Louisville, Kentucky

1875First Kentucky Derby: The first Kentucky Derby was run at Churchill Downs on May 17, with 10,000 spectators watching Aristides win. The race became the longest continuously held sporting event in America.

2020Breonna Taylor Shooting: Louisville police shot and killed 26-year-old Breonna Taylor in her apartment during a botched no-knock raid on March 13. Her death became a central rallying point for the national racial justice movement.

1942Muhammad Ali Born: Cassius Marcellus Clay Jr. was born in Louisville. He became Muhammad Ali — Olympic gold medalist, three-time heavyweight champion, conscientious objector, and the most famous athlete in the world.

1937Great Ohio River Flood: The Ohio River reached a record 57 feet, flooding 70% of Louisville and displacing 230,000 people. The disaster led to the construction of a massive floodwall that still protects the city.

1883Louisville Slugger Created: Bud Hillerich hand-turned a baseball bat for Louisville Eclipse player Pete Browning, creating the Louisville Slugger. The Hillerich & Bradsby Company grew into the dominant bat manufacturer in baseball.

1778George Rogers Clark Founds Louisville: George Rogers Clark established a settlement on the Falls of the Ohio River during the Revolutionary War. The town was named after King Louis XVI of France, America's Revolutionary War ally.

1855Bloody Monday: Anti-immigrant mobs attacked German and Irish neighborhoods on election day, killing at least 22 people. The Know-Nothing Party violence was one of the worst episodes of nativism in American history.

1870Bourbon Capital: Louisville's position on the Ohio River and proximity to Kentucky's limestone-filtered water made it the center of America's bourbon whiskey industry.

2003Louisville-Jefferson County Merger: Louisville merged with Jefferson County, more than doubling the city's population overnight and making it one of the largest cities in the South.

1914Louisville Flood of 1884 Legacy: Louisville built its bourbon, tobacco, and manufacturing economy along the falls of the Ohio, making it a critical transportation hub between the North and South.