The Kentucky Sorgo Mill The company was in Dover; this mill was near Louisville.	Dover Depot	Dover Post Office, 1913
Read more about the Sorgo Mill here and here.		Thanks to Carole MacRobert Steele for this one.

 

Dover, c. 1956.

 

Dover in the 1937 Flood	Dover Residences, 1969

 

Dover School, 1969	William Shanks Grocery, 1969 You may know it as Lee's or Gene Tabb's	Masonic Hall, 1969

The Sroufe House and the Underground Railroad. The house is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

 

Effects of a hard rain in Dover, March 5, 1909 on Lucretia Street
From a Facebook post by Chris Mitchell

 

Dover Store

Jill Roethemeyer DeAtley tells us “the lady in the middle was Mrs. Esther McGown. The other lady is Mrs. Dorothy Moore. The man might be Brother Ladenburger. I was also told that it was on Market Street.”

 

Maysville's Daily Public Ledger, November 6, 1903

L. H. Long's Webster Farm, 1876	Residence and green houses of J. A. Holton, 1876

 

Audubon Mineral Water
An ad from Audubon, July, 1914
From a Facebook post by John Henderson

“The Audubon Mineral Water Co., Maysville, Ky. is erecting a bottling plant, and is the market for equipment, including power machinery.” Mill Supplies, Vol 2, 1912

“The Audubon Mineral Water Co., Dover, has filed articles of incorporation with a capital stock of $500,000, under the laws of Arizona. Charles E. Curran, James Summers, E. L. Manchester, and others, are the incorporators.” American Bottler, Vol. 31, page 54, 1911

 

Lucretia Street after a hard rain, March 5, 1909
From a Facebook post by Chris Mitchell

 

Said to be the Dover Button Factory
near the depot

1921 fire at the button factory

Button Factory to be rebuilt after fire in 1921; re-opens in 1941.

 

Drawing of School planned for Dover	Built in 1835 over Lick Run Creek	Dover Post Office

“A booze boat has been cruising for some days long the Ohio river in the vicinity of Dover and Ripley, giving the thirsty a free ride and incidentally, selling him a drink.  As both sides of the river are dry territory, there ought to be some way to stop the traffic.”  Falmouth Outlook, December 11, 1908

 

In early 1905, the Ollie Neville coaled up at Ripley and started for New Richmond, but sank above Dover, Kentucky.	This is the ferry Ironton.  It was built in Levanna, across the river from Dover.  She spent most of her life in the Russell, Ky./Ironton, Ohio crossing, but in later years was renamed the Ruth Ann, and ran between Levana and Dover.

History of the Dover ferry.

Speaking of Levanna, Ohio, it used to be quite a place. It short history is here.

The Dover Mound, prior to being dug, c. 1949		The Dover Mound, mid- excavation, 1950	Dover Mound Analysis

The Dover Mound was excavated in the summers of 1950 and 1951 by University of Kentucky anthropologists William S. Webb and Charles Snow.  They determined it was an Adena site, sometimes called an Adena-Hopewell site.  More about the Hopewell this site.  Webb and Snow determined the site to be circa 700 B.C. to 1100 B.C.  UK published their write-up of the results, which has many pictures of the bones, skulls, and artifacts taken from the mound.  It's long out of print, but available in many local libraries.

In the early 1990's, the Maysville County Genealogical Society's Newsletter ran a three part history of Dover.  Part 1 seems to focus more on the Fox Family than Dover. It ran over three issues, and you can find them below.  Each is a pdf.
Part 1	Part 2	Part 3

Harpers New Magazine of February of 1857 says “In Kentucky, near Dover, six Negroes were hung.”	Interview with Arnold Gragston, 97-year-old ex-slave whose early life was spent helping slaves to freedom across the Ohio River is here
In 1852, Thirty-one slaves escape (or, as the story says “stampede”).  Story here.	There's a story of a successful (?) 1852 slave escape from Dover here.
In 1857, slaves are suspected of a plot to kill white people in Dover. It doesn't turn out well for the slaves.  Story here.	Two Dover slaves, sold down the river, cause legal wrangling in Cincinnati, here and here.
There's a story of an 1858 failed slave escape from Dover and the recapture here.	The slaves of Rice Bolton make it to Canada, here.

