Street Has Seen River of Change

Street has seen river of change.

Second Street evolves

as center of commerce.

The stretch of road covers only three blocks, but it may be the most interesting strip of that size in Northern Kentucky.

Other areas have spent their moments in the limelight - for positive reasons or as the scene of a ghastly murder or terrible fire. But in most cases, fame occurs only because of a single event or series of similar events, such as activities at a church or courthouse.

But on these three blocks a steady stream of sights and sounds have flooded our senses for the past 160 years.

The crack of a bat and the sudden cheer from a crowd, the clang from heavy machines, the heat and steam from molten steel and glass.

The blare of a new car born, the heavy fumes of whisky being distilled, the yell of a mother calling her children home for supper.

The area is Covington's Second Street, in particular the three blocks that run west from the end of the Suspension Bridge. Those blocks intersect Court, Scott, and Madison streets.

Large factories once dominated part of Second Street, but there were also small shops such as W. E. Higgins Co. Franz Averbeck, pictured at right with several of his sons, ran Averbeck Machine Co. and raised his family on Second Street.

Today it is a chore, especially for a new person, just to find the area now called RiverCenter Boulevard. The new name stems from the Embassy Suites hotel, restaurants and offices that make up the RiverCenter complex and adjacent Covington Landing entertainment area.

Long before RiverCenter, this section of Second Street became an early hot spot of industrial and commercial development because of its location along the Ohio River and at the foot of Scott and Madison streets.

Early residential development centered along the eastern section of Second Street and what was then called Front Street - now known as Riverside Drive.

An account in the Farmers Record and Covington Literary Journal - dated May 20, 1831, and reprinted in the Daily Commonwealth newspaper in 1881 - noted an iron rolling mill was being built along the Ohio River. Operators planned to employ as many as 300 people.

Later known as the Covington Rolling Mill, it would anchor the block basically bordered by the Ohio River to the north, Scott Street to the east, Second Street to the south, and Madison Avenue to the west.

The route of the Ohio River eliminated Front Street there, making Second Street the closest east-west street to the river.

The same 1831 account said the rolling mill building occupied 15,840 square feet of space.

By 1877 the Covington Nail Mill Co. operated in the same block as the rolling mill. The rolling mill rose on the Madison Avenue side, and the nail plant stood on the Scott Street side.

Ann 1839 newspaper account said the plants produced 1,800 tons of iron and nails a year and employed 120 people. John K. McNickle ran the plant. His 1873 obituary described him as coming from an old and wealthy family.

Another major employer along Second Street in the 1800's was the Hemingray Glass Co.

The glass company opened about 1848 at the northwest corner of Second Street and Madison Avenue - directly across Madison from the rolling mill.

The man behind Hemingray Glass was Robert Hemingray, born in Johnstown, Pa., about 1819. He moved to Covington in 1847.

When the great fire devastated Chicago in 1871, employees of Hemingray donated $50 toward a relief effort.

In November 1872 some of those same workers temporarily were thrown out of work when a fire, whipped by high winds, raced through the Hemingray warehouse at the foot of Madison Avenue. The fire spread quickly because the finished glassware was stored in crates packed with straw.

A new glass works building was built in 1881. The facility was enlarged along Second Street by the transfer of Hemingray's showroom from Walnut Street in Cincinnati.

Robert Hemingray died in December 1898 but his sons continued to operate the company.

In 1877, the area also was home to Uriah Shinkle's coal yard at the southwest corner of Second and Scott streets and the Walsh and Kellog Distillery, which spanned the middle of the block between Scott and Court streets.

Uriah Shinkle was the brother of the better known Amos Shinkle, who was instrumental in the construction of the suspension Bridge.

But Uriah Shinkle was a successful business man in his own right. He died at his home at 14 E. Second St. in June 1913.

The Walsh and Kellog Distillery, run by James Walsh, was the subject of more than a few complaints when it was constructed in 1872. Critics said the distillery's location adjacent to the Suspension Bridge presented a less than favorable image for visitors.

To ease those feelings, company officials promised not to build hog pens on the site. Many distilleries at the time raised hogs to feed the animals left over mash from the distilling process.

A fire in March 1893 destroyed the distillery and threatened a number of adjacent shops and homes. At the time private homes and small businesses lined both sides of Second Street between Court Street and Scott Street. Among the small businesses was the Boro and Brothers saloon at 66 E. Second St., operated by Dominick Boro. Boro moved to Covington about 1865 and died in 1893.

