Campbell County Hill Farm, a painting by Harlan Hubbard
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| Very unusual dual tollgate on Licking Pike | The Hawthorne Post Office. |
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| These are the same building. It was at the intersection of Tollgate Road and Licking Pike, looking south. Now you know why it's called Turnpike Road. A grocery / tavern occupied the building after roads were “freed.” It's rumored to be the site of the first car crash in Campbell County. | ||
The Steamer Magnolia's boiler exploded
on March 18, 1868 near Brent, Kentucky.
Nearly 70 people lost their lives.
This
site has the story.
Days before the Magnolia was destroyed, a Maysville paper ran this.
Another item on the Magnolia Disaster.
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The Exploding of the Moselle was one of the worst ever steamboat disasters.
on April 25, 1832. You can read the full story, here.
The wrecked hull of the Moselle was found when they excavated the piers for the L&N RR Bridge, built in 1872.
Probably in 1929, Campbell County Judge William C. Buten, who
was running for re-election, distributed a set of 16 postcards in a folder, below,
designed to show, pictorially, the accomplishments of his prior
term. While the original is one piece, you can click on individual images to get
larger images.
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| These are paintings by Brent's Thomas Jefferson Willison who was born in Brent, to a prosperous middle-class family. Willison spent his early years working as a salesman for his father's lumber company, where the young Harlan Hubbard had a studio. Willison studied art in nearby Cincinnati during the Duveneck years. He is noted for his intimate landscapes of the countryside in the Miami and Ohio river valleys. Locations of the scenes depicted in these paintings are not known to us. |
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| These are Campbell County paintings by Harlan Hubbard. On the left is At Brent, and in the center is Campbell Hills. Both are oils from 1928. That's his painting of Brent, Ky, from 1937 on the right. While Hubbard lived the early part of his life in Campbell County, he spent most of his life in Trimble. NKYViews has more on Hubbard on our Trimble County Links and Miscellany page, here. | ||
Gubser's Mill Cafe
from a Facebook post by Jeffrey Weimer
Gubser's Mill is named after a Swiss native, Jacob Gubser, who operated the mill in the mid 1800's. It once claimed a mill, a wagon shop, a blacksmith, a shoe shop, a general store, a post office, and a lawyer. The first log church in Campbell County was erected in 1853 at the present site of Sts. Peter and Paul. |
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| Hoop-De-Do at Phoenix Grove |
Wing Dike, October 31, 1909 |
1888 Map Showing Dike location & shape. |
Phoenix Barbecue |
| Phoenix Grove. |
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Skeet shooting in Claryville
Pleasant Ridge Church
From a Facebook posts by Kim Fisher
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| Combs-Hehl Bridge From a Facebook posts by George Smed Jr. |
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The Combs-Hehl Bridge is named for former Governor Bert Combs (Wikipedia) and former
Campbell County Judge Lambert Hehl (Wikipedia).
Brent Depot
A Harlan Hubbard wood print of Brent
| The Hubbard's lived in Brent from October of 1944 until December 22, 1946, at which time they set off down the river in that boat you see being built on the shore. More on Hubbard at our Trimble County Miscellany page. |
Campbell County Patrolman Richard Gegan
From a Facebook post by Candace Wuest, of her grandfather
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| On the ferry at Brent | An elephant, bathing in the Ohio in 1909, at Brent, Kentucky |
| History of the Brent Ferry. | |
| The University of Illinois has an audio recording of Johnny Lawhead [sic], ferry operator, and Emory Edgington, captain, each discussing their riverboat experiences. Lawhead discusses his ferry operation between Coney Island (near Cincinnati) and Brent, Kentucky. Edgington recalls experiences with steamboats, towboats, coal hauling, and weather on Ohio rivers. Interviews by John Knoepfle, 1957. | |
| “A longtime source of cheap johnboats was Nelson's Planing Mill in Brent, Kentucky (near Cincinnati). From the 1940's through the 1960's, they sold unpainted johnboats out of their plant for one dollar per linear foot.”from Jens Lund's Flatheads & Spooneys: Fishing for a Living in the Ohio River Valley, 1995. |
Crestview, a.k.a., Vet Village
From a Facebook post by Joyce Bricking Leopold
| History of Crestview is here. Crestview was founded as “Vet City,” because the Vet Village Home Builders Association developed it to build houses for returning WWII vets. The area was incorporated in 1947, mostly to keep from being annexed by Cold Spring. |
| “Lick Branch. This is a little place, two and one half miles west of the Ohio River, three east of Alexandria. We have two blacksmith shops, one owned by John Miller, the plow maker, the other by George McKibben, also, a cozy little store fitted up by George and Jim Taylor. It is something we need in our neighborhood. They propose to accommodate the people with all kinds of groceries and dry goods. People ought to accommodate them by buying from them and as they will sell cheap. We need a post office at this place.” from the Newport Local, May 23, 1878 |
Frank Miller sold lumber on Isabella in Newport, from a
sawmill on Miller Road in Claryville.
