Higginsport, Ohio

boudes ferry
. . .and a few from Higginsport.

Of course, Boudes Ferry, or, as it's sometimes written, Boudesferry, isn't in Northern Kentucky, it's in Ohio, across the river from Augusta.


View from Boude's Ferry, Opposite Augusta, Kentucky	Sunny Side, Boudesferry, Ohio

J. H. Boude

Sunny Side, Boudes Ferry
Postmarked Higginsport, 7/7/1913, to Stanley Lanham of
Higginsport, O., “We will hold the opening dance, Wednesday,
July 9th get together, join the crowd, and have a good time.” Thomas Bros.


The dear old Cottage Home in Boudesferry Thanks to Dave Long for this one!	Mt. Repose, Boudesferry, Ohio, 1908

Hiport

“The undersigned has opened a New Ferry across the Ohio river at Higginsport, and is now prepared to attend promptly to all calls from either side of the river. Having purchased the horse boat formerly used at Boude's Ferry, he is prepared to accommodate travelers and all others who may call upon him, with safety and dispatch. The road on the Kentucky side from Higginsport to Augusta is good, and a first rate bridge is opened over Bracken Creek. He will also attend to the Ferry across the mouth of White Oak Creek. Urius Martin, May 10, 1841” Georgetown, Ohio's Democratic Standard, May 11, 1841


	A Harlan Hubbard oil color of Higginsport

The Higginsport bridge over White Oak Creek, 1933
From a Facebook post by Brown County, Ohio History

Covered Bridge near
Augusta, 1906

Thomas Sumner Resort,
Opposite Augusta

Scene near Thomas'
Summer Resort,
opposite Augusta

Geise Lumber
Maysville Evening Bulletin, June 17, 1891


Higginsport Boot and Shoe	Glacial Rock,	Higginsport Christian Church, c. 1910

In 1906, the Georgetown News-Democrat published a list of all of the shareholders in The Citizens' Bank of Higginsport.

Higginsport on the National Register of Historic Places.(pdf)

Night riders from Augusta strike in Rural, Ohio: Here, here, and here.


Higginsport, c. 1910 Key to the numbered buildings here.	Higginsport, 1910 Second Street, looking West	Higginsport Wharf Boat


Higginsport Baseball, 1940's from a Facebook post by Brown County, Ohio History		“Kiddies riding the blind pony in Higginsport, 1919”


Higginsport Gas Station	Village Park, Higginsport	Looking North at the mouth of White Oak Creek, 1909 Flood from a Facebook post by Brown County, Ohio History


Moscow	Neville	Chilo	Higginsport
All from the 1937 Flood, several days before the actual crest.

The Higginsport Bridge

“The white oak saw and planing mills of Higginsport have been purchased by C. W. and S. G. Boyd. Forty hands will be worked. A ship-yard is also proposed. They are building a Bell telephone to their Levanna mills, and intend to extend it to Augusta.” Courier-Journal, December 18, 1880	Higginsport's John R. Young, when the flood waters of 1883 “were coming in his front door on Front Street, remarked that he 'was there first and proposed to fight the d__n river out if it took all spring.' But poor John had to turn up his toes and skip in his john boat to fields new and pastures green.” from the Bracken Bulletin, February 10, 1883
Higginsport Lots for Sale, 1836	The League of American Wheelmen (a bicyclists' organization) had a low opinion in 1892 of riding in Brown County.
“Capt. Robert M. Taylor, the well-known boat builder in Higginsport, O., is doing a big business, having just completed two deckboats 140 x 32 for the Singer Manufacturing Company, and now has a force of men at work on a large derrick-boat and deck barge for White River, Ark., to be operated by the Dayton (O.) Last Works.” Waterways Journal, September 9, 1899	“Capt. M. Duffy has a fine little packet in the new Wm. Duffy, running from Marietta to Waverly-four trips a day. She is 125 feet long, 22 feet wide, with 2 ½ foot guards. Her engines are 13 by 4 ½. She was built in Higginsport, O., by Capt. Robert Taylor, and has a fine electric light plant. She is in charge of Capt. Wm. Duffy, with Charles Hardy at the engines.” Waterways Journal, June 4, 1897.

Images from Facebook posts by Joshua Steele

Not far down-river from Boudes Ferry is a little burg called Utopia. There's not much there these days, but it has a pretty fascinating history. Utopia was founded in 1844 by the followers of Charles Fourier, after the failure of an earlier Fourierist phalanstère called the Clermont Phalanx. Fourier's writings inspired his readers to create their own utopian society—hence the name “Utopia.” Within three years, the community broke up. It was soon reorganized by Josiah Warren, left, above, who founded the town as a means of a small cooperative community that could still carry out functions like the outside world. Their n underground chamber is shown in the center (Wyatt McSpadden, photo), and a painting, from the Kentucky side, from 1844, done on the visit of Cincinnati Fourierists to the Clermont Phalanx. This Wikipedia page gives you more details on Utopia, including links to most of the terms and people we've noted above.

We also found a more scholarly treatment, “Utopia, Ohio, 1844-1847”(pdf)