238 COVINGTON ART CLUB cial to both Kentucky and Ohio. Good roads already existed from Lexington to Louisville and Lexington to Maysville, but a new road was needed to connect Lexington with Northern Kentucky and Cincinnati. The officials knew that Kentucky farmers could play an important role in supplying the Cincinnati pork and beef packing industries. It was also clear that much of the money paid for the livestock would eventually be spent at Cincinnati businesses. The highway would also open up northern and eastern markets to Kentucky farmers, by permitting travel northward through Cincinnati to the Miami and Erie Canal. A Licking Valley Register article said, “Nothing is of more importance to the area than the proposed Covington and Lexington Turnpike.” By 1839 just 10 miles of the highway south from Covington had been completed, and on the southern end, a 12-mile portion between Lexington and Georgetown was finished. However, the unfinished 63-mile stretch was quite remote and sparsely populated. When considering the project, the Kentucky legislature pointed out that the central portion in Kentucky through Boone, Grant, and Scott counties would be difficult to build and a hardship on local farmers to maintain. The law required property owners to maintain the road, and all males 16 and over were ordered to assist in the work. Tollgates were allowed at sites along the road to help defray the cost of maintenance. The turnpike was to be 30 feet wide and to have a surface of gravel, rock, logs, or other suitable material. Tree stumps were not to protrude more than six inches above the ground, and the grade level was not to exceed five degrees (much of the road near Covington exceeded the five-degree limit). At least 10 feet of the width was to have a fairly good surface, which would permit safe travel by wagons and carriages. By 1849 a substantial portion of the road was finished. There had been monumental problems associated with its construction. After nearly 20 years, however, the turnpike was finally completed in the early 1850s. The road had cost the Commonwealth of Kentucky $213,000, or about $2,500 per mile, to construct. The final leg of the project, connecting the road with Cincinnati, was not completed until 1867, when the new John A. Roebling Bridge opened. In recent years I-75 has replaced U.S. 25 as the primary artery between Covington and Lexington. “Covington Turnpike Road,” LVR, May 13, 1843, 3. “Sketch,” CJ, August 30, 1873, 1. Tenkotte, Paul A. “Rival Cities to Suburbs: Covington and Newport, Kentucky, 1790–1890,” PhD diss., Univ. of Cincinnati, 1989.
COVINGTON ART CLUB. The Covington Art Club (CAC), founded March 14, 1877, celebrated its 130th anniversary in 2007; it may be the oldest women’s club in the Greater Cincinnati–Northern Kentucky metropolitan area. The club was organized by a group of “eight young women as they sat on a front porch on Wallace Avenue” in Covington. Their interests centered on the areas of “art, embroidery, sculpture, wood carving, wood burning, and painting in all media, including china painting.” At first called the Young Ladies Art Union, it was designed for the purpose “of inciting
the members to greater effort in the various branches of Art.” Programs were planned for meetings, scheduled every two weeks at members’ homes, and special exhibitions occurred at sixmonth intervals. From the beginning, an effort was made to secure “outstanding musicians, artists and speakers.” The multitalented members themselves were often presenters at these group meetings. The eight dedicated young women from Covington who formed the nucleus of the CAC were Clementine R. Abbott, Laura Charles, Carrie H. Gedge, Lillie B. Gedge, Edith M. Linn, Jeanie D. McKee, Mary B. Price, and Lulu M. Wright. On January 3, 1887, the name Young Ladies Art Union was changed to Covington Art Club; in 1891 the club became a member of the General Federation of Women’s Clubs; in 1894 it joined the Kentucky Federation of Women’s Clubs as a charter member. Meetings were held at members’ homes, in churches, at the Covington Public Library, or at the Covington Ladies Home. Then in 1923 the group purchased from Charles A. J. Walker the Hermes Building, at the corner of Court and Fourth Sts., to be their clubhouse. Walker’s wife had been an active member of the CAC and had served as president. The club was officially incorporated in February 1926. A month later, members voted to establish a clubhouse at 604 Greenup St., adjacent to the Baker-Hunt Foundation. The impressive threestory brick structure was built in the 1820s and enlarged in 1867 and 1870. The front door still bears