from a Facebook post by Janet Hofstetter Miller
“Pond Creek Road, Ky off the Licking Pike Oct. 24, 1931”
Cryer Road
From a Facebook post by Evan McMillian
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| Thanks to Dave Remley for these. He says they're taken somewhere in Campbell County, c. WWI. | |||
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| The Ranch House, 1954 US 27, 17 Miles South of Cincinnati Ultra Modern - Air Conditioned Electric - Gas heat - Television - Tasty Food Across from what is now the entrance to the A. J. Jolly Golf Course. |
Valley View Motel Free Fishing for Guests 20 Miles south of Cincinnati on US 27. |
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The 7 Mile House, on Licking Pike, run by the Kennewec family
Thanks to Ken Chambers for these.
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Around 1920, the Kentucky Highway Department published some pictures of some
of their modern roads. They were, however, a little vague on exact location.
That's “State Aid 19a” on the right; 19C on the left.
(“Buck” Siebert tells us “The photo on the right identified as 19C is, I believe
a view
north on Licking Pike at the crest of the hill between Aspen Grove and
Losey Road.” Thanks, Buck.
The Aspen Grove Male and Female Seminary, here.
| A stock company was formed in 1860 to build the Alexandria and Tibbates Cross Roads Turnpike. We don't know if the venture came to fruition or not. Not clear on where Tibbates Cross Roads is, either. | ||
| Rev. Paul Ryan's History of St. John's from 1954 is here. | Wm. R. (Rus) Stevens writes about the Highways to Beech Grove, here. (pdf) | W. T. Clary detects earthquake in Claryville, here. |
| Something called the Beech Grove Sunday School Union was established in 1880. | The Grandview Cemetery, near Mentor, was established in 1880. | Murder at Four Mile in 1867. |
| Beallmont was an early estate upriver from Newport, and further described here. The entire journal is about Newport's William K. Beall, and his service in the War of 1812. | ||
| Woodlawn became incorporated as a city on October 17, 1922 because neither Dayton nor Bellevue would agree to annex the area. It used to be the Odd Fellows Grove, and took its name from the Woodlawn Development Company, which subdivided the grove into lots. | ||
| Elsewhere on our site we have a letter describing the community of Berlin ( these days on Rt. 10 in Bracken County), that refers its location as “on the Washington and Newport Trace road,” leading us to speculate that the origin of the name of the road we know as Washington Trace is so named because it ran to Washington, Kentucky, in Mason County, from Newport. | ||
| Visit the Camp Springs site for lots of interesting content, here. | An 1892 controversy arose as to whether Ross or Melbourne might be the better place to live. A letter from Smith's Station, a location unknown to us, suggests that neither one can claim the title. | |
| Campbell County's first settlement was at Leitch's Station, on the Licking. Helen Bradley Lindsey's account of it is here.(pdf) | You can also read about Leitch's Station in a Steve Preston item at the Kentucky Tribune site. | Getting to Leitch's Station had its perils. |
| “A ferry boat plying the Ohio river between New Richmond, O., and California, Ky., while crowded with passengers was stove in by the ice today and in danger of sinking. The passengers were panic stricken and begged the captain to go to shore. The boat, however, was caught in the ice and drifted two miles before it could be brought to the shore. It was found that the huge ice floe that crushed the boat’s sides had acted as a raft to float the vessel.” Indianapolis Journal, February 3, 1904 | ||
| California was incorporated as a city on February 7, 1874. | The Dry Creek Bridge is out. We have no idea exactly where it was. | Mrs. John D. Ellis' Sketch of the Old Christian Church at California is here. (pdf) |
| Remember when the A. J. Jolly High School students went on strike? Here. | Read about “excitement and lawlessness in California” in 1859 here. | The news from California, Ky. in 1878 is here. |
| Tug Fork moon shiners | The first graduating class of California High School. | John's Hill man discovers a fortune, here. |
| Uprising at Comer's Camp, a Flagg Spring prison camp, in 1887, here. | A fight, on the steeple of the Christian Church in California. | A 25 day camp meeting at Flagg Spring Baptist. |
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Steamboat Lancaster disaster, 1855 near
Steptoe, here.
