Stadium Inn

I wanted to share a bit of Newport history that I've managed to dig up recently. As some of you know, in doing research on the history of our house, I discovered that a long-time musician friend of mine is related to the second owners of our house, the Offenbacher family. They were recently able to find some photos that shed some light on some Newport history and perhaps poses more questions.

The Offenbachers lived in our house from about 1924-1938. Parents William and Anna owned the house and son Edwin (Eddie), his wife Marie, and their children Wilbert, Elsie, and Shirley rented. Eddie's family moved around 1938 to 538 Linden and opened a bar/restaurant called the Stadium Inn at 601 E 6th at the northeast corner of Oak and 6th, where the Campbell County Library now stands. The establishment operated from 1939 to around 1959 when the building was sold, demolished and the land developed to build an A&P Grocery. That building later became the I-471 Antique Mall and was razed in 2003 for the new library construction.

I had suspected that perhaps the Stadium Inn had been the repurposed toll gate house, but after seeing photos, it appears it is not. From the looks of the construction, I believe the Stadium Inn was new in 1939. It also had a slot machine. This is interesting, as Eddie was a former police officer!

So, here is where things get weird... Several folks remember the nooses being on display in the Inn from the executions of Scott Jackson and Alonzo Walling for the murder of Pearl Bryan in 1896. If you're not familiar with this creepy bit of Newport history, it was one of the biggest stories of the era and led to the last execution in Campbell County. There is documentation that the nooses (which were color coded) had been on display in the basement of the Campbell County Courthouse in the 1910's along with other artifacts from the trial and execution. Eddie Offenbacher was chief of the Campbell County Police from 1934-1938 so it would stand to reason that he might have had access to these artifacts. Stranger still is the fact that both Eddie and his father eventually took their own lives by hanging. The whereabouts of the nooses are unknown today.

If any of you have any other information on this, please let me know!