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Covington, Kentucky
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Covington is a city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 43,370; it is the fifth-most-populous city in Kentucky. It is one of two county seats of Kenton County. Covington is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Covington is part of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area and is separated from Cincinnati by the Ohio River and from Newport by the Licking River. Covington is located within the Upland South region of the United States of America; it is also acknowledged as a Midwestern city.
History
The Beginning
In 1814, John Gano, Richard Gano, and Thomas Carneal purchased on the west side of the Licking River at its confluence with the Ohio River, referred to as "the Point," from Thomas Kennedy for $50,000.
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Encyclopedia
Covington is a city in Kenton County, Kentucky, United States. As of the 2000 census, the city population was 43,370; it is the fifth-most-populous city in Kentucky. It is one of two county seats of Kenton County. Covington is located at the confluence of the Ohio and Licking Rivers. Covington is part of the Cincinnati-Northern Kentucky metropolitan area and is separated from Cincinnati by the Ohio River and from Newport by the Licking River. Covington is located within the Upland South region of the United States of America; it is also acknowledged as a Midwestern city.
History
The Beginning
In 1814, John Gano, Richard Gano, and Thomas Carneal purchased on the west side of the Licking River at its confluence with the Ohio River, referred to as "the Point," from Thomas Kennedy for $50,000. The men named their new riverfront enterprise the "Covington Company," in honor of their friend, General Leonard Covington, an American officer who once trained troops in the area and was killed in the War of 1812.
The investors prepared a plat for the new city that was approximately five blocks wide by five blocks deep. The platted streets lined up with the streets of Cincinnati across the Ohio River, symbolically tying the future of the fledging city to its larger neighbor to the north. The first five streets, running east to west, were named for Kentucky's first five governors: Shelby, Garrard, Greenup, Scott, and Madison.
In February 1815, the Kentucky General Assembly incorporated the land as the town of Covington. At the time of its incorporation, Covington and all of today's Kenton County was a part of Campbell County. Shortly after its incorporation, the investors began selling lots in the new city for $385 a lot. However, for the next 15 years, lot sales were slow and disappointing. By 1830, the young city had a population of only 715 and lot prices were selling for half their value in 1815.
Housing and Population Growth of the City
After 1830, in large part because of the influx of German immigrants, Covington's population began to grow significantly, creating a number of distinct and diverse neighborhoods within the city. This growth was recognized by the Kentucky legislature, which, in February 1834, incorporated the town as a city. By 1840, the population in the city increased to 2,026, which included eleven free blacks and 89 slaves.
Mutter Gottes and Mainstrasse
This population resided not only within the established boundaries of the city but outside, causing the city to undertake its first annexation, which extended the city to Main Street to the west and 12th Street to the south. This annexation brought the neighborhoods now known as Mutter Gottes and Mainstrasse.
Fueled in part by the European revolutions of the mid-1800s, many Europeans, particularly Germans, immigrated to Covington. At this time, the primary commercial district and gathering place was on Main Street near Sixth Street, the area now known as "Mainstrasse." Sixth Street was laid out with a wide width that allowed the city, in 1861, to establish a public market in the center of the street with traffic lanes on either side. The nearby Mutter Gottes Kirche (Mother of God Church), built in 1871, was the center of another German-speaking neighborhood.
Seminary Square and Westside
At the same time the western area of the city was growing, development began to stretch to the south. In the late 1830s, the Western Baptist Education Society purchased , which would define the city's southern boundary in 1841. On this tract, the organization established a seminary and set aside for a cemetery, which in 1843 would become known as Linden Grove Cemetery. To raise money to build its campus, the Baptists entered into the real estate market, subdividing the land and selling lots around its campus and cemetery, an area now known as Old Seminary Square and the Westside. In 1843, the city annexed most of the Society's subdivisions, which expanded the city's boundaries to 15th Street.
Within two years of opening the Western Baptist Theological Institute on Russell Street in 1845, the trustees of the organization became embroiled over the slavery issue. This ultimately ended with the dissolution of the institute in 1853 and the division of the property between the opposing factions. At the same time, the tracks for the Covington and Lexington Railroad were laid in the area, bisecting the college campus. Fifteen years later, the original St. Elizabeth Hospital moved into one of the old college buildings, where it operated from 1868 to 1911.
