[Newspaper]
Publication: The Kentucky Post
Covington, KY, United States
p. 4, Section K, col. 3-5
PIECES OF THE PAST
Bradford Shinkle made
own name in business
It's often hard to be the child of a famous person, but Bradford Shinkle was an exception to that rule.
The son of Amos Shinkle, who was a Northern Kentucky businessman and guiding light behind the completion of the suspension bridge, Bradford Shinkle would become a prominent businessman in his own right. He would become deeply involved in social causes, survive a Steamboat explosion and make headlines due to a terrifying fear of being buried alive.
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Bradford Shinkle was born on September 29, 1845, in Higginsport, Ohio, where his father had a business. The family moved to Covington the next year.
Shinkle was educated at public schools in Covington and then attended Miami University. He was attending college in Oxford, Ohio, when the Civil War broke out. He asked to come home and join the local Union Home Guard, of which his father was a Colonel. At first his father resisted, but eventually Bradford interrupted his college life to return to Covington and serve in the Home Guard.
After later graduating from Miami, Bradford Shinkle became a clerk on a steamboat. His father, Amos Shinkle, was at this time a successful businessman in Covington. He probably could have offered his son a better job, but apparently felt the steamboat experience would be good for him.
Bradford Shinkle was working aboard the steamer Magnolia in March 1868 as it headed from Maysville to Cincinnati. About 9 miles from Cincinnati the Magnolia's boilers burst, "scattering death and destruction in every direction."
A Covington Journal newspaper account on March 21, 1868, said about 50 people were killed including the boat's captain, J. H. Prather. Among those listed as injured was Bradford Shinkle. However, he survived.
In October 1868 Bradford shingled married Annie Hemmingray [sic] Hemingray at Union Methodist Church. It was quite an affair at the time. The Covington Journal reported the gifts included a $10,000 set of diamonds to the bride. The Daniel Hemmingray [sic] Hemingray family operated glass works in Covington and Muncie, Ind.
Bradford and Annie Hemmingray [sic] Hemingray had two children, A. Clifford Shinkle and Camilla cross. Annie Hemmingray [sic] Hemingray died a few years later and Shinkle married one of her sisters, Mary. They had one child, Bradford Shinkle Jr.
Over the next few decades Bradford Shinkle became involved in an impressive number of companies. They included president of the Covington and Cincinnati Bridge Co., president of the Champion Ice Co., director of the Covington Protestant Children's Home and director of the First National Bank of Covington.
He also was an officer, board member or business partner in Fifth Third National Bank of Cincinnati, the Shinkle, Wilson and Kreis Grocery Co. of Cincinnati, the Cincinnati Ice Delivery Co., Highland Cemetery, Covington and Lexington Turnpike Co., Hemmingray [sic] Hemingray Glass Co., and Queen City and Commercial Clubs.
A Kentucky post account on Nov. 6, 1893, placed Shinkle in a list of prominent business people in Northern Kentucky. Under a headline, ”Good Example for Others to Follow,” Shinkle was credited with planning to build a three-story apartment building on Pike Street near Riddle Street to help employ construction workers who were out of work due to the winter season.
When his daughter, Camilia [sic] Camilla, married Frank Cross in June 1896, the wedding made the social calendar in the Kentucky Post. The ceremony was conducted at the First Baptist Church in Covington. Rev. William Felix, uncle of the bride, performed the ceremony.
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The Bradford Building at Scott and Park streets in downtown Covington was constructed by Bradford Shinkle in 1897.
Shinkle made the business pages again in January 1897 when he announced plans to tear down the old Greer building at Scott and Park streets and construct a three story building there with stores on the first floor, a large room for entertaining on the second floor in the apartments on the third floor
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That building still stands on Scott St. one block south of the county jail. Carved into a stone on the front of the building are the words, “Bradford building.”
As a union veteran of the civil war, Shinkle was among the organizers of a National Convention of the Grand Army of the Republic, jointly held in Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati in 1898.
In 1900 Shinkle was elected a director and the first president of the Cincinnati Tobacco Warehouse Co.
During this, Shinkle apparently traveled extensively, especially to Florida and Rhode Island. He would eventually have a summer house at Watch Hill, R. I., in addition to the Shinkle Mansion on what is now Dixie Highway about six miles from Covington. The family also had a mansion in Covington at 165 E. Second St.
Shinkle made newspaper headlines in January 1906 when he became seriously ill. The Kentucky Post reported he was suffering from a combination of kidney trouble, weak heart and asthma. The account said the 60 year old Shinkle was a millionaire and one of the most prominent men in Covington and Cincinnati. This condition was serious enough that a cable was sent to his daughter, who was traveling in Europe, to urge her to return home.
Despite initial concerns, Shinkle recovered and within a month was well enough to walk on his own.
A fire on April 11, 1908, threatened to destroy the Shinkle house in Covington, but firefighters confined the blaze to the roof.
As an only child, Bradford Shinkle inherited most of his mother's estate in December 1908 when she died. His father, Amos Shinkle, died in 1892.
In addition to his business connections, Bradford Shinkle also donated to the Covington Protestant Children's Home and gave money to both the First Baptist Church of Covington and Union Methodist Church in Covington.
Shinkle’s health again worsened in 1909. On May 7 he died at his Second Street home at the age of 63. Accounts said his family was with him. The Kentucky Post and Kentucky Times-Star both carried prominent front page stories about Shinkle’s health, chronicling his various business and social accomplishments. Accounts said Rev. Dr. A. C. Davidson of the First Baptist Church, Covington would conduct the funeral services, and Shinkle’s body would be laid out in the family home for mourners to pass by.
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In addition to his wife, Mary, he was survived by children A. Clifford Shinkle, Bradford Shinkle Jr., and Camilla Shinkle Cross. Burial was in Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell.
A simple funeral service took place three days after his death, but actual burial was delayed. It seemed Shinkle had a terrible fear of being buried alive. In his will he stipulated that a guard be hired to watch over the body at the cemetery vault before it was buried, checking once an hour by lifting up the coffin lid to make sure the body had not moved.
A Kentucky Post account on June 10, 1909, said the guard watched during the day and cemetery assistant Sexton John Sanger handled the grim vigil during the night. The vigil apparently lasted 11 days, although the family denied guards had kept watch.
Shinkle’s will stipulated $150 a week to his wife for living expenses, $10,000 to the Covington Orphanage, $1000 to his private secretary, May Clevinger, $25,000 to his son, Bradford Shinkle Jr., $2000 a year to his other two children and the rest going to the grandchildren and other relatives.
The Shinkle mansion on Second St. was later donated to a federation of Covington groups as a home for working girls. The site later became the original Booth Hospital.
The family summer home in Watch Hill, R. I. Was apparently converted in to a hotel and then destroyed in a fire in October 1916.
Mrs. Shinkle became ill in July 1927 and died later that month at the family home on Dixie Highway near Erlanger. She was 81 years old. Burial was in Highland Cemetery.
The study of Northern Kentucky history is an avocation of staff writer Jim Reis, who covers suburban Kenton County for the Kentucky Post.