(Steptoe is near the present
day Mentor)
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Flagg Spring Baptist Church |
The Ohio River from Ball Heights, California |
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The Methodist Episcopal Church, in California, in the 1937 Flood |
To Some Ladies of California, Ky. by T. M. Barton, 1885 |
G. G. Grimm and Sons in Brent
from a Facebook post by Charles DeMoss
Tollgate, near what is now the intersection of Stonehouse, Schultz & Grandview.
The toll was for going between Grandview and Alexandria
from a Facebook post by Michael Alfred Heringer
The Rifle Range for Fort Thomas
Rifle Range Road is so named because it's where the solders stationed
at Fort Thomas were marched for target practice.
from a Facebook post by Erik Geiman
A 1909 plat of the rifle range - it's a BIG image.
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| Aerial of Dam #36 at Brent, 1933. Coney Island in the foreground from a Facebook post by Kurt Hultquist |
Lock and Dam #36 |
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| Locking thru #35. Steamer is the Greenwood. More pics of her at this site. |
Near Lock and Dam #35, in the 1948 Flood from a Facebook post by Maggie Gosney |
Lock and Dam #35 was about a mile below New Richmond, Ohio, and was one of 9 earlier
locks and dams replaced by Markland and Meldahl. Details here.
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| Lock and Dam #35 Thanks to Travis Brown and Karl Lietzenmayer for these |
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| In the 1937 Flood from a Facebook post by Maggie Gosney |
Showing Flood Levels | Aerial |
Dam #35, near Oneonta
Oneonta is an Indian word, but the town of Oneonta is named after Oneonta, New York , [Wikipedia] birthplace of Henry E. Huntington [Wikipedia], nephew and successor to railroad magnate Colis P. Huntington [Wikipedia]. Colis and his brother owned a successful business in Oneonta, NY, and Henry E. was born there. |
New Richmond Wharf Boat
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| The C&O Railroad ran a ferry between New Richmond and Kentucky because of the amount of traffic - people and freight - the railroad could derive from the Ohio side of the river prior to good roads being available. |
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The New Richmond had C&O Railroad access by this ferry to the
Kentucky side. On the
Kentucky shore, it would be about where New Richmond/Carthage Road hits Rt. 8.
Capt. John B. Prudent ran the ferry.
| “Cincinnati, Feb. 2--A ferryboat plying between New Richmond, O., and California, Ky., while crowded with passengers was stove in by the ice today and a panic ensued. Before the boat cold be run ashore it had drifted two miles down the river. The huge ice floe that crushed the boat's sides acted as a raft to float the vessel.” Los Angeles Herald, February 3, 1904 |
An earlier ferry at this location was authorized as early as 1830.
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| Carthage Road - New Richmond Ferry |
New Richmond Ferry | New Richmond from Campbell County |
The Elijah Herndon house, on Washington Trace, is on the National Register of Historic Places.
The application (pdf) contains
lots of images, history, and architectural details.
From 1982.
Paul Deisel, Carthage, Kentucky
| Ralph Tarvin writes: “The person in the photo is Russell Paul Diesel the thirteenth child of John A. Diesel and Rachel Augusta Moore was born at Carthage, Kentucky on February 18, 1901 and died on June 22, 1990. He married Helen R. Johnson. He in fact was my Great Uncle. The structure is a river work boat, a dredge or something of that nature. Hope this is of some help”Thanks, Ralph. |
A. J. Jolly
list of names here.
Grant's Lick Mail Carrier
from the February, 2020 Kentucky Explorer
Grant's Lick's Post Office's Last Day was February 25, 1950
The town of Salisberry was established in 1806.
