828 SHOWBOATS “Fire Closes Short-Way Bridge,” KP, July 26, 1976, 1K. Lehmann, Terry W., and Earl W. Clark. The Green Line. Chicago: Central Electric Railfan’s Association, 2000. Reis, Jim. “A Link with Death: Collapse of Shortway Bridge’s Predecessor Claimed 31 Lives,” KP, May 2, 1983, 4K. Reiter, John. “Tolls Will Rise on Short Way,” CP, July 11, 1978, 11. Remlinger, Connie. “One Last Toll,” KP, September 10, 1986, 1K. “Shortway Bridge Toll Removed,” KP, September 10, 1986, 1.
SHOWBOATS. In early August 1945, the Menke brothers’ showboat Hollywood (formerly the Columbia) tied up at the foot of Greenup St. in Covington for 10 nights of Clouds and Sunshine, with the curtain rising at 8:30 p.m. It was one of the last times for such a stop at Covington. Beginning in the 1830s, similar boats had plied the navigable rivers of the region—the Ohio and the Kentucky—bringing smiles and fun. The previous showboat to dock in Covington had been the behemoth 1,400-seat Golden Rod, in 1939. River records suggest that at least 100 showboats were built for the inland waterways. Big and small, these migratory vaudev illian emporiums, gingerbread constructions set atop mostly unpropelled barges, were towed to venues at Maysville, Augusta, Dayton, Bellevue, Newport, Covington, Ludlow, Warsaw, and Carrollton on the Ohio, at Gratz and Monterey on the Kentucky, and sometimes all the way to Frankfort and beyond. Calliopes would announce their arrival; then the evening bill was typically a melodrama full of villains and tear-jerking plots, with multiple roles performed by members of the boat’s crew. Popcorn and penny candy were available for purchase. These annual summer visits were greatly anticipated by people of all ages. The larger cities, being the fi rst to open movie theaters, were the fi rst to lose their showboats; but gradually, throughout the region, the floating palaces of a bygone era ceased coming round the bend. Many rivermen and showboaters retired to Newport and Covington. In 1931 Captain Edwin A. Price died at his home at 324 Park Ave. in Newport. He and his son, Steven E. Price, had operated several showboats (the Grand Floating Palace, the Water Queen, and the New Era) on the Ohio and Mississippi rivers, from Pittsburgh and St. Paul to New Orleans. They did so until 1928, when Steven Price died. The Prices’ large floating theaters were welcome sights for the people of the region for many years. The popu lar Bryant’s Show Boat was retired in 1942, after 24 seasons on the water. The few boats that survive are novelties. The Showboat Majestic, for example, is permanently moored at the public landing at Cincinnati; it does not leave its berth. The lore of showboating has captured the literature and arts of America. Based upon an Edna Ferber novel of the same name, the Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein epic musical Show Boat opened at the Ziegfeld Theater in New York
City in December 1927. It had a run of one and a half years and has been redone many times, professionally on Broadway (and even recently in London’s West End) and nonprofessionally by schools and local groups. Some critics have called it perhaps the greatest American musical. The production’s continued success demonstrates the degree of nostalgia for this now-missing part of the American landscape, which the Northern Kentucky region once so thoroughly enjoyed firsthand. Bryant, Betty. Here Comes the Showboat. Lexington: Univ. Press of Kentucky, 1994. “Here Comes the Showboat,” KP, August 6, 1945, 2. Reis, Jim. “We Build on Their Efforts: Unsung Stalwarts Created Community,” KP, June 19, 2000, 4K. “Ser vices for Proprietor of Show Boats,” KTS, March 15, 1928, 3. Way, Frederick, Jr. Way’s Packet Directory, 1848– 1994. Athens: Ohio Univ. Press, 1994.