Maysville's Evening Bulletin, September 26, 1890

Dover officially established as a Kentucky town in 1836, and again in 1856.
Giant political gatherings were the order of the day in the 19th century. Here's an announcement of one coming to Dover, and here's the wrap-up (“a glorious affair”).	A Dover citizen celebrates his 100th birthday in 1908. Story here.
Dover's Captain Edgington.	Dover getting a brick yard?
A history of Dover from the August 24, 1902 Courier-Journal is here.	“Dover, Ky., is in twelve feet of water in the shallowest part.” Daily Alta California, February 14, 1884.
“W. E. Tabb & Co.'s woolen and flouring mills, at Dover, Mason County, Ky., was burned yesterday, Loss, $50,000. Insurance unknown. Some twenty or thirty persons are thrown out of employment by the catastrophe.”Daily Alta California, June 23, 1875	“Word has been received here from Dover that mound diggers found a large diamond in the mound on the Respess field.  The find has caused much excitement in the village”   the Grant County News, November 8, 1907
When the railroad came through, near Dover workers found gold and silver coins from 1530.  More here.	Buffalo Bill's Mother was born in Dover, and he brought his Wild West show (external link) to town, likely in the late 1800's.
“Articles were filed in this office November 3, 1897, by the 'Dover, Kentucky, and South Atlantic Railway Company.' This road is to run from the Ohio river at Dover, Ky., through the counties of Mason, Bracken, Robertson, Harrison, Bourbon, Scott, and Franklin to Frankfort, a distance of about  80 miles.  This road is projected by Albert E. Boone & Associates.” from the 1897 Report of the Railroad Commission of Kentucky
The Kentucky General Assembly passed laws in 1866 and 1843 and 1874 allowing the Dover folks to change their boundaries and roads.
Dover establishes city limits, 1874.
“Druggist L. P. Knadler,of Dover, Ky., had one of the handsomest displays of Christmas goods in the town of Dover.  His display took up four floors of the big building.” Merck's Report, February, 1899	The progress of the American Temperance Union is Dover, in 1842, here.
“The Nashville Packet Company yesterday purchased the steamer Spray, of Messrs. Howard and Shrofe, of Dover, Kentucky. Terms private. The Spray will be put in complete repair for the Nashville trade.” Cincinnati Daily Enquirer, March 27, 1869
Dover cider has a reputation. Here.	Taking bids in 1853 for a road from Dover to the Maysville-Germantown Pike.
“The Dover, Ky. News is very frank in its relations with its subscribers.  It says: 'The scarcity of news in this issue of the News, is caused by the fact that it ‘didn't happen to happen.'” from Hillsboro, Ohio's News-Herald, January 24, 1895.	“A tramp who lately sought a night's lodging at Dover, Ky. announced that he was bent on collecting one penny from every person on earth.  He had already got 38 cents.” from Canton, Ohio's Stark County Democrat, May 19, 1899
The steamer A. N. Johnson blew up near Dover in December of 1847.	A major fire destroyed Dover in 1854.  Two short news stories are here. Another big fire in 1875, here.
“Dover Mills Burned -Loss $40,000 - W. E. Tabb & Co.'s flour mill, in Dover, Ky., was destroyed by a fire on Friday last, at 1:30 p.m., together with eighteen thousand bushels of wheat, and eighteen hundred barrels of flour.  The upper floor gave way, owing to the weight of the grain, falling on the boilers, where the fire originated.  The loss is estimated at $40,000 with insurance for $16,000 - $10,000 on the building and $6,000 on the stores.”  from the Louisville Courier, October 26, 1858
In 1914 the Tomato Cannery is firing up in Dover.  A little more here.	Dover Bank fails, 1908.  Story's here, and here.
“Old Resort Sold. Maysville, Ky., September 10.-The Audubon Farm, consisting of 117 ares, fronting on the Ohio River just west of Dover, was sold to-day at public sale by the Master Commissioner of Bracken County for $15,000 to Dr. P. G. Smoot and others. The property belonged to the Audubon Mineral Water Company, Dover, Ky., which was capitalized at $500,000.” Cincinnati Enquirer, September 11, 1917
“The street problem in Dover at present consists mostly of speculation as to how long the streets will last under the combined attacks of the village poultry.”   Huh?!?  Particulars here.

 

The Dover Eagles, 1957. Key to names.
From a Facebook post by Bob Chamblin

 

Dover merchant finds selling supplies for tobacco farming puts him on the wrong side in the Tobacco Wars of 1908.

 

“One of our oldest covered bridges in Kentucky still in use. Erected in 1835. It was originally a toll bridge.  The 62 foot span was built in an unusual Queenspost truss design similar to early Barn Construction.  Major repairs were made by the Bower Bridge Co. in 1928.  Restoration of the bridge completed by the Kentucky Highway Department in 1966.  It crosses Lees Creek near Ky. 8 at Dover.” - back of postcard

The Lees Creek Bridge is on the National Register of Historic Places

African-American William L. Anderson was born in Dover, KY. He was editor of several newspapers: the Cincinnati American Reformer (1892-1894), Rostrum (1897-1902), and the Cincinnati Pilot (1911-1912). Anderson was also an alternate delegate-at-large to the Republican National Convention in Chicago in 1912.