1880s

## 1880

* February 11 – William Stout Chipley died, aged 69.
* March 26 – Duncan Hines born.
* April 13 – John Fallis born.
* May 18 – Fonso won the 6th Kentucky Derby.
* June 6 – George W. Dunlap died, aged 67.
* June 9 – Henry DeHaven Moorman born.
* June 19 – Gideon Shryock died, aged 77.
* July 12 – Tod Browning born.
* July 19 – Wallace A. Bandy born.
* August 5 – William B. Read died, aged 62.
* August 6 – William Orlando Butler died, aged 89.
* September 3 – Jesse James and Bill Ryan robbed a stagecoach near Mammoth Cave.
* September 15 – Thomas Edward Pence died, aged 38.
* October 1 – Burwell C. Ritter died, aged 70.
* October 5 – Jesse James and Billy Ryan robbed the store of John Dovey in Mercer County.
* October 26 – Lee Tannehill born.
* November 27 – George B. Crittenden died, aged 68.

## 1881

* February 28 – Albert B. Blanton born.
* March 4 – Thomas Turner left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – John D. White entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* April 12 – Finis McLean died, aged 75.
* April 27 – Mary E. Merritt born.
* May 17 – Hindoo won the 7th Kentucky Derby.
* June 19 – Henry Smith Lane died, aged 70.
* June 22 – Augusta Fox Bronner born.
* July 29 – James Chrisman died, aged 62.
* August 22 – Howie Camntitz born.
* August 22 – Leslie Combs died, aged 87.
* September 11 – Edward Crossland died, aged 54.
* September 15 – Lena Madesin Phillips born.
* October 1 – Hogan Yancey born.
* October 21 – R. C. Tway born.
* October 26 – John D. Craddock born.
* October 28 – Meriwether Lewis Clark died, aged 72.
* October 30 – Elizabeth Madox Roberts born.
* December 23 – Dick Sutherland born.

## 1882

* January 17 – Ralph Waldo Emerson Gilbert born.
* April 18 – John W. Cannon died, aged 61.
* May 11 – Orie Solomon Ware born.
* May 14 – Bryan Rust Young died, aged 82.
* May 16 – Apollo won the 8th Kentucky Derby.
* May 29 – Joshua Fry Speed died, aged 67.
* July 16 – Mary Todd Lincoln died, aged 63.
* August 6 – Thomas William Thompson died, aged 42.
* September 9 – Victor Hammer born.
* September 10 – Jerry Lee, Frankfort City Marshal was shot in the line of duty.
* September 18 – Jerry Lee died, aged 34.
* October 31 – James Fisher Robinson died, aged 82.
* December 29 – William Thomasson died, aged 85.
* December 31 – Ben A. Jones born.

## 1883

* January 7 – Theodore Trauernicht died, aged 43.
* January 13 – Nathaniel Cartmell born.
* February 22 – Elwood Hamilton born.
* March 4 – James A. McKenzie left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 2nd District.
* March 4 – John W. Caldwell left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 3rd District.
* March 4 – J. Proctor Knott left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 4th District.
* March 4 – John D. White left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – Elijah Phister left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 10th District.
* March 4 – James Franklin Clay entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 2nd District.
* March 4 – John E. Halsell entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 3rd District.
* March 4 – Thomas A. Robertson entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 4th District.
* March 4 – William W. Culbertson entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – John D. White entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 10th District.
* March 4 – Frank L. Wolford entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 12th District.
* April 1 – George S. Shanklin died, aged 75.
* May 3 – Carrie Marcus Neiman born.
* May 20 – Jack Blackburn born.
* May 23 – Leonatus won the 9th Kentucky Derby.
* May 30 – Mabel Hite born.
* August 3 – Sophia Kindrick Alcorn born.
* September 5 – Luke P. Blackburn left office as Governor of Kentucky.
* September 5 – J. Proctor Knott entered office as 29th Governor of Kentucky.
* October 12 – J. Lawrence Smith died, aged 64.
* November 20 – Edward Wester Creal born.

## 1884

* January 15 – Joseph B. Crockett died, aged 75.
* January 18 – Green Adams died, aged 71.
* April 4 – Alfred Francis Russell died, aged 66.
* April 6 – Rudy Schwenck born.
* April 28 – Alexander Keith Marshall died, aged 76.
* May 6 – Thomas H. Hunt died, aged 69.
* May 16 – Buchanan won the 10th Kentucky Derby.
* June 4 – Fontaine Fox born.
* June 9 – Abraham Buford died, aged 64.
* June 17 – Shelley Hull born.
* June 18 – Sara Martin born.
* June 21 – Garrett Lee Withers born.
* June 25 – George Washington Triplett died, aged 75.
* July 28 – Hiram Church Ford born.
* August 13 – William Patterson Alexander died, aged 79.
* September 22 – Grover Land born.
* December 22 – Saint Elmo Brady born.
* December 31 – Stanley Forman Reed born.

