1750: Dr. Thomas Walker, a Virginia physician, explored Kentucky via the Cumberland River, becoming one of the first Englishmen to see the area and erect a cabin. 

1767: Daniel Boone led his first hunting expedition into Kentucky, venturing as far west as present-day Floyd County along the Big Sandy River. 

1774: Harrodsburg was established as the first permanent British settlement in Kentucky. 

1775: Daniel Boone established Boonesborough and widened the Wilderness Trail from Virginia, facilitating increased settlement. 

1778: George Rogers Clark arrived at the Falls of the Ohio and established the Corn Island settlement. 

1780: The city of Louisville was established. 

1792: On June 1, Kentucky was admitted to the Union as the 15th state and the first west of the Appalachian Mountains. 

1796: The Wilderness Road opened to wagons, allowing more settlers and their families to come into Kentucky. 

1809:  Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the U.S.,  was born near Hodgeville.  Today his birthplace and boyhood home are a National Historical Park

1811-1812: The New Madrid earthquakes, among the strongest in U.S. history, affected western Kentucky.

1817:  The first commercial steamboat route from Louisville to New Orleans opens.

1818: The Jackson Purchase added land to the western part of the state.

1830:  The Louisville and Portland Canal opens, changing commercial navigation on the Ohio River and helping to expand the population and commerce of the United State (the Western expansion)

1850:  The L & N Railroad is formed.  Built between Louisville and the southern border toward Nashville

1861:  Kentucky, after attempting neutrality, sided with the Union during the Civil War. 

1861:  In October, Southern sympathizers establish a provisional Confederate government of Kentucky in Bowling Green.  Kentucky was the only state to have capitols for both the Union and the Confederacy.

1862:  The Battle of Perryville, the largest Civil War battle in Kentucky, took place.

1875:  The first Kentucky Derby was held at Churchill Downs. 

1884:  Hillerick & Bradsby, makers of the Louisville Slugger bats, is founded in Louisville.

1893:  Mildred and Patty Hill of Louisville write the melody to the song "Good Morning to All", which later becomes "Happy Birthday."

1896:  Emma Guy Cromwell becomes the first woman to hold a statewide office in Kentucky when she is elected state librarian by a vote of the State Senate.

1904-1908:  The Black Patch Tobacco Wars occurred in Kentucky.

1909:  The present Kentucky State Capitol opens in Frankfort.

1926:  Mammoth Cave National Park is established.

1937:  The United States Bullion Depository at Fort Knox accepts its first gold shipments.

1937:  The Ohio River flood caused extensive damage in Kentucky. 

1946:  Kentuckian Frederick M. Vinson is sworn in as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States.

1960:  Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) won an Olympic Gold Medal 

1964:  President Lyndon Johnson launches his War on Poverty initiatives from Martin County. Among other things, the War on Poverty created Medicare and Medicaid, expanded Social Security benefits, made the Food Stamp Act permanent, and established the Job Corps, the VISTA program, the federal work-study program, and Head Start. 

1966:  Kentucky passes the first statewide comprehensive Civil Rights Act in the South. The act prohibits discrimination in employment and public accommodations based on race, national origin, color, and religion. It also disallows housing discrimination.

1983:  Martha Layne Collins is elected governor of Kentucky. She is the first woman to hold that office.

2001:  Louisville physicians perform the first self-contained artificial heart implant. The patient, Robert L. Tools, 59, lived 151 days with the device.

2006:  Comair Flight 5191 crashed shortly after takeoff from Blue Grass Airport in Lexington, resulting in 49 fatalities.

2010:  The Kentucky Horse Park in Fayette County hosts the World Equestrian Games, the first time the games had taken place outside of Europe. (Photo courtesy of the Kentucky Horse Park)

2012:  Morehead State University and its partners launch the first satellite built entirely in Kentucky. Its 10-year mission is to provide information on the underlying physics of the early universe. A nano-satellite, it is the size of a loaf of bread and weighs five pounds. (Photo courtesy of Morehead State University)

2013:  Kentucky legalizes the growing of hemp, once an important cash crop for Kentucky for the production of rope and sailcloth.

2015:  Jenean Hampton was elected Lieutenant Governor, becoming the first African American elected to statewide office in Kentucky.

2023:  Severe flooding affected eastern Kentucky and tornados tore their way through western Kentucky, prompting disaster declarations and recovery efforts.

2025:  Kentucky celebrates its 233rd anniversary of statehood.

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