FALMOUTH SUSPENSION BRIDGE Dennie, Debbie, and Patty Jenkins, comps. Forks of the Licking, Bicentennial Edition, 1798–1998. Falmouth, Ky.: Falmouth Outlook, 1998.
Michael D. Redden and Aprile Conrad Redden
FALMOUTH METHODIST CHURCH (MARY’S CHAPEL). When Paul C. Lair donated a lot in Falmouth, at the corner of Main Cross and Upper Mill Sts. (today Shelby St. and Maple Ave.), to the Falmouth Methodist Episcopal Church South, he helped start one of the leading churches in the city. Until then, the members of the Methodist Society, as the group was known in the early 1800s, did not have a regular meeting place; they met in the homes of members, for instance, in the home of Birkett Colvin Sr. of Mount Vernon in southeastern Pendleton Co., and later in the court house. Th is small group was included at first in the Cynthiana circuit, which extended from Cynthiana to Newport and included Harrison and Pendleton counties, as well as parts of Campbell, Grant, and Kenton counties. In 1832 the Methodist congregation at Falmouth left the Cynthiana circuit and became a member of the smaller Falmouth circuit, which included Mount Vernon and Boyd, a town in northwestern Harrison Co. When the congregation erected a building on the land Lair had provided, Augustus Robbins named the new church Mary’s Chapel in honor of his wife, Mary, who was a sister of Paul Lair. The original building had one entrance, facing Shelby St., with a small vestibule inside the entrance. A stove in the center of the room heated the church. The altar rail was in the same place where it is today, and an organ and the choir were on the side. Th is building was remodeled first in 1890. At that time the vestibule was replaced with three artglass windows, and the other windows in the church were replaced with glass matching the front three. Two vestibules were then constructed, one on each side of the building, as they remain today. The building was remodeled for a second time in 1926. It was enlarged by several feet to make room for the seating of the choir behind the pulpit, and a small pastor’s study was added. The pulpit and the altar rail have remained in the same locations where they were placed more than 125 years ago. Belew, Mildred Boden. The First 200 Years of Pendleton County. Falmouth, Ky.: M. B. Belew, n.d. [ca. 1994].
Mildred Belew
FALMOUTH OUTLOOK. The Falmouth Outlook was founded by Warren Jeff rey Shonert Sr. and first published on June 21, 1907. Shonert, who had worked setting type and as a news editor in Cynthiana and Georgetown, started and printed the newspaper in a blacksmith shop owned by his father, Henry Shonert. Warren Shonert began with five subscribers. Several friends and his sister, Mayme McBride, helped him with finances.
Warren Shonert, a staunch Democrat, was not bashful about offering his opinion in weekly editorials titled, Think about It. The paper moved to its present location at 210 Main St. in 1922. Shonert’s son Warren Jeff rey Shonert Jr. grew up around the newspaper’s offices, watching and working with his father. In 1942, after graduating from college, Warren Shonert Jr. became the paper’s editor. Publisher W. J. Shonert Sr. died in January 1953. After his father’s death, the younger Shonert became both editor and publisher. He married Genevieve Hancock, and the couple had twins, Jeffrey and Genevieve. The Shonert family spent most of their early life working in the newspaper business. Daughter Genevieve was editor from 1983 until 1985. Warren J. Shonert Jr. continued as editor and publisher until January 1986, when he sold the paper to Delphos Herald Inc. The Falmouth Outlook was set with hot type until it went to offset printing in 1967. However, James Shelton and Warren J. Shonert continued to set type on the old linotype machines until 1985, printing auction flyers, business cards, and many other printing jobs. The old press stands in the back room of the business today. Gone, however, are the old linotype machines used to set type, along with the old headliner machines. The compugraphic machines that Shonert used to get the paper out in the early 1980s are also obsolete. In January 1986 Richard Fry became the newspaper’s publisher and editor. In January 1987 the Shopper’s Outlook, a supplement for shoppers, was born, with a subscription list of 