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Kentucky's most famous soft drink got its name from a contest. Ale-8-One, the ginger and citrus soda from Winchester, was invented by G.L. Wainscott in 1926. After perfecting the formula he'd discovered on a trip to northern Europe, he needed a catchy name. He held a contest at the Clark County Fair, and a young girl submitted the winning entry: "A Late One," which was 1920s slang for "the latest thing." The name stuck, and the iconic green bottle has been a Kentucky staple ever since. Wainscott was no stranger to the soda business. He started his company in 1902 after becoming fascinated with a carbonation machine. His first big hit was a cola called Roxa-Kola, named after his wife, Roxanne. That success drew a lawsuit from the country's biggest cola company. In a true David vs. Goliath story, Wainscott fought back and won, not only the lawsuit but the appeal as well. That victory gave him the freedom to continue experimenting, which led directly to his signature ginger-based creation. The secret recipe for Ale-8-One is one of Kentucky's most closely guarded treasures. For over a century, it has been passed down through four generations of Wainscott's family. Today, his great-great-nephew, Fielding Rogers, is the one who carries on the tradition. He is the only person who knows the secret formula, and he mixes every single batch by hand in a special, hidden room, following his great-great-uncle's handwritten notes. That personal touch is what makes Ale-8-One so unique. Every bottle of Ale-8 that goes out into the world starts in that secret room, mixed in small batches by a member of the founding family. It's a tradition that has kept the company independent and the flavor consistent for nearly 100 years. From a county fair contest to a statewide icon, Ale-8-One remains a true Kentucky original, bottled with a story in every sip.

Colonel Harland Sanders is linked forever to Shelbyville, Kentucky. After the interstate plan crushed traffic to his Corbin cafe in the mid 1950s, he shifted his base. By 1956 he had moved his company headquarters to Shelbyville to better reach franchisees with spices, pressure cookers, and cartons. In 1959 he and his wife Claudia settled into Blackwood Hall on U S 60, using it as home and office while he worked the road to promote Kentucky Fried Chicken. From Shelbyville he became the face of the brand. News profiles and biographies describe an older Sanders who crisscrossed the country to open stores, film ads, and lecture franchise cooks. That public push grew the chain far beyond Kentucky. The town also became part of the story of Claudia herself. In 1968 the couple opened a separate restaurant there called The Colonel's Lady, later known as the Claudia Sanders Dinner House. It served family meals and southern sides. It was not a KFC, but it kept the Sanders name active in Shelby County. Local talk is mixed about the man. Many remember a generous figure who posed for photos and cut ribbons. Others recall a sharp tongue and a quick temper. That part is not rumor. In 1975 he blasted the company's gravy in a Louisville paper as wallpaper paste and criticized a newer chicken coating. He had already sold the corporation in 1964, but he never stopped speaking his mind about quality. Shelbyville also gets pulled into the long running fascination with the secret recipe. In 2016 a Chicago newspaper printed a handwritten list of 11 herbs and spices from a family scrapbook shown by a nephew. KFC did not confirm that it was the real thing. The dinner house and Blackwood Hall keep the memory alive either way. When Sanders died in 1980, he was buried in Louisville at Cave Hill Cemetery, a short drive from the Shelby County places where he built his final chapter.

Launched in 1990, the Hubble Space Telescope orbits the Earth about 340 miles up, circling the globe every 95 minutes at 17,000 miles per hour. Because it's outside our atmosphere, it gives us super clear images of deep space things like distant galaxies, black holes, and stars being born. It's been sending back mind-blowing photos for over 30 years and completely changed how we understand the universe. The telescope is named after Edwin Hubble, one of the most important astronomers in history. In the 1920s, he proved that those fuzzy blobs in the night sky were actually other galaxies, way beyond the Milky Way. Then he discovered that the universe is expanding, which laid the groundwork for the our understanding of the space. Basically, he took our view of the universe and cracked it wide open. But here's the part most people don't know, before all that, Edwin Hubble lived right here in Shelbyville, Kentucky. From 1909 to 1911, his family lived on Bland Avenue. This was before he became a big name in science, but it's kind of wild to think that one of the greatest minds in space science once walked the same streets we do today. So next time you're looking up at the stars, just remember, the guy the Hubble Telescope was named after might've done the same thing right here in Shelbyville, long before he changed the way we see the universe.