a chance on pricier lottery ticket. Now he’s celebrating $500K win
- Family of woman killed in 2022 home invasion wants death penalty for accused killer
- Government wants to shut down Kentucky tax business over alleged fraudulent returns
- Average auto lease payments are increasing in Kentucky
- ‘Symbol of opportunity:’ Take a sneak peek inside Woodford County’s new $75M high school
- Photos: How shopping evolved in Lexington, from downtown to farmland-turned-retail
- When will KY gain daylight again? When is the next time change? A look at the winter ahead
- What we lost in 2024: Longtime Lexington restaurants, craft brewery, and both Big Boys