Austinburg and Lewisburg
At the same time that the Society was developing its property, Seneca Austin and his wife purchased and started developing along the Licking River from approximately 16th Street to 20th Street, creating the neighborhood we now call Austinburg. In 1851, the city annexed all of the Austins' land to Wallace Avenue as well as the western neighborhood now known as Lewisburg. Both communities were settled by largely German contingents, who established churches and parishes as focal points in their communities: St. Benedict's Catholic Church and parish in Austinburg, and St. John's the Evangelist Catholic Church and parish in Lewisburg.
Wallace Woods and Levassor Park
Immediately south of Austinburg were three large estates owned Robert Wallace, Daniel Holmes, and Eugene Levassor, all of whom were successful merchants.
In 1867, on that he had acquired next to the Wallace and Levassor estates, Holmes constructed a 32-room redbrick English-Gothic "castle," which was called Holmesdale. After Holmes died and his wife and children had returned to their native New Orleans, the family sold the mansion and to the Covington Board of Education in 1915. The mansion served as the Covington High School until 1936, when the structure was razed and a new high school was constructed. This building and five others now occupy the former estate grounds as part of the Holmes High School campus.
In the 1890s, the Wallace and Levassor estates on either side of the Holmes estate were developed, creating upscale neighborhoods at the end of the streetcar line. Many stately homes were constructed on large lots in these neighborhoods.
Peaselburg
Just west of Wallace Woods and the railroad tracks, a German, working class neighborhood developed in the latter years of the 19th century. This community was known by its inhabitants as "Peaselburg." In 1880, the community incorporated as an independent municipality and changed its name to Central Covington. In 1894, the Wallace Woods heirs agreed to be annexed by far less wealthy Central Covington because its tax rates were substantially lower than those assessed by the City of Covington.
The next year, Covington attempted to annex Central Covington, but support for the effort did not materialize. However, a decade later, many Central Covington businesses and homes were flooded by the eruption of a major sewer line. Covington offered to help the smaller municipality but only if the residents agreed to annexation, which occurred in 1907. Thus, Central Covington (and indirectly Wallace Woods) became a part of Covington. Six years later, St. Augustine Catholic Church was constructed on 19th Street, serving as this neighborhood's focal point and community gathering place.
Latonia and Rosedale
In 1882, a group of investors formed the Latonia Agricultural and Stock Association to create a horseracing track south of Covington. Purchasing more than north of Banklick Creek in an area then known as Milldale, and using the name of the nearby resort of Latonia Springs, the investors re-named this area Latonia. The track opened in June 1883 but it wasn't until 1890 that Kenton County granted the Covington electric streetcar company the right to lay tracks from the Covington city boundary to this area of the county.
In 1896, a portion of this area was incorporated as the city of Latonia, with a starting population of about 1,500. Adjacent to Latonia to the south was a community known as Rosedale, which was actually a part of Latonia. In 1909, Covington annexed Latonia and Rosedale, in part to relieve Latonia of financial difficulties it was encountering.
Botany Hills (formerly West Covington)
The independent city of West Covington, formerly known as Economy and now known as Botany Hills, is located along the Ohio River on the hills west of downtown Covington. This city was platted in 1846 and St. Ann's Church was constructed in the area in 1862 and served this primarily German-Catholic community. After an unsuccessful attempt to annex this city in 1873, Covington annexed it in 1916, in part because of water problems in the area and a lack of a high school.
Smaller annexations in the mid 20th century
After the annexation of West Covington in 1916, the boundaries of Covington remained the same for the next 35 years while other municipalities were established in areas surrounding Covington, such as Park Hills, Fort Wright, and Lakeside Park, to name a few. In the 1950s and 1960s, the city annexed small tracts of land – in Lewisburg in 1951, in Latonia in 1956, and that was formerly occupied by a Benedictine Monastery (now the Monte Casino neighborhood) in 1963 – but these annexations were of a small scale compared to tracts annexed during the first 100 years of the city's existence.