June 18, 1976 was the last day of operation for post office at Mentor. 41060 would be no more.
Mentor, 1953. Key to the images.
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| Aerial View of Mentor, circa 1910
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Mentor Baptist Church
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The birthplace of Civil War General and US President Ulysses S. Grant is across the Ohio River from Mentor, in Point Pleasant, Ohio |
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| The Mentor area was established in the early 1800's, and was then
known as Belmont. Why it changed to Mentor - about the time the railroad came thru - is not known. |
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The Chicago Packer, October 25, 1913
| Remember the Kaiser aluminum plant was built in Mentor? |
| “Mentor, Ky., with a population of 100, has 40 musicians, an average of two to every home.” The Routt County (Colorado) Sentinel, June 25, 1926 |
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| Twelve Mile First Baptist Church, in flood |
St. Peter & Paul |
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| Map of California, 1883 list of businesses in California in 1883, here. |
Odd Fellow Grove, 1880's somewhere in Campbell County |
| “Settled in the early 1800's as a river town, court records mention the town of
California as early as 1849, but state records indicate it was incorporated in [February 7] 1874.” Jim Reis, in the Kentucky Post, May 9, 1993 |
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| “Mrs. Julia Arthur, who was appointed principal of the California (Ky) school, has resigned.” from The Freeman, A National Colored Newspaper, August 23, 1890 |
Pomeroy Packet Lines by-pass the California wharf boat, story here. | “Mrs. Eliza Darough dies at her house in California, Ky., last week, aged 94. She was a nurse in the family of the Grants, and took care of General Grant for two years after his birth.” from Maysville's Daily Public Ledger, December 6, 1894 |
The showboat Princess, at an unknown location
| “The Princess was immensely popular all along the rivers. Every seat of her three hundred was usually sold long before curtain time. At such a landing as California, Kentucky, one of her favorite stops, the citizens were in the habit of declaring a holiday as soon as she tied up, which culminated in the show that night. Some seat suited everybody's purse, for “shelf” tickets (balcony) sold for thirty-five cents, the first ten rows on the main floor for seventy-five, and the seats in the rear, fifty cents. Unlike most of the showboats of the time, the Princess stopped twice each season at each of her ports of call.” from Philip Graham's 1951 Showboats: The History of an American Institution |
More pictures of the showboat Princess are at this site.
| “Henry E. Pritchard, a mate
on the steamer Telegraph, who was tried at the January term
of the Campbell Criminal Court on the charge of killing a colored
roustabout with an axe on the steamer when opposite California, Ky.,
over two years ago, and was found not guilty on the ground of
insanity, and several weeks ago sent to the Insane Asylum at
Anchorage, has been discharged from the institution as cured.” from Maysville's Daily Public Ledger, April 15, 1892 |
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Campbell County Homemakers, 1936 and 1932
| “The Bintz Site” is a Fort Ancient era archaeological site that was excavated as part of the building of the Mary Ingles highway, near where the Ohio River and Twelve Mile Creek. You can read about it here. (pdf) |
| “The old trouble in regard to the Sunday picnickers from over the river is again forcing itself upon the peaceable people of Campbell County. Yesterday was a red letter day in this respect, the bums visiting Kissen and Clarke's Groves being very much in the ascendant, and there will be close investigation, with swift action on the part of their county judicature to prevent a repetition of the disorderly conduct. At Kissen's Grove, on the Licking Pike, there was a motley crowd of Cincinnati's unwashed in company with the nomadic racing fraternity now sojourning in the Queen City. At high noon the “Midway Dance” with embellishments was enacted to the evident relish of the crowd present. At Clarke's Grove the old-time go-as-you-please programme was had ad lib., and as a result there was a pitched battle on the Central Bridge between the street car men and about a dozen of the toughs who had gotten well tanked up there.” Cincinnati Commercial Gazette, June 17, 1895 |
Hey! No cows is this man's meadows:
| “The following is a copy of a written notice posted upon a farm a short distance from Newport, on the Alexandria Pike: 'Nottis-know kow is alloud in these meders any men or women letten that kows run the rode wot gits inter my medders aforesead shall have his tail cut off by me' Obadiiah Rogers.” Courier-Journal, May 27, 1873 |
