History of Covington, Kentucky

The history of Covington, Kentucky began in 1815, with the city's founding.

Founding

In 1814, John Gano, Richard Gano, and Thomas Carneal purchased on the west side of the Licking River at its confluence with the Ohio River, referred to as "the Point," from Thomas Kennedy for $50,000. The men named their new riverfront enterprise the "Covington Company," in honor of their friend, Gen. Leonard Covington, an American officer who once trained troops in the area and was killed in the War of 1812 at Crysler's Farm.

The investors prepared a plat for the new city that was approximately five blocks wide by five blocks deep. The platted streets lined up with the streets of Cincinnati across the Ohio River, symbolically tying the future of the fledgling city to its larger neighbor to the north. The first five streets, running north to south, were named for Kentucky's first five governors: Shelby, Garrard, Greenup, Scott, and Madison.

In February 1815, the Kentucky General Assembly incorporated the land as the town of Covington. At the time of its incorporation, Covington and all of today's Kenton County was a part of Campbell County. Shortly after its incorporation, the investors began selling lots in the new city for $385 a lot. However, for the next 15 years, lot sales were slow and disappointing. By 1830, the young city had a population of only 715 and lot prices were selling for half their value in 1815.

Housing and population growth

After 1830, in large part because of the influx of German immigrants, Covington's population began to grow significantly, creating a number of distinct and diverse neighborhoods within the city. This growth was recognized by the Kentucky legislature, which, in February 1834, incorporated the town as a city. By 1840, the population in the city increased to 2,026, which included eleven free blacks and 89 slaves.

Mutter Gottes/Old Town and Mainstrasse

This population resided not only within the established boundaries of the city but outside, causing the city to undertake its first annexation, which extended the city to Main Street to the west and 12th Street to the south. This annexation brought the neighborhoods now known as Mutter Gottes/Old Town and Mainstrasse.

Fueled in part by the European revolutions of the mid-19th century, many Europeans, particularly Germans, immigrated to Covington. At this time, the primary commercial district and gathering place was on Main Street near Sixth Street, the area now known as "Mainstrasse." Sixth Street was laid out with a wide width that allowed the city, in 1861, to establish a public market in the center of the street with traffic lanes on either side. The nearby Mutter Gottes Kirche (Mother of God Church), built in 1871, was the center of another German-speaking neighborhood.

Old Seminary Square and Westside

At the same time the western area of the city was growing, development began to stretch to the south. In the late 1830s, the Western Baptist Education Society purchased , which would define the city's southern boundary in 1841. On this tract, the organization established a seminary and set aside for a cemetery, which in 1843 would become known as Linden Grove Cemetery, the final resting place for several Civil War soldiers. To raise money to build its campus, the Baptists entered into the real estate market, subdividing the land and selling lots around its campus and cemetery. Many graves were left untouched as the building of structures progressed into an area now known as Old Seminary Square, Mainstrasse Village and the Westside. In 1843, the city annexed most of the Society's subdivisions, which expanded the city's boundaries to 15th Street.

Within two years of opening the Western Baptist Theological Institute on Russell Street in 1845, the trustees of the organization became embroiled over the slavery issue. This ultimately ended with the dissolution of the institute in 1853 and the division of the property between the opposing factions. At the same time, the tracks for the Covington and Lexington Railroad were laid in the area, bisecting the college campus. Fifteen years later, the original St. Elizabeth Hospital moved into one of the old college buildings, where it operated from 1868 to 1911.

Austinburg and Lewisburg

At the same time that the Society was developing its property, Seneca Austin and his wife purchased and started developing along the Licking River from approximately 16th Street to 20th Street, creating the neighborhood we now call Austinburg. In 1851, the city annexed all of the Austins' land to Wallace Avenue as well as the western neighborhood now known as Lewisburg. Both communities were settled by largely German contingents, who established churches and parishes as focal points in their communities: St. Benedict's Catholic Church and parish in Austinburg, and St. John's the Evangelist Catholic Church and parish in Lewisburg.

Wallace Woods and Levassor Park Immediately south of Austinburg were three large estates owned Robert Wallace, Daniel Holmes, and Eugene Levassor, all of whom were successful merchants.

In 1867, on that he had acquired next to the Wallace and Levassor estates, Holmes constructed a 32-room redbrick English-Gothic "castle," which was called Holmesdale. After Holmes died and his wife and children had returned to their native New Orleans, the family sold the mansion and to the Covington Board of Education in 1915. The mansion served as the Covington High School until 1936, when the structure was razed and a new high school was constructed. This building and five others now occupy the former estate grounds as part of the Holmes High School campus.

In the 1890s, the Wallace and Levassor estates on either side of the Holmes estate were developed, creating upscale neighborhoods at the end of the streetcar line. Many stately homes were constructed on large lots in these neighborhoods.

