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Cynthiana - Harrison County
Through The Years

1780 Massacre at Ruddles Fort
December 10, 1793 Cynthiana Chartered as a town.
December 21, 1793 Harrison County formed by act of General Assembly.
1797 First addition to town of Cynthiana
1805 Oldest brick house built on Northwest corner of Main and Pleasant Streets.
1818 Methodist Church, Pike and Church Streets, deed.
1820 First City School on Church Street built.
1820 Methodist Church, Pike and Church Streets, first building.
1837 Covered Bridge on Main Street built.
1845 Methodist Church, Pike and Church Streets, destroyed by fire
1845 Methodist Church, Pike and Church Streets, rebuilt
November 19, 1847 David Sheely, executed by hanging.
1851 First City School on Church Street demolished.
1852 Larger second City School built on Church Street.
1853 Court House completed.
1856 Clock installed in Court House.
May 18 1854 Covington to Lexington Railroad completed to town limits.
May 22, 1854 First passenger train (Covington to Cynthiana).
June 8, 1854 Barbecue held at Cynthiana to celebrate first passenger train (Covington to Cynthiana).
1855 Church of The Advent cornerstone laid.
July 17, 1862 First Civil War Battle of Cynthiana.
June 11, & 12, 1864 Second Civil War Battle of Cynthiana.
November 4, 1868 Battle Grove Cemetery dedicated.
1869 Cynthiana Democrat newspaper started with James M. Parrish as publisher.
May 27, 1869 Confederate Monument, Battle Grove Cemetery, dedicated.
1870 Methodist Church, Pike and Church Streets, third building.
1873 South wing added to City School on Church Street.
1873 Death Valley Scotty born Cynthiana, Kentucky,
1883 Monticello Mansion erected.
March 25, 1884 Tornado at Colemansville.
1884 North wing added to City School on Church Street.
1885 Pleasant Street iron bridge built
1886 County Jail built on West Pike Street.
1889 Cynthiana Electric Light Co. Inc. formed. Commenced operation 1890
March 19, 1890 Dan Gruelle lynched by hanging.
1894 Standpipe erected.
1894 Biancke's Restaurant established on Pike Street.
1895 Log Cabin newspaper established.
July - August 1903 Curt Jett trial.
1906 Cynthiana Overall Co. began operations
1906 Harrison Memorial Hospital established on Penn Street.
May 27, 1906 Methodist Church, Pike and Church Streets, fourth building dedicated.
1908 City School moved from Church Street to Bridge Street.
1909 Ice Plant (Home Ice Company on South Church Street) started.
September 1, 1909 First hot air balloon, of record,  passes over county.
1909-1910 City School on Church Street demolished.
1913 Double tracking of Railroad completed.
1914 Post Office on Walnut Street completed.
April 6, 1915 Battle Grove Cemetery superintendents house burns.
1916 Court House wings completed.
July 1, 1917 William J. Bryan spoke to 1400 women at Baptist Church and 1500 men at Christian Church.
Winter 1917-1918 Most severe winter. Including snow, sleet, ice, constant cold.
January 21, 1918 Cynthiana High School burns.
February 9, 1918 Ice jam takes out Wood's Crossing Bridge.
May 18, 1919 First airplane, of record, lands in county.
1921 Harrison Memorial Hospital moved to Pike Street.
January 9, 1922 Marshall School opened.
1922 Keller Dam purchased by city.
June 5, 1923 Reynolds' properties (Oddville Ave. to St. Edward's Cemetery) sold at auction.
June 1925 Harrison Hotel opened.
1925 German cannon, captured in World War 1, placed on display in court house yard.
January 3, 1927 Abdallah Park Grandstand burns.
July 13, 1928 Clarence McQueen, Cynthiana resident guilty of murder, executed.
November 29, 1928 Natural gas turned on in Cynthiana.
November 21,1929 Moy Foo, Cynthiana's famed Chinese laundry man, died. He is buried in Battle Grove Cemetery.
January 30, 1930 Tobacco Warehouse, "Burley #3", on North Main Street burns.
April 15, 1930 The Lair homestead "The Cedars" burns.
1930 Spring, summer, autumn, most severe drought.
September 1930 City Municipal Building on Pleasant Street completed.
September 15, 1930 North bound freight train plows into stopped freight near Lair demolishing caboose, turning over locomotive, and dumping 14 cars of coal. One injury.