1960s annexations (Kenton Hills and South Covington)
During the 1960s, the city annexed a considerable amount of property that would establish the current boundaries of the city. Starting in 1965, the city annexed near Kyles Lane. In 1965, the city added near Devou Park, which was then known and is still known as Kenton Hills. Finally, in 1965, the city undertook its biggest annexation effort ever when it added of unincorporated land in Kenton County south of Latonia, creating the community now known as South Covington.
Population growth
The population of Covington grew from 743 in 1830 to 24,505 in 1870 to 42,938 in 1900. From this number, the population grew to its highest recorded count – 65,252 – in 1930. Perhaps due to problems associated with the Great Depression in the 1930s, U.S. Census Bureau recorded the city's first drop in population in its history in 1940, when the population was documented at 62,018. For the next two decades, the population would remain in the low- to middle- 60,000s. Due in large part to urban flight that occurred in the 1960s and 1970s, the city's population dropped from 60,376 in 1960 to the lowest recorded census count in recent history in 1990: 43,264. In the most recent U.S. Census, conducted in 2000, the city's population increased slightly to 43,370.
The Economic Growth of Covington
The first commercial development
In its infancy, most of the commerce in Covington was connected with the rivers that formed the northern and eastern boundaries of the city. Because the Kentucky side of the Ohio River was relatively shallow compared to the Ohio side of the river, Covington was never able to develop its riverfront as a viable public landing for boats and steamships, which instead moored on the Cincinnati side of the river, where steamship building facilities were located.
The city's first manufacturing concern, a cotton factory, was built near the river in 1828, and three years later, another business, a rolling mill and nail factory, was established along Scott Street near the riverfront.
The city's first commercial center
The first commercial center of the city was established around the "public square" platted between Third and Fourth Streets and Scott Boulevard and Greenup Street. At this location, a market house was constructed in 1831 and a public well was dug approximately one block from the square. During the 1830s, along with the public market, retail stores, businesses offices, and other commercial establishments flourished in this area.
In the mid-1800s, two things promoted the growth of Covington. First, in 1840, the Kentucky General Assembly severed Kenton County from Campbell County. Despite the legislative directive that county seat be at the center of the county, Covington served as the de facto county seat until the City of Independence was incorporated in 1842.
Because Independence was sparsely populated and approximately from Covington, the residents and lawyers of the thriving urban area found it more convenient to transact business and administer justice at the Covington courthouse, which was constructed near the public square in 1843. Recognizing that Covington was serving as the de facto county seat, the Kentucky legislature, in 1860, enacted a law authorizing Covington as the site for the recording of deeds and mortgages – making Kenton County only one of two counties in Kentucky with dual county seats (the other being Newport and Alexandria in Campbell County).
The Madison and Pike Street commercial corridor
The other major development occurring during this time period was the construction of the Covington and Lexington Railroad in 1853. While the public square remained a hub for the "courthouse crowd," in large part because of the railroad, the area of Madison Avenue and Pike Street became the city's primary commercial center during the rest of 19th century and into the 20th century.
With a train stop at Russell and Pike Streets, which was also near the terminus of the Covington and Lexington Turnpike, the area of the city soon became a beehive of commercial activity. Packing houses, groceries, dry goods stores, meat markets, printers, jewelers, saloons, lumber yards, machine shops, hardware stores, and more than 20 hotels cropped up in this area of the city.
The Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge
The next major project that spurred the economic growth of Covington was the decade-long construction of the Covington-Cincinnati Suspension Bridge between Covington and Cincinnati. Built by John A. Roebling, construction started in 1856. Work on the bridge continued for two years before the effects of the 1857 depression brought construction to a halt. Work on the bridge resumed in 1863 but once again was delayed because of the Civil War. The bridge formally opened on January 1, 1867, promoting further commerce between Kentucky and Ohio.
In part because of depressions of 1873 and 1893, commercial construction was not significant in Covington during the latter part of the 19th century. However, that would change dramatically in the early 20th century for a number of reasons.