the original leaded glass, and there are two stained-glass windows, a large wooden carved newel post, and elegant marble fireplaces. In addition to an auditorium, a kitchen, and an upstairs apartment, the building houses the Jeanie B. McKee Booklovers’ Library, which is also the boardroom. The library was named as a memorial to McKee, who was a charter member of the CAC. Valuable books from her library were added to the club library as well as books from Mrs. A. E. Stricklett in memory of her husband, Kentucky state senator Alfred E. Stricklett. U.S. senator Richard P. Ernst donated a gift of Proctor and Gamble stock valued at $500, the income from which was to be used to maintain the library, and interest earned from this stock is still used toward the purchase of new library books annually. In 1973 the CAC building was placed on the National Historic Register. In 1986 it was damaged by a heavy storm (see Tornadoes) and subsequently was restored by architect George F. Roth Jr. In 2000 the clubhouse was sold to the BakerHunt Foundation because of the tremendous costs of maintenance. The CAC has a 10-year lease agreement with 5-year renewal options, and the Baker-Hunt Foundation has the use of the club’s complete facilities, other than the Jeanie B. McKee Library. As the club grew in size, special departments were added. In April 1900 the bylaws were amended to include departments of music and civics, and in 1906 three more departments were added: the Garden Circle, Arts & Crafts, and Literacy and Music. The Dramatic Circle was founded in 1924,
and in 1927 the Literature and Booklovers Department. Today the major departments are Arts and Crafts, Bridge, Home and Garden, LiteratureBooklovers, Music and Drama, and Travel. Each department except the Bridge Department is responsible for providing the programs, teas, and lunches throughout the club’s yearly seasons (September–December and February–May). New members are encouraged to join at least one department in order to become better acquainted with the inner workings of the club itself and to foster friendships. Members of the CAC have also been actively involved in improving existing social conditions. For instance, the club established its first playground in July 1901 and continued managing it for 20 years. Along with learning to play, the children were given sewing instructions. Club members also created gardens at the schools. In conjunction with this project, the CAC worked with the City of Covington to gain cooperation from local residents in establishing public cleanup days. The club’s community involvement was farreaching: it extended to the Hindman Settlement School in Knott Co, Ky., and several other Eastern Kentucky mountain schools. Besides clothing, books, and school supplies, the club sent “traveling libraries and traveling art galleries” to the schools. The members also worked with the Smoke League to eliminate the nuisance of smoke, and with the city council from 1915 until 1920 to demand pasteurization of milk and to promote sanitary conditions in all dairies. The CAC supported improved conditions in the jails and, in 1921, planted and presented to the City of Covington 50 scarlet oak trees in Devou Park. The club’s Welfare Department was created in early 1930. Members sewed for the Red Cross and later made dressings for poor patients at the Booth Memorial Hospital cancer clinic. In cooperation with the Society to Prevent Blindness, the Home Life Department instigated in 1972 an annual preschool visual screening in the Covington and Kenton Co. schools for approximately 1,800 children. The club is no longer involved in the screening, which is now overseen by the superintendent of Covington Schools. In 2001 the club began giving art scholarship awards to two deserving senior high school students from Boone, Campbell, or Kenton counties. In recent years the club has also awarded essay scholarships to two deserving high school senior students selected from the same three counties. Both of these awards were originally established by a $5,000 trust given to the club by Vance Trimble in memory of his wife Elzene, formerly an active member. Other monetary gifts are presented to deserving local charities, according to the availability of funds at year-end. The Finance Committee determines the recipients, but members may make suggestions. Two well-respected artists were members of the club: Dixie Selden and Lela Cooney. Selden was a student of Frank Duveneck. Lela Cooney was a multitalented local artist who created oil paintings and sketches, fashioned creative decors, and taught at Baker-Hunt. Numerous other members had a