152 CAPPEL, WILLIAM F. “BILL” At one time many pharmacies had soda stands on their premises where ice cream was sold, mainly sodas, malts, and shakes, besides fruity parfaits. One such place was Albert Bathiany’s Drug Store at 601 Monmouth St. in Newport; one could stop there for a refreshing respite while shopping in the Monmouth St. Business District. Not far from the Sweet Tooth stood Ann’s Ice Balls at 28 E. Ninth St. in Newport, which sold ice, ice cream, and ice cream ice balls through a window along the sidewalk, at the site the shop had occupied since 1940. In the early 1950s on hot summer nights, it was common to find a half-block-long line of Ann’s customers outside, waiting their turn. For many years during the summer, roving ice cream trucks—less often seen today—traveled the urban neighborhoods of Northern Kentucky peddling their ice cream. Customers knew when an ice cream truck was in the vicinity because they heard the repetitious music emanating from a public address system on the truck’s roof. Perhaps the most famous of such moving operators was the franchise known as Mister Softee, named for the softserve ice cream it sold. The major Mister Softee distributor in Campbell Co. was Gene Thomas, son of the founders and owners of the F&N Steakhouse. Since 1979 the Italian confectionary company Perfetti Van Melle USA has been located in Erlanger, along Turfway Rd., and it has manufactured candy since 1982. Home of the Air Heads brand of candy and a cotton candy bubble gum, the 120,000-square-foot plant employs nearly 200 workers. Erlanger is also home to the recently arrived ice cream manufacturing facility United Dairy Farmers (UDF), situated along Crescent Springs Pk. UDF, a large Cincinnati concern, has nine retail store locations throughout Northern Kentucky today, at sites seemingly selected for reasons of gasoline sales, not ice cream. Graeter’s Ice Cream, the long-standing favorite of Cincinnati ice cream lovers, presently operates four stores in Northern Kentucky. Day, Michelle. “Kentucky’s Sweet Tooth,” KP, December 14, 1984, 13K. Gallagher, Janice. “The Candy Maker,” KP, February 2, 2003, 5K. Hicks, Jack. “Autumn’s Sweet Treats,” KP, October 5, 2005, 10K. Newberry, Jon. “Candy Plant Will Add Jobs,” KP, February 18, 2005, 1K. “New Candy Plant for Covington,” KP, March 7, 1957, 1. “New Wholesale Candy Manufactory,” CJ, December 27, 1856, 4. Paeth, Greg. “Age Catches up with Lily’s,” KP, February 4, 1987, 1K. Reis, Jim. “Dairies Added a Daily Personal Touch,” KP, May 14, 1990, 4K. ———. “Ice Cream Soda Brought Magnolia Building Fame,” KP, May 17, 2004, 4K. Van Sant, Rick. “Candy Is Dandy at Easter,” CP, April 10, 1998, 1A. Yelton, Kim. “Alex Papas Has a Sweet Deal,” KP, January 27, 1977, 15K.
Michael R. Sweeney
CAPPEL, WILLIAM F. “BILL” (b. November 12, 1912, Covington, Ky.; d. December 16, 2003, Covington, Ky.). Baseball player and promoter Bill Cappel was a living embodiment of baseball in Covington for more than 60 years, lived all of his life along Perry St. in Covington (not far from the old Covington Ball Park), and never married. He was a lifelong member of St. John Catholic Church on nearby Pike St. Cappel, the son of Anthony and Katherine Volphenheim Cappel (both born in Germany), and was a member of the first graduating class of the Covington Latin School (1927). In September 1939 he was both the captain and second baseman for Nick Carr’s Covington Boosters baseball team—a team that some have said produced Covington’s greatest moment in sports when it won the World’s Amateur Softball Championship (fast pitch) at Soldier’s Field in Chicago. Cappel served in World War II in the army, earning the Legion of Merit, the Bronze Star, and five other service-related medals. From 1948 thorough 1958, he was the general manager of Covington’s city ballparks: he worked seven days a week, from 5:30 p.m. until midnight, without compensation. He was involved with promoting women’s softball as early as 1935 and started the Covington Major Girls League at Covington’s Meinken Field. He was a cofounder of both the Northern Kentucky Umpire’s Association and the Northern Kentucky Sports Hall of Fame, into which he was later inducted. He never learned to drive, instead riding with friends or walking wherever he went. He first worked for the Union Pacific Railroad and later for the Cincinnati Terminal Warehouse. In August 2003, at age 91, Cappel fell and broke his hip twice and went to a nursing home. He remained there until his death. He was buried at St. John Cemetery in Fort Mitchell. Countless residents of Covington remember him at the ballpark; they routinely paid him the utmost respect, intuitively knowing that he had forgotten more about baseball than most people would ever learn, while he effortlessly made certain that everything and everyone was ready for the next pitch. Many who are knowledgeable about sports in Northern Kentucky consider Bill Cappel, the player, manager, umpire, and groundskeeper, as having been the region’s Sportsman of the Past Century. “60 Years Is Enough for Cappel,” KP, December 13, 1985, 6K. “Sportsman of the Century Dies at 91,” KE, December 19, 2003, B1. “William F. Cappel, 91, on World Champion Team,” KP, December 17, 2003, A15.