One of these reasons was that the Suspension Bridge – originally designed for horse cars and pedestrians – was reconstructed in the late 1890s to accommodate electric streetcars – and in a few short years, automobiles. During the early 1900s, many new commercial and governmental structures were constructed in Covington.
The heyday
The heyday for Covington as the commercial center for all of Northern Kentucky was the first two decades of the 20th century. During these decades, particularly the 1920s, the city's downtown was a bustling place of activity, with numerous restaurants, department stores, shops, saloons, banks, theaters, and offices bringing swarms of people to the downtown commercial district.
Among the buildings that were constructed during this high-growth period were several near the public square, such as the city and county building, dedicated in 1902 and the Cincinnati, Newport, and Covington Railway Company headquarters, completed in 1903 (later acquired by the Citizens Telephone Company), to name a few. In addition, a number of other commercial structures were constructed in the downtown commercial district that survive today, such as the Masonic Lodge at the corner of Fourth and Scott Boulevard, the Kentucky Times-Star Building in the 500 block of Scott, and the Edward Pieck pharmacy building (later the Greyhound bus station building) at the southeast corner of Fifth Street and Madison Avenue.
It was also during this time period that Covington became the financial center of Northern Kentucky, housing the following lending institutions, primarily on Madison Avenue: the First National Bank, German National Bank, Covington Savings Bank & Trust Co., Citizens National Bank, and Peoples Savings Bank and Trust Company, to name a few.
This was also a period when the manufacturing industry significantly increased in Covington. Of particular note was the growth of The Stewart Iron Work Company, which employed as many as 600 people in 1915. The Bavarian Brewery was a large employer in the west side with strong sales until Prohibition in 1918. Other manufacturing firms that operated during this time period include the United States Motor Truck Company and Kelley-Koett Manufacturing Corp. of Covington, Ky., one of the country's earliest manufacturers x-ray accessories and equipment.
Known for many of its beautiful churches, this was also the time frame during which one of the city's icons, St. Mary's Basilica Cathedral of the Assumption, was built, which was dedicated in 1910. It was also during this time frame when the city acquired two of its most prized parks: Goebel Park in the Mainstrasse neighborhood and Devou Park, more than 500 acres (2 km2) of pristine land in the western hills of the city.
The decline
While the Great Depression of the 1930s devastated many Covington businesses and residents, the city's decline did not become pronounced until the 1960s. As mentioned above, the city's population remained somewhat stagnant for three decades. But post-World War II urban flight, coupled with a substantial reduction in the city's manufacturing sector, caused a significant decline in the city's workforce as well as its resident population.
If the 1920s was the last great decade for Covington, then the 1970s – and to a certain extent the early 1980s – was the nadir for the city, at least with respect to its downtown. Despite construction of the IRS service center by the federal government in the 1960s, which brought many new jobs to the city, the city began a downward spiral of disinvestment, which continued for several decades. In fact, in the late 1970s, the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development identified Covington as one of the country's "most distressed cities."
During this time period, as new retail centers and malls grew in the suburbs, long-established Covington retail firms either closed or left downtown Covington. Among the stores and shops that left or closed were Goldsmith's Department Store, Eilermann's Department Store, Coppin's Department Store, Montgomery Ward, S.S. Kresge Co., Herzog's, Louis Marx & Sons Furniture, Modern Furniture, Woolworth's, Penney's, Sears, the First National Bank, and the Madison and Liberty theatres, to name a few. Many of these storefronts remained empty during this time period or were replaced with less attractive commercial endeavors or social service agencies.
A rebirth
Beginning in the mid- to late-1980s, Covington began its revival. New buildings were constructed, jobs were created, and the population loss began to stabilize.
The rebirth of Covington as a commercial center occurred in the same place where the city commercial growth first occurred – along the Ohio River and in one of the city's first commercial districts, Main Street. The rebirth on the river began modestly in 1984 when developer David Herriman built the $4.4-million, 34-unit Riverside Terrace condominium complex on Riverside Drive. Two years later, Herriman constructed the 43-unit Riverside Plaza, a companion condominium project just south of Riverside Terrace, for $7.5 million.
