Lawrence Winchester Wetherby / Gov. Lawrence W. Wetherby

Lawrence Winchester Wetherby, a native of Middletown, graduated from the University of Louisville Law School in 1929 and for 20 years practiced law and served the judiciary. He was elected lieutenant governor in 1947 and governor in 1951. He pushed the state legislature to improve education, mental hospitals, child welfare laws, and conservation of natural resources. Wetherby publicly supported the 1954 Supreme Court’s Brown vs. Board of Education desegregation order. He began the Kentucky Turnpike, the state’s first toll road, and urged governors and the U.S. President to make it part of the Great Lakes-to-Gulf highway, a precursor to the interstate system. He increased the number of local airports and directed construction of new state fairgrounds in Louisville.

Middletown, Kentucky · United States