Another business was the Averbeck Machine Shop at 108 E. Second St. Franz Joseph Averbeck emigrated from what is now Germany in 1868.

Averbeck at first ran a boot and shoe shop out of his home at 58 E. Second St., but he later opened a successful machine shop just down the street. Averbeck raised seven sons - Henry, Lawrence, Joseph, Frank, John, Aloysius, (Pete), and Anthony.

Franz Averbeck, who later went by the name Frank, died in October 1926.

Behind the homes on the south side of Second Street, between Court and Scott streets, stood the James Humble and Co. stone and marble works. The two-story frame building fronted on Court Street and produced polished stone for such buildings as the Cathedral Basilica of the Assumption.

The marble works was heavily damaged in an 1897 fire.

Over the years Second Street saw many companies come and go.

In 1913 Uriah Shinkle's old coal yard at the southwest corner of Scott and Second streets gave way to the Federal League Ball Park. The stadium seated 6,000 people and was home to the Covington Blue Sox, a professional baseball team.

The Gateway Motel was built on the same spot in 1957.

Across the street, at the northwest corner of Scott and Second streets, was the old Covington Ice House. In the era before home refrigerators, ice-making companies were an important business downtown, where heat and factory smoke could make life almost unbearable in summer.

One block to the west of the ice house - at the northwest corner of Second Street and Madison Avenue, where the Hemingray Glass Co. once operated - was the home for many years of Fries and Son Steel Construction and Engineering.

Across Second Street from Fries - at the Southwest corner of Second and Madison - was Reliable Textile and Dyeworks. A fire heavily damaged that building in 1901 and threatened the Argonaut Cotton Factory across the street.

At the time of the fire 75 men worked at Reliable, which was owned by the Putnam Hooker Co. of Cincinnati.

Reliable rebuilt and expanded its operations across Second Street to some of the old Hemingray Glass Co. site. By 1916 Reliable Textile had 150 employees.

About 1960 Escue Pontiac took over part of the Reliable Textile site. Escue had a showroom on the southwest corner of Second Street and Madison Avenue and service/parts center and storage area on the northwest corner of Second Street and Madison Avenue.

A fire on Nov. 2, 1981, destroyed the service/parts and storage area on the north side of Second Street. A Toyota service center, later moved into the old Escue showroom building on the south side of Second Street.

Another car dealership in the area was Kenney Auto Sales, which in the 1950's sold used cars at Second and Scott streets.

As late as 1985, Second Street west of the Suspension Bridge was still a collection of homes and businesses with the old City Icehouse the primary landmark.

The Second Street area began to change dramatically in January 1962 with the announcement that an Internal Revenue Service complex was planned in Covington. Most of the IRS activity on Second Street would be west of Madison Avenue.

The real change came in the 1980's as redevelopment plans called for clearing everything north of Second Street from Court Street to just past Madison Avenue. Several proposals were made - including a Sheraton Hotel and a Radisson Hotel - before developers settled on the Embassy Suites and the current RiverCenter and Covington Landing complex.

Parking lots now lie where Reliable, Hemingray, Escue, Fries, and the Covington Rolling Mill once stood on Madison Avenue.

RiverCenter with its Embassy Suites hotel now towers over Second Street. the area has become a tourism and entertainment center.

Another parking lot sits where Uriah Shinkle once ran his coal yard, baseball fans cheered for their Blue Sox, or visitors rested at the Gateway.

Arthur Averbeck, grandson of Franz Averbeck, now lives in Ft. Wright, but he remembers growing up on Second Street and sneaking into the ice house.

His cousin, Lillian Carrigan, also was reared in the Averbeck home. She recalls the hustle and bustle of friends and relatives.

RiverCenter now sits where the Averbeck home once stood. The house came down in 1988.

Arthur Averbeck calls the change progress. Mrs. Carrigan sees it as fading memories.

During the past month the Premier Industries building at the southeast corner of Second Street and Madison Avenue was demolished by the city for an 85-space parking lot.

Second Street continues to evolve, creating new memories.

The study of Northern Kentucky history is an avocation of staff writer Jim Reis, who covers the suburban cities for The Kentucky Post.