With the city and state investing approximately $7 million in infrastructure improvements in the late 1970s and early 1980s, including construction of the Carroll Chimes Bell Tower with its carillon and glockenspiel in Goebel Park, Main Street and Sixth Street was renamed "Mainstrasse," and returned to its roots as a German village with restaurants, taverns, and specialty retail shops.
In the mid- to late-1980s, the city, using state and local funds, began acquiring properties along the Ohio River for redevelopment. In 1988, the city and local developer Corporex entered into a master development agreement to redevelop the city's riverfront, which kicked the city's renaissance into high gear. The first phase of this redevelopment occurred in 1990 when the $110-million, 18-story Rivercenter office tower and a 230-room Embassy Suites hotel was built atop a 1,100-space parking garage constructed by the city.
In 1994, Fidelity Investments established a campus in Covington, constructing three office buildings on the campus, totaling approximately and employing 2,000 employees. At the same time the Fidelity campus was underway, Wessels Construction built the IRS Gateway Center on Scott Boulevard, between Third and Fourth Streets, which would employ approximately 2,000 IRS employees when completed.
In 1997, Rivercenter II was built next to Corporex's first downtown office tower, and during the same year, across Madison Avenue from the Rivercenter complex, a new garage was funded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky and built by Corporex. A year after the garage was finished, a 300-room Marriott hotel was built atop a portion of the garage. Two years later, on the remaining portion of the parking garage, eleven floors of office space was constructed, now known as Madison Place, and on top of this office space four floors of mulit-million-dollar residential condominiums called Domaine de la Rive were built.
In 1998, across the street from the Marriott hotel, the Commonwealth of Kentucky contributed $30.5 million to build the Northern Kentucky Convention Center. In 2001, a block away from the convention center, Wessels Construction would add a expansion of the Gateway Center on Madison Avenue and Third Street. Another block away, Towne Properties would build Roebling Row Apartments, an 86-unit luxury apartment building with architectural features compatible with nearby structures in the surrounding historic Licking Riverside neighborhood.
Meanwhile, a housing boom was taking place in the southern part of the city. Among new subdivisions built in South Covington in 1990s were Ridgeport (275 homes), Clover Meadow (88 homes), and Heathermoor (100 upscale homes).
The 21st century
Covington's resurgence has continued and expanded into the 21st century, making the city an attractive place to live, work, and play. The redevelopment along the riverfront in the 1980s and 1990s moved southward into the downtown area. A number of existing structures were rehabilitated and new businesses have located within these historic structures.
In the 400 block of Madison Avenue, two new businesses – a law firm and the upscale Avenue nightclub – have located in buildings formerly occupied by strip clubs. In the same block, at the northeast corner of 5th Street and Madison Avenue, the historic Odd Fellows Hall, constructed in 1856, was restored as Class An office and retail space after a devastating fire destroyed much of the building in 2002. It now houses a high-tech software and consulting services company, an architecture firm, a real estate agency, and a reception hall.
South on Madison Avenue, the city and local business leaders, Jim and Donna Salyers, created the Covington Wedding District, which is home to Fabulous-Bridal Boutique bridal store, the Madison Ave Wedding Mall, and several other wedding-related businesses, including The Madison Event Center which features 6 ballrooms and hosts 500 receptions annually in their two historic buildings on Madison Ave. On Madison Avenue and Pike Street, the city created the Covington Arts and Technology Zone ("CATZ"). Artists and technology businesses are locating in this corridor, rehabilitating buildings, and bringing in a "creative class" of employees to the city. Further south on Madison Ave and 11th St, Donna Salyers Fabulous-Furs has located their headquarters in the . Wadsworth building. Fabulous-Furs is world renowned for selling the World's finest faux furs and circulates 6 million catalogs annually and employees over 100 people.
