COBURN, JOHN Demaline, Jackie. “Closson’s Gallery Was a Foundation of City Arts Scene,” CE, January 5, 2003, A11. Goss, Charles. Cincinnati the Queen City, 1788–1912. Vol. 4. Cincinnati: S. J. Clarke, 1912.
COAL COMPANIES. Most of the coal used in Northern Kentucky came from the mountains of Appalachia and arrived by rail or coal barge. People used the coal to heat their homes, at first in fireplaces and small coal-burning stoves and later in large cast-iron furnaces that could heat an entire home. Homes with coal furnaces had a special room in the basement called a coal bin, where the coal was kept. Because of the dirt, this room was always completely contained; it had a small window to the outside so that coal could be put in. A load of coal was sometimes delivered to a home and dumped in a pile near the street, and the homeowner would use a wheelbarrow or a wagon to move the coal to the window and dump it into the coal bin. For an extra charge, the company would move the coal directly from the truck into the coal bin by using conveyor belts. Central heating was an improvement over fireplaces and small coal stoves, but heating a home with coal was a very dirty method. As the heat rose to heat the rooms, black soot also rose and settled on the walls and furnishings in the rooms. When cleaner-burning sources of heat became available, many people were happy to switch from coal heat. J. T. Hatfield started one of the oldest coal companies in the Northern Kentucky region, when he opened a small coal yard on 15th St. in Covington in 1882. He delivered kindling wood and coal to homes in the immediate neighborhood, using a small wagon he pulled by hand. He later purchased a mule and a larger cart for his deliveries. Five years later, he acquired Bond Brothers Coal Company and renamed it the J. T. Hatfield Coal Company. Other coal concerns that Hatfield acquired included Blick and Philips, the largest company in Covington; D. H. Steine & Brother; August Kultzer, at Ninth and Pike Sts., Covington; Tighe and Berger, 10th and Greenup Sts., Covington; Uriah Shinkle, Second and Scott Sts., Covington; Von Voken and Gobel; and the Hignite Coal Company.
One of the largest coal companies in Covington was the Montgomery Coal Company, on 19th St. adjacent to the railroad tracks. In Latonia there were two coal companies: Economy Coal Company, located at about 33rd St. between Church St. and Decoursey Ave., and Latonia Ice & Fuel (see Icehouses), which was adjacent to the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N) on Eugenia Ave. Latonia Ice & Fuel’s complex took up an entire city block and was unusual because it sold ice as well as coal. The company was started by two brothers, Joe and Phil Mueller, around 1902 and incorporated in 1908. Most of the coal at Latonia Ice & Fuel was purchased from the Blue Diamond Coal Company, arrived by railcar, and was stored in the Latonia Ice & Fuel coal yard, either on the ground or in one of five concrete silos. Each silo was 90 to 95 feet tall. By use of a winch, a railcar was pulled into place over an open pit beneath the tracks, and the four hopper doors in the bottom of the car were opened so that the coal fell into the pit. In the pit an electrically operated gate would open, allowing the coal to fall into a large steel bucket, which would then proceed on a set of rails partway up the silos and then go straight to the top of the silos, run sideways to the proper silo, and then move down into the silo until it touched the coal. Touching the coal tripped a latch so that the coal was deposited into the silo. The bucket would then return to the top of the silo and descend for another load. Each bucket-load was about three-fourths of a ton of coal. Each of the five silos had a chute in front that could be opened to allow the coal to be loaded onto a waiting coal truck and taken away for delivery. Besides delivering to homes, Latonia Ice & Fuel had contracts with the City of Covington to supply coal to some of its housing projects. At the projects, the coal was dumped through manholes into underground bins that held approximately 20 tons of coal. Other areas within Northern Kentucky had similar coal operations. Along the Chesapeake and Ohio Railroad, at Brent in Campbell Co. was the Grimm Coal and Lumber Company; in Dayton there was the Breitenstein & Son Coal Company; Bellevue was home to Peters Coal; and Newport had the Newport Coal Company at 12th
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and Columbia Sts., near the Wagon Bridge leading to Clifton, and the Bell Coal Company, at Sixth and Saratoga Sts., along the L&N Railroad. Each of these companies had a rail siding, where coal was unloaded from hopper cars into bins for distribution to customers. In recent years, Maysville has become a coal port city as Eastern Kentucky coal is being brought there via the refurbished TransKentucky Transportation Railroad for loading onto Ohio River coal barges. Boh, John. “The J. T. Hatfield Company (1882–1950),” Kenton County Historical Society Newsletter, November 1992. ———. “The Pioneer, Montgomery, Rusk Coal Companies,” Kenton County Historical Society Newsletter, October 1992. “Latonia Ice & Fuel,” KP, August 26, 1908, 2. “Phil Mueller Rites Set for Thursday,” KP, June 1, 1954, 1.
Mary Jo Hardcorn
COBB, ALFRED (b. 1833, near Lusby’s Mill, Ky.; d. January 25, 1904, place of death unknown). The surname Cobb is common throughout Owen Co., and a member of that family has provided a quasi-autobiographical insight into life during the 19th century in the Kentucky county nicknamed Sweet Owen. In his Liff y Leman; or, Thirty Years in the Wilderness, Alfred Cobb says that he was born in the hill country of Eagle Creek, and he refers to his environs as the “wilderness.” In 1830 Owenton had, at most, 50 houses; Georgetown in Scott Co. had sophistication not found in Cobb’s backwoods wilderness: he notes that Georgetown had log homes chinked with mortar. Cobb recounted his Civil War experiences as a Confederate under Gen. Braxton Bragg. He went to war with his own horse, and later, after some Southern defeats, returned home starved after an 11-day ride from Tennessee. He described a famous hanging in Owenton that was attended by 5,000 people. Throughout his book, he supported temperance in consumption of alcohol, as demonstrated by the exemplary behavior of his character Aunt Milly. Simply put, Cobb warned about what could happen if a person overindulged in alcohol. At 11:00 on the night of December 4, 1869, Cobb was aboard the Ohio River steamboat United States, headed downriver from Cincinnati near Warsaw, when his boat collided with the upriver-bound America. It was one of the more famous collisions in steamboat history. Somehow Cobb made it to safety. Naturally, in his book he indicated his suspicion that the pi lots of the United States had been consuming alcoholic beverages. Cobb’s writings were favorites among the temperance-movement crowd. Cobb, Alfred. Liff y Leman; or, Thirty Years in the Wilderness. Louisville, Ky.: H. A. Kunnecke, 1890. Houchens, Mariam Sidebottom. History of Owen County: “Sweet Owen.” Louisville, Ky.: Standard, 1976.
COBURN, JOHN (b. 1763, Philadelphia, Pa.; d. Loading coal at the Latonia Ice and Fuel Company.
February 1823, Maysville, Ky.). Businessman and judge John Coburn was educated in Philadelphia.