February 1998
The map showed five structures that might have had early privies.
We trenched across the back of the corner lot without success.
The only features on the corner lot were a cistern filled in
around the turn of the century containing a large number of blob
top beers and a stone lined privy too new to dig. We did manage
to find a couple of wood line holes at the far west edge. The
most interesting one produced a large number and variety of
Marine Hospital bottles, a Pine Tree Tar Cordial with the word
"Patent," miscellaneous medical looking paraphernalia
and a great pot lid marked "Dr. E. J. Coxe Sarsaparilla and
Cubebs".
July 4th, 1861
Citizens of Newport were at each other’s throats over the
diverse reactions to the Fourth of July parade.. Unionists and
Sessionists, with their inhibition loosened by free flowing
liquor, started fights, fires and even shootings, fueled by long
standing debates about slavery, states rights, and never ending
rumors about rebel espionage or sabotage,.
Tension had been building for sometime. No doubt partially due to the likes of William S. Bailey, a Newport resident and extremist. He wrote Abolitionist essays in the local paper in which he displayed his contempt for the South. Eventually, he purchased the paper which he renamed the Free South. In 1851 an angry mob burned his press shop, but he resumed printing in less than six months with the help of well- wishers. He faced pro-slavery boycotts of the businesses that advertised with him, competition from other pro-slavery papers, libel suits and other court harassment including being fined for letting African Americans celebrate a party at his house. However, after defending John Brown’s raid in one of his diatribes, a group of about thirty citizens broken into his shop and tossed his type out on the street. The next day they declared his paper a nuisance and marched to his place of business carrying off everything except for the press, which was too heavy to carry, and dumped it into the Ohio River.
Newport was in the throes of a great transformation. In 1820, slaves comprised 25% of the population and 40% of the mostly Southern families own them. With the influx of northerners and European immigrants and the economic changes slavery had been nearly eliminated by 1860 when there were more free blacks (56) than slaves (39).
March 1998
One of the companies, a steel fabrication business, would be
moving out and the owner said we could go ahead and dig. The
gravel parking lot in front of the building had been the backyard
to two properties. Next door they were pouring the huge
foundation for the new aquarium. We had opened up several test
spots and found a brick lined hole in the center of one of the
lots. We dug down to the seven foot level and hit water. The
shards we found suggested a good old hole but time would nto
permit us to dig this one by hand. Because the business had
trucks coming and going we couldn’t leave it open. Roy
walked over to the construction trailers. He returned shortly
with the good news that one of the workers would bring over their
back hoe and "take out a few scoops" for us. Without
that help this privy would have needed to wait. As the third
scoop was being dumped, I saw Mike out of the corner of my eye
jump up and rush to the dripping pile. He returned triumphantly
with something behind his back. In a moment he produced a
beautiful cobalt blue pontiled root beer. We motioned to the
operator to stop, thanked him with the promise of a six pack and
proceeded to dig the rest by hand. Man, were we getting spoiled
by using the back hoe. Digging by hand seemed primitive by
comparison. In ten minutes the hoe dug more dirt that we could
have in two hours. I think it was around 10:00 P.M. when totally
worn out, we shoveled back the last bits of muddy dirt from the
surface of the parking lot. If there’s one thing I hate more
than digging the dirt out by hand, it is putting it back in by
hand.
October 1, 1867
Owners of the Newport Ferry announce they are raising the rates.
For the average commuter, the 600 trips across the Ohio annually
meant an increase of 25% in his costs. For some families the
increase would reach 60%. Since there was no bridge across the
Ohio River from Newport, the only alternative was to walk or
bicycle to Covington to cross. A bridge would revolutionize
Newport’s economy. Business and community leaders
successfully approached the Louisville, Cincinnati and Lexington
Railroad Company to build a railroad bridge. They cleverly outbid
their Covington neighbors by granting a railroad right of way to
the river bank. The cornerstone was laid June 3, 1868 and the
bridge completed in 1872, ending Newport’s semi-isolated
status.
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