City of Covington history

Thomas Tate 1817-First Mayor

By the time of the sale of lots in 1818, it was anticipated that it would be advantageous to form a county to provide local administrative and court services.

In 1819 a new St Tammany Parish Courthouse was erected across from Covington, on the west bank of the Bogue Falaya in the prospective town of Claiborne, since the original parish seat at Enon had been made part of the newly-created Washington Parish.

The first record of a school appeared in 1820 and education remained an important issue in the minds of citizen.

Accordingly, Alleghany County was formed by Act of the Virginia General Assembly from portions of Botetourt, Bath and Monroe Counties on January 5, 1822.

Religious services began at least as early as 1823 and the pre-Civil War years saw the Methodists, Roman Catholics, Episcopalians, and Presbyterians build houses of worship.

The first was the Methodists in 1827.

Development of the town increased dramatically with the establishment of the Covington Cotton Factory in 1828.

The first newspaper, The Palladium, appeared in 1832.

These developments led to the chartering of the city by the Commonwealth of Kentucky 1834.

In 1840, Kenton County was formed, for which Covington is one of the two county seats.

Consider the following statement written in the Licking Valley Register in 1841: The moral character of the place

The courthouse was built in Covington in 1843, near the public market house and square, which was situated between 3rd and 4th Streets, and Greenup and Scott Streets.

The society opened the Western Baptist Theological Institute in 1845, but the campus was divided by the new tracks for the Covington and Lexington Railroad, and the society was engulfed in a dispute over slavery.

Organized and founded in 1846, it is the oldest public building in use in St Tammany Parish.

In 1848, Robert Hemingray established a glass manufacturing plant in Covington.

By 1850, Covington had added a pork packing plant, foundries, a number of large factories, a ship building port, an additional rolling mill, and numerous tobacco processing plants.

The city was elevated to the rank of a diocese in 1853.

Despite the sale of the lots, Covington grew very slowly for by 1855, there were only 43 houses on two streets.

The Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Company signed John A. Roebling for the construction of the Suspension Bridge, which started in 1856.

In 1860, the Sisters of the Poor of St Francis opened St Elizabeth Hospital on Seventh Street.

In early 1861, Louisiana seceded from the United States and joined the Confederation of the Southern States.

In September 1866, the Freedman’s Aid Society established a school in Covington for the children of freed slaves.

In 1869, Bavarian Brewery was opened in the city by German immigrants.

By 1870, the African Americans of Covington had established two congregations: The African Methodist Church (often called the Colored Methodist Church) with 250 members, and the Colored Baptists Church with 75 members.

The Mutter Gottes Kirche (Mother of God Church) was built in 1871.

H.J. Smith and Sons was founded July 4, 1876.

Two fires destroyed most buildings built before 1880.

As early as 1890, several businesses were opened, establishing the area as an industrial site.

A bond in the amount of $10,000 was authorized in 1892 for sidewalks and sewerage and the high school (former City Hall) was built for $30,000 around that time.

In 1894, Wallace Woods was annexed by Central Covington.

Built shortly after the Great Fire of 1898, the building provides a beautiful example of turn of the century commercial architecture.

Westvaco did not begin operations until 1900 when A. Adams McAllister sold land to the company at a low price as an inducement to locating in Covington.

In 1902, the Town of Covington was designated by the General Assembly to be the county seat of Alleghany County.

The Commercial Hotel and Patrick Hotel on the north side of Gibson Street were built after the 1906 fire (now commerce buildings and offices).

Originally built in 1907, it served as the second Covington Bank & Trust building.

August 11, 1908, Doctor George R. Tolson sold to the town of Covington the 13 acres that make up the Bogue Falaya Park.

In 1909, Covington annexed Latonia and Rosedale, two neighborhoods to the south of Wallace Woods, between the Banklick Creek and the Licking River.

The cost was $12 per year for the "Farmers Party Line," and a Covington telephone directory was printed as early as 1911.

After the bank's closure in 1934, it housed the first chain grocery store in Covington.

Built in 1945 as the Growers Cooperative Association and better known as the "Old Freezer Plant," this building holds the distinction of being the first and only community freezer plant in the area.

After several expansions of the corporate limits, the Town of Covington became a City in 1952.

- H.J. Smith and Sons Hardware and Museum, c. It remained a family home for more than 50 years until it was sold in 1981.

More than 480 million tons of foreign and domestic cargo were handled in 1990.

In the early months of 1995, total restoration of this historic building began.

The first City Council, consisting of five men and two women, was sworn in on May 1, 1997, in the Covington MultiCare Clinic Atrium.