floodwall is immediately south of the restaurant, which is a prime place in Maysville to view the river, the Simon Kenton Memorial Bridge, and the new William H. Harsha Bridge. A fast freight train roars by within feet of diners. In the early years, the railroad station was a source of customers for the restaurant. Locals from all over frequented Caproni’s. The site of countless receptions, club meetings, and retirement dinners, it was also the place to go for lunch. Alfred and Lea Caproni bought the business in 1953. Alfred died in 1966, and Lea remodeled the building in the summer of 1967, so that a wall of windows on the north side brought the Ohio River vista to nearly all the diners. In 1975 Louisville Courier-Journal writer Billy Reed named Caproni’s one of the 10 best places to eat in Kentucky. Many diners were regulars, including John Skillman, who was involved in the construction of the floodwall. In 1970 he married the owner, Lea Caproni, and together they ran “Cap’s” until his death in 1987. Lea gave up the business in 1990, and the namesake family was no longer associated with the restaurant. It went through a succession of owners and was closed when Jerry Lundergan, a Maysville native and nationally known caterer, bought the business in 1999. After extensive remodeling, Caproni’s reopened in December 2000. Over the years many dignitaries dined there, including governors of Kentucky John Y. Brown Jr. (1979–1983) and Wallace Wilkinson (1987–1991). Caproni’s has been a longtime favorite of the Clooney family and in recent years has been the reception site for the headliners of the local Rosemary Clooney Music Festival, such as singers Linda Rondstadt and Roberta Flack. Caproni’s features fi ne dining with a casual atmosphere and honors its heritage with both Italian dishes and other choices. It continues to attract customers from all walks of life; locals often entertain their guests there. The Capronis of Cincinnati, cousins to the Maysville family, operated their Caproni’s Italian Restaurant in downtown Cincinnati on Court St., and later along Main St.; after 89 years of business, it closed in 1975. Many old photographs of Crosley Field, home until 1970 of the Cincinnati Reds baseball team, show a billboard for the local Caprioni’s painted on the outfield wall. Caproni’s fi le, Kentucky Gateway Museum Collection, Maysville, Ky. Clooney, Nick. “A Dining Institution Is Reborn,” KP, March 9, 2001, 1B. “Maysville Eatery for Sale,” KP, February 24, 1990, 6K.
John Klee
CAPRONI’S RESTAURANT. Caproni’s has been a Maysville dining tradition since 1945. Leo Caproni bought the restaurant that year and operated it with his brother and sister-in-law, Alfred and Lea Caproni. The restaurant is located beside the Amtrak railroad station and along the CSX tracks, overlooking the Ohio River, at the base of what is now Rosemary Clooney St. The town
CARDINAL HILL OF NORTHERN KENTUCKY. Founded in Covington in 1923 as Kentucky Easter Seals, Cardinal Hill today is a nonprofit organization and an outpatient facility specializing in various areas of health care. In Northern Kentucky these include speech-language therapy, audiology, early intervention, adult day health care