Peaselburg Just west of Wallace Woods and the railroad tracks, a German, working-class neighborhood developed in the latter years of the 19th century. This community was known by its inhabitants as "Peaselburg." In 1880, the community incorporated as an independent municipality and changed its name to Central Covington. In 1894, the Wallace Woods heirs agreed to be annexed by far less wealthy Central Covington because its tax rates were substantially lower than those assessed by the City of Covington.

The next year, Covington attempted to annex Central Covington, but support for the effort did not materialize. However, a decade later, many Central Covington businesses and homes were flooded by the eruption of a major sewer line. Covington offered to help the smaller municipality but only if the residents agreed to annexation, which occurred in 1907. Thus, Central Covington (and indirectly Wallace Woods) became a part of Covington. Six years later, St. Augustine Catholic Church was constructed on 19th Street, serving as this neighborhood's focal point and community gathering place.

Latonia and Rosedale

In 1882, a group of investors formed the Latonia Agricultural and Stock Association to create a horseracing track south of Covington. Purchasing more than north of Banklick Creek in an area then known as Milldale, and using the name of the nearby resort of Latonia Springs, the investors renamed this area Latonia. The track opened in June 1883, but it wasn't until 1890 that Kenton County granted the Covington electric streetcar company the right to lay tracks from the Covington city boundary to this area of the county.

In 1896, a portion of this area was incorporated as the city of Latonia, with a starting population of about 1,500. Adjacent to Latonia to the south was a community known as Rosedale, which was actually a part of Latonia. In 1909, Covington annexed Latonia and Rosedale, in part to relieve Latonia of financial difficulties it was encountering.

West Covington The independent city of West Covington, formerly known as Economy and now known as Botany Hills, is located along the Ohio River on the hills west of downtown Covington. This city was platted in 1846 and St. Ann's Church was constructed in the area in 1862 and served this primarily German-Catholic community. After an unsuccessful attempt to annex this city in 1873, Covington annexed it in 1916, in part because of water problems in the area and a lack of a high school.

Smaller annexations in the mid 20th century After the annexation of West Covington in 1916, the boundaries of Covington remained the same for the next 35 years while other municipalities were established in areas surrounding Covington, such as Park Hills, Fort Wright, and Lakeside Park, to name a few. In the 1950s and 1960s, the city annexed small tracts of land – in Lewisburg in 1951, in Latonia in 1956, and that was formerly occupied by a Benedictine Monastery (now the Monte Casino neighborhood) in 1963 – but these annexations were of a small scale compared to tracts annexed during the first 100 years of the city's existence.

1960s annexations (Kenton Hills and South Covington) During the 1960s, the city annexed a considerable amount of property that would establish the current boundaries of the city. Starting in 1965, the city annexed near Kyles Lane. In 1965, the city added near Devou Park, which was then known and is still known as Kenton Hills. Finally, in 1965, the city undertook its biggest annexation effort ever when it added of unincorporated land in Kenton County south of Latonia, creating the community now known as South Covington.

Population growth

The population of Covington grew from 743 in 1830 to 24,505 in 1870 to 42,938 in 1900. From this number, the population grew to its highest recorded count – 65,252 – in 1930. Perhaps due to problems associated with the Great Depression in the 1930s, U.S. Census Bureau recorded the city's first drop in population in its history in 1940, when the population was documented at 62,018. For the next two decades, the population would remain in the low- to middle- 60,000s. Due in large part to urban flight that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, the city's population dropped from 60,376 in 1960 to the lowest recorded census count in recent history in 2010, 40,640. In the most recent U.S. Census estimate, conducted in 2014, the city's population increased slightly to 40,944.

Economic growth

First commercial development

In its infancy, most of the commerce in Covington was connected with the rivers that formed the northern and eastern boundaries of the city. Because the Kentucky side of the Ohio River was relatively shallow compared to the Ohio side of the river, Covington was never able to develop its riverfront as a viable public landing for boats and steamships, which instead moored on the Cincinnati side of the river, where steamship building facilities were located.

The city's first manufacturing concern, a cotton factory, was built near the river in 1828, and three years later, another business, a rolling mill and nail factory, was established along Scott Street near the riverfront.

First commercial center

The first commercial center of the city was established around the "public square" platted between Third and Fourth Streets and Scott Boulevard and Greenup Street. At this location, a market house was constructed in 1831 and a public well was dug approximately one block from the square. During the 1830s, along with the public market, retail stores, businesses offices, and other commercial establishments flourished in this area.

In the mid-19th century, two things promoted the growth of Covington. First, in 1840, the Kentucky General Assembly severed Kenton County from Campbell County. Despite the legislative directive that county seat be at the center of the county, Covington served as the de facto county seat until the City of Independence was incorporated in 1842.