9,090. For a short time, until August 1988, Sue Pullin edited the newspaper after Fry. In the following month, a native-born and lifelong Falmouth resident, Debbie Dennie, became publisher and editor. Dennie started working at the newspaper in 1981, where she learned much from Warren Shonert. The modernization brought about by computers has taken a lot of the personal touch away from weekly newspapers. The Falmouth newspaper has never missed an issue of publication, and it has survived many hardships over the years since 1907, including the Great Depression, floods, blizzards, and tornados. In 1964, when a flood spread over the city of Falmouth, the newspaper had about three inches of water in its building. On March 1, 1997, when the great flood hit, the newspaper offices had five feet of water, which destroyed everything. Over 85 percent of the city of Falmouth was flooded. The newspaper that week was only two days late, though. The staff worked out of publisher Dennie’s basement for 10 weeks until May, when the newspaper’s building had been cleaned and was ready to occupy. Today, the newspaper is assembled by pagination on computers. There are nine employees, four of whom are full-time. Current circulation is 3,875 paid subscribers, with 1,400 copies placed in the newsstands and 9,000 Shopper’s Outlooks mailed out each Tuesday. Debbie Dennie
FALMOUTH RAILWAY DEPOT. The Falmouth Railway Depot in Falmouth was built along
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the Louisville and Nashville Railroad (L&N), 40 miles south of Cincinnati. The wood-frame structure was completed in 1912. It was originally designed with express and baggage rooms, three waiting rooms, and an agent’s office. Later, new platforms and train sheds were added. In 1968 the L&N’s last passenger train passed through Falmouth. One result of discontinuing ser vice to Falmouth was that the railroad no longer needed most of the depot’s space. On April 17, 1980, before the railroad was able to have the depot demolished, this 68-year-old railroad station burned to the ground. “News Briefs,” KP, April 18, 1980, 10K.
Mildred Belew
FALMOUTH SUSPENSION BRIDGE. One of the first wire suspension bridges in the United States was built across the Licking River at Falmouth in 1853. Falmouth, the county seat of Pendleton Co., is on the east side of the Licking River, some 60 miles south by river from the river’s mouth at Covington. Falmouth was to be the fi rst major stop on the new Covington-to-Lexington railroad that was being built at the time. Moreover, a turnpike system connecting Falmouth to Alexandria, Ky., and Cincinnati was planned. After much discussion, a wire suspension bridge was selected for this site and a contract was executed with a fi rm from Pittsburgh, Pa. The best public road in Pendleton Co. at this time led to Foster’s Landing, a steamboat stop on the Ohio River located about halfway between Newport and Maysville. The iron, the rolled iron wire, the anchors, the saddles, the anchor chains, and other supplies to build the new suspension bridge were transported to Foster’s Landing from Pittsburgh and then moved on to Falmouth by ox-drawn wagons. The crew to build the bridge was also imported from Pittsburgh and was housed in shacks on the shore opposite the town. The constructor of the bridge was D. Griffith Smith, a civil engineer from Pittsburgh. The main span of the new bridge was 323 feet. The floor was supported on eight iron wires that were connected to anchor chains; the anchors were constructed of masonry. The 30-foothigh towers were described as wooden in one report, but it is unlikely that they were of wood construction. It is possible that stone towers were covered with wood for a more fi nished look. Another report says that the tollbooth was in one of the towers. The bridge never made money, since toll collection was lax. The bridge’s greatest business was as a “kissing bridge.” Its floor was occasionally damaged by flood-driven debris, but this span survived until 1868, when it collapsed for unknown reasons. Belew, Mildred Boden. The First 200 Years of Pendleton County. Falmouth, Ky.: M. B. Belew, n.d. [ca. 1994]. Bridgemeister. “1853 (Suspension Bridge) Falmouth, Kentucky, USA.” www.bridgemeister.com (accessed December 6, 2006).
Joseph F. Gastright