February 24, 2025
Ruby Flynn was named a substitute city letter carrier for the Lexington Post Office in October 1963, becoming the city’s first peacetime female mail carrier. Postmaster William Cecil said all carriers begin as substitutes and generally serve on various routes before being assigned to a regular one. Flynn, the mother of six children, did civilian work with the Navy Department during World War II. Published in the Lexington Leader on Oct. 3, 1963.
Some of the more than 100 female protesters took their position in front of the General Electric Co. lamp plant on Rosemont Garden on the morning of March 23, 1948. The United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers union pulled its members from the Lexington lamp plant on a “surprise” work stoppage about 6 a.m. The strike was called because of the company’s stalling tactics in talks concerning U.E. recognition as the sole bargaining agent at the plant. Six U.E. members were arrested for blocking an entrance to the plant. General Electric Lighting announced Friday that it will close two plants in Kentucky, one in Somerset and the Lexington plant, by August 2017. Published in the Lexington Leader. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Henry Anderson, a butcher at the New Sanitary Market at 124 North Broadway, changed a price tag on round steak from 85 cents a pound to 75 cents on Feb. 13, 1948. The drop in beef prices was attributed to a break in the grain and commodity markets. Today, that 75 cents would have the same buying power as $7.50. Published in the Lexington Herald on Feb. 14, 1948. Herald-Leader Archive Photo.
Ryan Cook, 6, a first-grader at Mill Creek Elementary School, waited with his classmates to go outside for recess on Aug. 22, 1991, the first day of school. The first day of the 2016-17 school year for Fayette County is Wednesday. Photo by Ron Garrison | Staff
Full-page advertisement for Walgreen Drug Store on page A7 of the April 13, 1945, Lexington Leader. Some of the items listed in the ad were a five-piece cooking set for $4.98, toothpicks for 3 cents, four rolls of Northern toilet tissue for 17 cents and an 11-ounce package of bubble bath for 6 cents. Also in the ad were specials at the lunch counter: fried shrimp, tarter sauce, french fries, cole slaw and rolls for 45 cents; and a three-decker club sandwich for 35 cents. At the top is a note that you can buy war bonds and stamps at the store, at 140 West Main Street, which is now the site of the CenterPointe project. In small type across the bottom is a line that says “20% federal excise tax on toiletries and luggage.” Click on the image for a closer look. Click here to see an advertisement from another downtown shopping destination during the 1940s, Ben Snyder department store.
Lexington police officer Harrison Sallee passed confiscated moonshine jars to officer Jesse Wilburn Jan. 11, 1951. The house at 536 Brown Court was the target of what police described as the biggest moonshine raid in local history. 188 gallons of the liquor were well hidden under the kitchen floor, which was accessible through a trap door. All of the moonshine was stored in fruit jars, officers said. Four men were arrested during the raid. Herald-Leader archive photos
Lexington officer James Kenton showed that there wasn’t much room for those arrested after the liquor was loaded into a police vehicle on Jan. 11, 1951. The confiscated moonshine was later poured down the sewer. Click here to see more moonshine photos from our archives.
Demolition of the 150-year-old structure at High and Upper streets, then known as Kentucky Inn, started in October 1954. A state office building was to go up on the site to house district offices of the Department of Economic Security and other agencies. Published in the Lexington Leader on Oct. 14, 1954. Herald-Leader Archive Photo
Attendees at the 110th annual Fancy Farm political picnic on Aug. 4, 1990, at St. Jerome Catholic Church in Western Kentucky displayed their support for a variety of candidates, including Harvey Sloane, a Democrat running for the U.S. Senate against incumbent Sen. Mitch McConnell. The incumbent won a tough campaign against the former Louisville mayor by 4.4 percent. The 2016 Fancy Farm picnic gets underway Saturday morning. Photo by Charles Bertram | Staff
University of Kentucky football players Cornell Burbage, left, and Dermontti Dawson clowned a bit as they gathered for team picture day, Aug. 19, 1985. Kentucky finished the 1985 season with five wins and six losses under coach Jerry Claiborne. The 2016 Wildcats hold their media day Friday at Commonwealth Stadium. Photo by David Perry | Staff