The city is currently working on two major public projects that will further change the landscape of downtown Covington. In the heart of the downtown area, in the block bounded by Madison Avenue, Scott Boulevard, and Fourth and Fifth Streets, the city is developing a public square and public market. The city has hired the Project for Public Spaces, the pre-eminent expert on the development of public space, to conduct civic engagement workshops and to help design the public square and public market. Along the Ohio River, the city has plans for a new riverfront, which would include, among other things, a hiking and biking trail along the length of the river connecting with other Northern Kentucky river cities, restaurants at the foot of Madison Avenue, an upscale marina serving local residents, and large park between the floodwall and levee and the river.
Residential redevelopment is also moving quickly forward in the downtown area and elsewhere in the city. Since last year, construction of more than $120 million in new residential housing started in the downtown area with another multi-million dollar housing development underway in south Covington.
In 2008, Corporex completed the 22-story luxury condominium project, the Ascent at Roebling's Bridge. Designed by world-renowned architect Daniel Libeskind, with help from local architect GBBN, the wedge-shaped structure won the 2008 CNBC property award for best high-rise in the Americas, and was a featured project in the AIA April 2008 newsletter.
Also underway is The Views, a $50-million, 125-unit residential townhouse development on the hillside off of Pike Street in the Lewisburg neighborhood. In the heart of the Covington Arts District, Phase 1 of the new $13-million, 64-unit PULSE loft condominium project, the first phase of which is nearing completion. In addition, loft condominiums are being built in rehabilitated buildings on Pike Street (Pike Street Lofts and Magnolia Lofts) and on Madison Avenue (Man Ray Lofts), to name a few. In addition, Fischer Homes is building a 1,000-unit residential subdivsion in south Covington, off of Ky. 17, which will feature condominiums, patio homes, and single-family residences. The first phase of this development, the largest in Kenton County in more than a decade, is now underway.
In addition to the residential development now underway, city's economic growth and job creation is booming. Fidelity Investments is expanding its south Covington campus by building two new buildings there, which will create of 1,500 to 2,000 new jobs (in addition to the existing 2,000 jobs) at the campus. St. Elizabeth Hospital/HealthPoint will create approximately 230 jobs when a new $34-million medical facility is fully operational off of 12th Street near 1-75. Other commercial, educational, and office development is expected in this same area when the 12th Street reconstruction project is finished in 2009.
Covington's Neighborhood Movement
Covington owes many of its more recent accomplishments to the action of dedicated residents and neighborhood groups. The first round of this neighborhood movement came about in the mid- to late-1970s as part of a reformist movement to improve the city. Many neighborhood associations were formed at the time, and the Covington Neighborhood Action Coalition, or CNAC, was established. CNAC served as an umbrella organization for many active neighborhood associations, with each organization having delegates as part of annual CNAC conventions. CNAC addressed city-wide concerns and endorsed neighborhood issues, such as opposition to the proposed location of a coal dock in Latonia and advocating for the improvement of sewers in Peaselburg.
CNAC also received federal funding from the Law Enforcement Assistance Administration (LEAA) to create the city's first block watch, a forerunner to today's Neighborhood Watch. The neighborhood movement reached its peak in the early 1980s. By the mid-1980s, CNAC membership waned as many city-wide issues had been addressed and no funding was available for staff assistance to the neighborhood groups. Several neighborhood associations, such as those in Wallace Woods and Licking Riverside, persisted despite the decline of CNAC.
The Neighborhood Watch Program began in 1985 when Latonia residents began organizing neighborhood watches after a murder and several break-ins in their neighborhood. Watch members work closely with the Covington Police and Code Enforcement Departments and play an instrumental role in making our community safer.
In 1996, residents initiated a call for a new CNAC-like organization. At the same time, the Center for Great Neighborhoods of Covington, then known as the Covington Community Center, was reorganizing and defining strategic growth areas for its organization. At the request of residents, the Center agreed to help organize and staff the new organization, the Covington Neighborhood Collaborative. Today, CNC has 12 member organizations and works on both city-wide and neighborhood issues. Several other neighborhoods, including the Eastside, South Covington, and Mainstrasse, also have active neighborhood associations that are not currently a part of CNC.
Geography
Covington is located at (39.065111, -84.509594).