August 1, 1932 Berry's Station. Burns.
June 18, 1933 Robinson Dam washed out. (Cynthiana Democrat June 22, 1933).
1933 Terry Dam built.
July 22, 1934 Record 107 degrees.
July 5, 1935 Two train wreck at Keller's Bridge.
December 4, 1935 Four cars of coal derail at Pleasant Street crossing causing much property damage on west side.
May 9, 1936
11:30 p.m.		 Train wrecks at depot dumping 14 cars of coal and destroying much of sheds and platform.
August 1936 Oldest brick house in Cynthiana on Northwest corner of Main and Pleasant Streets is demolished.
January 1937 Viaduct over Railroad on North Main Street completed.
May 6, 1938 Heber Hicks' executed.
May 8, 1938 Heber Hicks' Funeral at Benson Church.
June 24, 1939 Belmont Bridge (Pleasant St.) opened.
July 29, 1939 George Dickey killed by Charles Allen.
November 26, 1940 Cynthiana Motor Company burns.
1942 German cannon, captured in World War 1,  on display in court house yard was sold for scrap to support World War 2.
1942 Iron fence around Court House yard sold for scrap, October
June 1944 Covered Bridge on Main Street closed.
February 20, 1946 Doctor's Building (later Elk's) burns.
December 18, 1946 Four drown when car goes through floorless skeleton of Covered Bridge on Main Street.
February 19, 1948 Flood 19.7 ft.
April 13, 1948 Flood 23.32 ft.
December 1948 Skeletal remains of Covered Bridge on Main Street pushed into river.
October 8, 1949 John Hunt Morgan Bridge opened replacing Covered Bridge on Main Street.
June 23, 1950 Carr Furniture and 4 other buildings burn on South Walnut Street
1951 Harrison Memorial Hospital on Pike Street expanded.
September 29, 1953 Claysville Bridge burns.
January 5, 1954 Death Valley Scotty died in Death Valley, California at the age of 81.
September 1, 1956 W.C.Y.N. radio begins operation.
September 1956 City schools integrate.
1958 Ice Plant (Home Ice Company on South Church Street) ended.
July 10, 1960 McLoney's Warehouse burns.
September 30, 1960 Last issue of the Log Cabin newspaper.
1961 Smizer House, Southeast corner of Pike and Church Streets, demolished.
October 1961 Railroad passenger depot demolished.
November 18, 1962
2:01 a.m.		 Dial telephone inaugurated locally.
1962 Last class of Cynthiana High School.
1962 City School merged with county.
1962 Marshall School demolished.
January 28, 1963 Kentucky Record minus 34 degrees. (World Almanac).
December 30, 1965 St. Edward's Church burns.
March 7, 1968 Last scheduled passenger train at Cynthiana and other stations on this line.
April 7, 1968 Salem Store burns.
1968 Harrison Memorial Hospital moved to Millersburg Road.
1968-1969 County jail, West Pike Street, jailors living quarters demolished and rebuilt.
1969 Ladish Road Bridge built.
January 5, 1974 Train wreck dumps 4 cars of coal and creates much damage near Terry Dam.
April 3, 1974 Tornado in Harrison County.
November 1976 Railroad Freight Depot demolished.
May 28, 1977 Bverly Hills Supper Club fire. (Cynthiana Democrat June 2, 1977)
January 20, 1978 Train derails and mangles 24 empty coal cars near Lair.
June 27, 1981 Train wreck at Bridge Street dumps 8 cars of coal and demolishes crossing.
April 1983 County Jail on West Pike Street closed.
July 8, 1985 Monticello Mansion destroyed by fire started about 10 p.m.
1991 Ladish Road Post 0ffice opened.
June 29, 1992 Standpipe taken down.
1985 Return to single track of railroad through Cynthiana completed.
January 1994 Snow 23 inches.
February 1, 1994 Webber's Sausage burns.
July 1994 Cynthiana - Harrison County Museum opened.
1998 Old Fire Bell removed from atop City Building reinstalled at ground level.
1998 City Council changed name of Abdallah Park Road to Water Works Road.
March 1 & 2, 1997 Flood 28.53 ft. (March 1-2).
February 4, 5, & 6, 1998 Snow 19 ½ inches.

Visit the Cynthiana - Harrison County Museum to find out more about these and numerous other Cynthiana - Harrison County facts.