Fort Thomas Street Scenes, Campbell County, Kentucky

fort thomas streets

City Building & Fire Department
In the May 17, 1999 Kentucky Post, Jim Reis notes this building was built around
1885, cost $8,000, and served as a school, as well as the city building. It sat on the same
site as the current city building in Ft. Thomas, and was razed in 1967. The front of the
building (street side) is on the left side of these pictures.


City Hall. Note the old fire engine in the b&w image, put out to pasture as a plaything for kids. Before it was city hall, it was the original high school. Not called Highlands, but Central High. From a Facebook post by Bev Achzehner Harber

In 1916, Fort Thomas got a new “fire auto”.

In 1917, they got a fire department.

Clicking on this one gets you a pdf of the sheet music.

The Garbage Collectors of Fort Thomas, before and after


Ft. Thomas, The Midway, 1908 Interesting trivia on card on left is here.		Fort Thomas Avenue, Looking North from in front of Dietrich's Club House	Fort Thomas & Grand Avenues

The original plan for Highland Park was more ambitious than what was created.
from the Kentucky Post, October 12, 1934


Klainecrest at Grand, Fort Thomas	The Minshall farm, looking south, from near Klainecrest and Grand; note the streetcar tracks.
from a Facebook post by Cathy Martin

There was some discussion about whether to name the town Fort Thomas or Highlands.

“Newport – John Meyer, a teamster in the employ of Peter Young, dairyman, was killed yesterday afternoon by the upsetting of a slop wagon which he was driving on Highland Avenue, about two miles from this city. His team ran away, and in trying to stop the horses he was thrown to the ground with the wagon on top of him.” From the Commonwealth, December 13, 1877

Cake Eaters.

Grand Avenue was named after the Grand Army of the Republic.

Looking northerly from the mess hall, toward S. Ft. Thomas Ave. Think of it as looking up Rossmore toward the Avenue.
And thanks to Brian Bolland for identifying the location for me.

The Masonic Building
Fort Thomas Lodge F. & A. M. No. 808

The lodge was organized at the Central School House, at Mt. Pleasant & Bluegrass
on March 30, 1908, and the first meeting at their new temple was on
December 27, 1909. It cost $5,747.04. The rejected an offer for it
from “the Presbyterians” in 1925 for $15,000.


Fort Thomas Business District	Fort Thomas Business District	Fort Thomas Business District, 1948	1934

The omnibus Highland Chief, c. 1880. Thomas McDonald operated it between Newport and the Highlands. That's the Heidelberg Inn in the background, in Southgate, where St. Terese now sits.

The Avenue, c. 1970
From a Facebook post by Don Prather

Hanging out in front of Schulker's, 1936

Never built Masonic Temple for Fort Thomas
Architect C. C. Weber's drawing


The Business District, from Fort Thomas Matters, a blog of all things Fort Thomas	On the Avenue

To most people, this is a picture of a cute little girl. To us, it's a picture of Maple Lane, a dirt road with a rock sidewalk, that you now know as Bonnie Lane. Why the name change? That's Bonita Frentzel in the picture, and we'll let her tell the tale.


Highland and Grand from Facebook posts by Bev Achzehner Harber

Street Scenes, Kentucky Highlands, Fort Thomas, KY


Fort Thomas VFD, 1929	Fort Thomas VFD,1941, personnel detailed here.	District of the Highlands VFD “The Chemical Wagon”

Looking from Grandview towards the YMCA
note the street car turning around, just this side of what most of you will recognize as the Blue Marble Bookstore, but which earlier generations will remember as the Streitman Sweet Shoppe, recipient of more than one Woodfill student's lunch money.


Be sure to visit the Fort Thomas Military and Community Museum. They're also on the web.


Alexandria Pike at Hawthorne June 28, 1929	St. Steven's Cemetery Chapel, c. 1910	June 28, 1929 Ft. Thomas Avenue and US 27

Trolley turns around. Across from the YMCA in Fort Thomas


Post Office construction From a Facebook post by Dave Newman			The New Post Office, 1941 The cornerstone was laid on April 27, 1940.


Street Scene, 1929	Street Scene in Fort Thomas	We know this scene today as the Memorial Parkway

St. Nicholas Place, named for Santa Claus and a hotel.
The Catholic Telegraph, June 29, 1910

This is the Joe Ross Bridge, across I-471, and its plaque.
Air Force Captain Joseph Shaw Ross's (January 26, 1943 - August 1, 1968 ) plane went down in Vietnam.
The body was not recovered. Read more at this site.
The image of Capt. Ross is from a Facebook post by Wayne Hetteberg

Jack “Bullett Jack” Thoney
Major League Baseball Player from Fort Thomas
You can find his career stats at this site.

