Governor Wallace G. Wilkinson

WALLACE G. WILKINSON was born in Casey County (Liberty), Kentucky. He began a business career while a student at the University of Kentucky, founding the Kentucky Paperback Gallary, a retail bookstore in Lexington. He left the University to attend to the book business. The Kentucky Paperback Gallery evolved into Wallace’s College Book Company, which operated retail bookstores nationwide and was a wholesale textbook company. He also was involved in commercial and retail real estate development, exporting, farming, transportation, banking, coal interests, and construction. As governor, he focused on children’s education, anti-drug and drunk driving campaigns, and environmental intiatives. He was the chair of the Southern Governors Association, the Education Commission of the States’ Policy and Priorities Committee. He served on the Education Commission of the States, the Southern Growth Policies Board, and the Council of the State Governments and the Southern States Energy Board. During his term as governor, voters approved a state lottery and the General Assembly overhauled public schools.