## 1885

* February 7 – Pinkney H. Walker died, aged 69.
* February 11 – Carlisle Cutchin born.
* February 28 – Beriah Magoffin died, aged 69.
* March 4 – John Stuart Williams left office as US Senator from Kentucky.
* March 4 – Oscar Turner left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 1st District
* March 4 – James Franklin Clay left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 2nd District.
* March 4 – Joseph C. S. Blackburn left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 7th District.
* March 4 – Philip B. Thompson, Jr. left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 8th District.
* March 4 – William W. Culbertson left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – John D. White left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 10th District.
* March 4 – Joseph Blackburn entered office as US Senator from Kentucky.
* March 4 – William Johnson Stone entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 1st District.
* March 4 – Polk Laffoon entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 2nd District.
* March 4 – William Breckinridge entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 7th District.
* March 4 – James B. McCreary entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 8th District.
* March 4 – William H. Wadsworth entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – William P. Taulbee entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 10th District.
* March 7 – Stitch Thompson born.
* March 12 – Robert Porter Caldwell died, aged 63.
* March 31 – Jacob Wark Griffith died, aged 65.
* April 12 – Hortense Flexner born.
* April 18 – William Burke Belknap born.
* May 1 – Glover H. Cary born.
* May 14 – Joe Cotton won the 11th Kentucky Derby.
* May 18 – Cy Barger born.
* August 11 – Robert Mallory died, aged 69.
* October 2 – Earl McDonald born.

## 1886

* January 17 – William Howard Irwin died, aged ~67.
* January 26 – Andrew Rechmond Boone died, aged 54.
* March 22 – Isabella Greenway born.
* May 3 – Carlisle County created.
* May 14 – Ben Ali won the 12th Kentucky Derby.
* May 25 – Henry Skillman Breckinridge born.
* June 19 – Finley Hamilton born.
* July 18 – Simon Bolivar Buckner, Jr. born.
* July 27 – George Yantz born.
* August 10 – John W. Stevenson died, aged 74.
* October 6 – Harry W. Ware born.
* October 30 – Rudy Sommers born.
* November 16 – Arthur Krock born.
* December 9 – Edward Porter Humphrey died, aged 77.

## 1887

* January 23 – Mack Allison born.
* March 4 – John E. Halsell left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 3rd District.
* March 4 – Thomas A. Robertson left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 4th District.
* March 4 – Albert S. Willis left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 5th District.
* March 4 – William H. Wadsworth left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – Frank L. Wolford left office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 11th District.
* March 4 – W. Godfrey Hunter entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 3rd District.
* March 4 – Alexander B. Montgomery entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 4th District.
* March 4 – Asher G. Caruth entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 5th District.
* March 4 – George M. Thomas entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – Hugh F. Finley entered office as US House of Representatives from Kentucky, 11th District.
* March 7 – Virginia Pearson born.
* March 17 – Herman Lee Donovan born.
* April 14 – Emmet O'Neal born.
* May 11 – Montrose won the 13th Kentucky Derby.
* May 16 – Elijah Phister died, aged 64.
* May 20 – Jacob Golladay died, aged 68.
* June 20 – Thomas Laurens Jones died, aged 68.
* June 25 – James Speed died, aged 75.
* July 9 – Walter C. Whitaker died, aged 63.
* July 20 – Floyd Collins born.
* July 20 – Asa Porter died, aged 68.
* July 26 – Elisha David Standiford died, aged 55.
* August 30 – J. Proctor Knott left office as Governor of Kentucky.
* August 30 – Simon Bolivar Buckner entered office as 30th Governor of Kentucky.
* September 9 – Albert G. Talbott died, aged 79.
* September 14 – Luke P. Blackburn died, aged 71.
* September 21 – William Preston died, aged 70.
* September 25 – Spencer Bell born.

## 1888

* January 21 – Cincinnatus Shryock died, aged 71.
* February 11 – William Kelly died, aged 76.
* February 14 – Katherine G. Langley born.
* February 15 – Jack Zuta born.
* March 8 – Orestes H. Caldwell born.
* March 14 – James W. Tate loaded $100,000 of gold and silver in tobacco sacks and disappeared.
* April 8 – Solomon Lee Van Meter, Jr. born.
* May 1 – William Wirt Adams died, aged 69.
* May 14 – Macbeth II won the 14th Kentucky Derby.
* June 13 – Florence McDowell Shelby Cantrill born.
* September 13 – Lynn Starling born.
* October 29 – John P. Campbell, Jr. died, aged 67.
* October 29 – Thomas B. Wright died, aged 82.
* November 21 – Len Sowders died, aged 27.
* December 9 – Fin Wilson born.
* December 23 – Landaff Andrews died, aged 84.

## 1889

* February 24 – W. B. Belknap died, aged 77.
* February 28 – Victor Sutherland born.
* March 4 – Polk Laffoon left office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 2nd District.
* March 4 – W. Godfrey Hunter left office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 3rd District.
* March 4 – George M. Thomas left office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – William P. Taulbee left office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 10th District.
* March 4 – William Thomas Ellis entered office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 2nd District.
* March 4 – Isaac Goodnight entered office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 3rd District.
* March 4 – Thomas H. Paynter entered office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 9th District.
* March 4 – John H. Wilson entered office as US House of representatives from Kentucky, 10th District.
* March 19 – Perry Wilkes died, aged 68.
* April 27 – John Lewis Dodge, Jr. born.
* May 9 – Spokane won the 15th Kentucky Derby.
* June 6 – William Alexander born.
* July 12 – Dick Gilbert born.
* August 24 – Tom London born.
* October 2 – Landon Addison Thomas died, aged 89.
* November 22 – James Morrison Hawes died, aged 75.
* November 25 – Dick Crutcher born.
* December 1 – Lucy Wilmot Smith died, aged 27.