Fort Thomas was created by the consolidation of three communities - Dale, to the south of the Fort, Guyville to the north, and the Fort itself. The community voted to name itself Fort Thomas in 1914.
1896 prize fight organized in Newport moves to Fort Thomas. Well, they tried to. Here.	A 1926 history of the Fort Thomas Women's Club is here.
The District of the Highlands was incorporated by An Act the Kentucky Legislature in 1867. Evidently, the boundaries defined caused some discussion, as evidenced by this Act one year later, by this Act two years later, and later, a revised Act.
1895 fire on the Midway, here.	Raid at a Midway “rag-time joint.”
There's a nice history of Fort Thomas at the city's own website.	In 1950, the Courier-Journal ran a feature story on Fort Thomas. You can read it here.
Cock fight in Fort Thomas, 1892, here.	You can tour Fort Thomas at this website.
Did you know there was a Fort Thomas in Arizona? (Wikipedia)	Dispute over building the Highlands / Fort Thomas Post Office, 1894, here.
A description of Fort Thomas in 1914, when they're trying to become a city. Here.	Morehead has this (pdf) history of Fort Thomas from the WPA.
“A few days ago a large oiled-paper balloon gracefully swept down upon the meadows at Mrs. Cumming's, at Highlands, four miles from Newport, Ky. An examination revealed the legend 'Carrie Lente, East New York, Long Island,' in a lady's chirography.” from the New York Times, July 22, 1883
“Fort Thomas- City Council passed and ordinance regulating the grade of milk to be sold in the city. The measure provides that a milk inspector employed by the Campbell County Milk Committee be empowered to inspect dairies and distribution centers furnishing milk to the city, and upon his approval, a permit will be granted to the respective dairyman. Only pasteurized, certified, and Grade A milk will be permitted to be sold under the requirements of the ordinance.” From The Kentucky City, May, 1935
Anybody ever heard of Weierick Avenue in Fort Thomas? Why we think there was one.	A 1970 study gave the chronological history of Fort Thomas, here. (pdf)
“An enormous mudcat, measuring five feet in length and weighing 100 pounds, was fished out of the reservoir at Newport, Ky., a few days since. This is something out of the ordinary in the way of a fish story.” from the Engineering News Record, 1880
Remember when they drove Elmore's, Fords, and Herreshoff's in Fort Thomas? Fort Thomas Auto Registrations, 1910 and 1911, are here.	Covert Run controversy, 1924.
Fort Thomas “dis-annexes” part of Alexandria Pike because they didn't want to pay for the road.	Covert Run toll road authorized in 1870.
C. B. Truesdale compiled a legal and incorporation history of Fort Thomas. You can read it here (pdf). His cover letter, almost as long, is here (pdf) .	The City of Fort Thomas' 1960 Annual Report. Don't miss the comparisons on page 7. Here. (pdf)


The city's 1961 Annual Report	Who's who in government	Police & public safety

The 1973 Annual Report is here. (pdf)


Fort Thomas' Dollie Dimples. Details.

Centennial Week parade of old cars, June, 1967

Mt. Vernon Road
Cincinnati Commercial Tribune, April 1, 1859. Mt. Vernon is an earlier name for a Fort Thomas neighborhood.

Mt. Pleasant residents form a home guard in 1861.

Represented to us as Fort Thomas


1883 Map of Highlands Area	Map of the Fort Thomas by census tracts, 1940	Fort Thomas, 1937. The brown area to the left is the extent of the '37 flood

“The police of Fort Thomas are to be commended in their effort to stop speeding on the streets of Fort Thomas. Three children have lost their lives in the last 18 months. One child has been severely injured - this child happened to be the child of one of the policemen. The speed limit in the city proper is 15 miles in the congested district and 20 miles on all streets in the city. This safety measure is being rigidly enforced. Signs have been placed in the city limits warning the people of the speed law.” from Motour, June, 1930.


This is Harrison Herms (1889-1965), thought to be Fort Thomas' first motorcycle cop. From a Facebook posts by Jim Hedger.

General George Thomas, after whom Fort Thomas is named. His Wikipedia page is here.

There is a class of old postcards that has a town name printed on a generic scene. Dozens of town names could be and were printed on the bottom of the image, and the scenes were generic enough to be pseudo-plausible. It's a very long shot that this is actually Fort Thomas, regardless of what it says on the card.