Michael R. Sweeney
SHUTT, JACOB D. (b. 1830, Warren Co., Pa.; d. February 24, 1895, Covington, Ky.). Jacob D. Shutt became a very wealthy banker in Northern Kentucky after the Civil War. Although his background is somewhat obscure, Shutt moved from Pennsylvania to Covington around 1850. He started working in the lumber business, married an employer’s daughter (Sarah A. “Nannie” Richardson), and found political success. In 1863 he won a seat on the Covington city council and later was chosen council president. In 1864, as a Republican, Shutt won election to the Kentucky legislature and served from 1865 to 1867. In 1881 he lost a bid to become a state senator. In 1868 he purchased four city lots in Covington. At 26 W. Fift h St. in Covington still stands the elegant Shutt mansion, now housing professional offices. After the Civil War, Shutt’s career paralleled that of many Republican businessmen and bankers. Following passage of the national banking act of 1864, Shutt built his career in the new banking system as one of local businessman Amos Shinkle’s associates. In 1877 Shutt was elected a director of Shinkle’s First National Bank in Covington. In 1880 Shutt was one of the bank’s seven directors, along with Vincent and Amos Shinkle. In 1885 Shutt was president of the City National Bank of Covington. At the time of his death, he was vice president of the First National Bank. Shutt joined the Washington Lodge and the Independent Order of Odd Fellows, served on the board of the Covington Protestant Children’s Home (see Children’s Home of Northern Kentucky), gave time and money to the new Union Methodist Episcopal Church (see First United Methodist Church), and was a director of Highland Cemetery in Fort Mitchell (1879–1895). A Highland Cemetery brochure lists Shutt with 25 other men and 1 woman (Una Merkel) as distinguished persons interred there. Shutt was entombed alone in 1895 in a $40,000 mausoleum, with his own life-size statue on top.
Bricking, Chuck. Covington’s Heritage: A Compilation of the City’s Historical Houses and a Short Biography of the Inhabitants. Covington, Ky.: Privately published, 1980. Covington Death Record No. 119, for the year 1895. Kenton Co. Deed Book 17, May 29, 1868, 610–11. “Mr. Shutt’s Death—Positions Held in County,” KP, February 25, 1895, 1.
John Boh
SIEWERS, SARAH M. (b. March 1, 1855, Cincinnati, Ohio; d. April 22, 1926, Massillon, Ohio). Medical doctor and suff ragist Sarah M. Siewers was the daughter of Charles G. and Rebecca Carpenter Siewers. The family moved to Newport when Sarah was a young child. She attended public school in Newport and graduated from Newport High School. Shortly thereafter, she became a grade school teacher and later taught at Newport High School. Siewers attended a series of lectures on chemistry and physiology during the time she was teaching high school, and she decided to pursue a medical career. She left teaching and enrolled in the Eclectic Medical College of Cincinnati in Ohio, the only area medical school that would accept female students. Another well-known doctor who attended that school was Louise Southgate, who set up her medical practice in Covington. Siewers graduated with a medical degree in 1891. She did postgraduate work at the Cincinnati City Hospital and at the Ohio Hospital for Women and Children. After her postgraduate work was completed, she opened her medical practice at 209 E. Sixth St. in Newport. She also became involved in social issues and joined the women’s suff rage movement, eventually serving as president of the Susan B. Anthony Club of Cincinnati. Siewers also worked tirelessly for educational reform and became the first woman elected to the Cincinnati Board of Education. She was an active member of the Women’s Christian Temperance League, which promoted abstinence from alcohol and tobacco. She continued her medical practice in Newport until 1916, when she moved to Massillon, Ohio. She died there of Bright’s Disease (a kidney disorder), at age 71. After she was cremated, her ashes were buried in a family plot at Spring Grove Cemetery in Cincinnati. Goss, Charles Frederick, ed. Cincinnati: The Queen City, 1788–1912. 4 vols. Chicago: S. J. Clarke, 1912. Reis, Jim. “Doctor Didn’t Limit Crusades to Women,” KP, June 11, 1984, 8K. Rootsweb. “Sarah M. Siewers.” www.rootsweb.com (accessed April 25, 2006).
SILVER GROVE. Silver Grove in eastern Campbell Co. lies along the Ohio River where Ky. Rt. 8 (Mary Ingles Highway) and Ky. Rt. 547 (Four Mile Pk.) intersect. Melbourne is to the east along the river, and Alexandria is located seven miles to the south. Silver Grove, incorporated as a sixthclass city in 1948, was an active community early in the 20th century. The Four Mile Creek, a major watershed of central Campbell Co., lies to the