According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 13.7 square miles (35.4 km2), of which, 13.1 square miles (34.0 km2) of it is land and 0.5 square miles (1.4 km2) of it (3.88%) is water.
Climate
Covington is located within a climatic transition zone; it is nestled within the southern end of the humid continental climate zone and the northern periphery of the Humid subtropical climate of the Upland South, with hot, humid summers and cool winters. Evidence of both a humid subtropical climate and a humid continental climate can be found here, particularly noticeable by the presence of plants indicative of each climatic region; for example, the Southern magnolia (Magnolia grandiflora) from the subtropics and the Blue spruce from cooler regions are successful landscape plants in and around Covington, Kentucky. The occasional wall lizard and five-lined skink may also be observed scurrying along a rock wall lending a bit of subtropical ambiance to the area.
Demographics
As of the census of 2000, there were 43,370 people, 18,257 households, and 10,132 families residing in the city. The population density was 3,301.3 people per square mile (1,274.4/km²). There were 20,448 housing units at an average density of 1,556.5/sq mi (600.8/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 87.05% White, 10.14% African American, 0.24% Native American, 0.34% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.63% from other races, and 1.57% from two or more races. Hispanics or Latinos of any race were 1.38% of the population.
There were 18,257 households out of which 28.8% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 34.3% were married couples living together, 16.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 44.5% were non-families. 36.5% of all households were made up of individuals and 12.0% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.31 and the average family size was 3.08.
The age distribution was 25.9% under the age of 18, 10.0% from 18 to 24, 33.3% from 25 to 44, 19.0% from 45 to 64, and 11.9% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 33 years. For every 100 females there were 95.9 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 92.0 males.
The median income for a household in the city was $30,735, and the median income for a family was $38,307. Males had a median income of $31,238 versus $24,487 for females. The per capita income for the city was $16,841. About 15.5% of families and 18.4% of the population were below the poverty line, including 25.0% of those under age 18 and 13.4% of those age 65 or over.
Noted residents
- The realist painter Frank Duveneck was born in Covington on October 9, 1848.
- Songwriter Haven Gillespie was born in Covington, February 6, 1888 and died there as well on March 14, 1975. He is remembered primarily for "Santa Claus Is Coming to Town".
- Screenwriter Gertrude Orr was born in Covington, January 17, 1891.
- Religious leader and theologian Frederick William Franz, 4th president of the Jehovah's Witnesses was born in Covington on September 12, 1893.
- Actress Una Merkel was born in Covington December 10, 1903.
- Actor Durward Kirby, best-known as the co-host of Candid Camera was born in Covington, August 24, 1912.
- Ron Ziegler, White House Press Secretary during U.S. President Richard Nixon's administration, was born in Covington on May 12, 1939.
- Broadway actor Lee Roy Reams was born in Covington, August 23, 1942.
- Former Republican presidential hopeful Gary Bauer was born in Covington in 1946.
- Musician Adrian Belew, best known for his role as vocalist and guitarist of King Crimson since the early 1980s, was born in Covington, December 23, 1949. He attended Ludlow High School in nearby Ludlow, Kentucky.
- Banjo player Eddie Peabody died of a stroke at St. Elizabeth Hospital on November 7, 1970; he had collapsed on stage on November 6, 1970 at the Lookout House in Fort Wright, Kentucky.
- Hall of Fame jockey Steve Cauthen was born in Covington in 1960 to parents who lived in the then rural, but now increasingly suburban, community of Walton.
- Former Major League Baseball player David Justice graduated from Covington Latin School, a Catholic high school in the city.
- National Television Personality Mitch English best known as one of the hosts on the television show The Daily Buzz also featured in theatrical releases and other television programs was born St. Elizabeth Hospital on October 2, 1969
- A life-size bronze statue of Daniel Carter Beard, created by sculptor Kenneth Bradford, stands in town. *William Wright Southgate, Northern Kentucky Congressman
- John W. Stevenson Governor and Senator
- Australian politician Bob Charles, member of the Australian House of Representatives.
Historic Churches
See also
External links
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