Covington’s alleys are historic hidden treasures
Covington has some spectacular historic architecture. There’s lots to choose from for fans of Victorian houses, stylish commercial buildings, and historic cemeteries. Plus, there’s a John A. Roebling suspension bridge spanning the Ohio River. But…
Lagering caves, Underground Railroad station, or a flooded parking lot? A Covington mystery
There is a flooded parking garage beneath this surface parking lot at the intersection of Scott and Pike streets in Covington. The Pure Oil Company built the concrete block service station in 1941. Photo by…
Aaron Meyerowitz blasted his way into Northern Kentucky history
Aaron Meyerowitz. The Kentucky Post, Feb. 23, 1946. Via newspapers.com. Aaron Meyerowitz, a.k.a., Danny Meyers, came to Newport, Kentucky, from Kansas City, Missouri, in 1945. He found work in casinos run by Jewish racketeers from…
Who was Joe Stevie? If you've got questions, we've got some answers! #lovethecov 🗃️
Stevie’s roadhouse was a popular Cincy area destination with an enduring legacy
Roadhouse owner Joe Stevie. Courtesy Bob and Joe Stevie. Covington, Kentucky, may be one of the few places in the country where an ordinary conversation about a vacant downtown parking lot seamlessly segues into a…
Happening soon. 🗃️
It's gonna be a sunny and warm(ish) day here in Covington. That means the weather will be perfect to finalize the script for April's Covington Vice Stroll, a walking tour through 150 years of gambling and bootlegging history. 🗃️
This Covington, Ky., site is haunted by failed businesses and dashed development dreams. What's beneath the parking lot surface? Flooded brewery tunnels? An old parking garage? Ghosts? The only way to find out is to peer inside. 🗃️ nkytribune.com/2026/02/covi...
Page from an 1834 address about the Anti-Gambling Society of Transylvania University delivered in Lexington, Kentucky.
I wonder what this 1830s Kentucky anti-gambling society did for fun?
A conversation with Sister Janet
Sister Janet Bucher, July 2025. Photo by David Rotenstein. Sister Janet Bucher was one of the first people I met after moving to Covington, Kentucky, last summer. Before the move, I had subscribed to City of Covington email lists promoting future events in our new…
A gambler who played a key role in regional & national sports betting history died while living in an apartment inside this Northern Kentucky building.
How naive I was to be astonished by Pgh. madam Mae Scheible's audacity running a brothel across the street from the county courthouse. Covington gamblers did something similar & fire insurance maps labeled the casinos, including one marked "gambling 2d [floor]." Jail "rock breaking yard" a bonus!
Assembling sites for new crime history tours in 2026. One site that should be on the bike tour but won't b/c it's too far afield is this brick building (left). It has ties to the birth of syndicated horse race betting, Churchill Downs, and key Cincy area casinos. If only its walls could talk!
How much more criminally corrupt was Northern Kentucky than Pittsburgh? Where do you see "Pittsburgh" in this 1985 graphic?
Did Jakie Lerner ever gamble in Northern Kentucky? He was friends with and did "business" with many of the region's big-name racketeers, including Moe Dalitz & the Lookout House's Sam "Gameboy" Miller. Are we going to find his footprints here? pittsburghquarterly.com/articles/fin...
Front page from the Vernacular Architecture Forum's Winter 2025 newsletter with the feature article, "Vernacular Architecture and Gambling: Racing Wires in Covington, Kentucky."
Ever wonder how bookies working inside taverns & casinos got their "dope" — early intel on horses, jockeys, tracks & race results? I explored some of the architectural aspects of this information network in a new Vernacular Architecture Forum newsletter article. 🗃️ www.vafweb.org/resources/Do...
Photo collage: IRS site original development in the early 1960s (upper left), IRS site being redeveloped in 2025 (upper right), officials posing for a photo in front of IRS construction site sign in the 1960s (lower left), and story about IRS returning cash seized in a gambling club raid published in 1968 (lower right).
The largest urban redevelopment project in the Midwest is underway in Covington, Ky. The city is transforming an IRS processing facility built in the 1960s into a mixed-use development. I wonder if folks see the irony in the IRS locating there & the many IRS gambling busts, 1950-1980s? 🗃️
Did you know that in 1950, Covington had the most (legal, sort of) slot machines in all of Kentucky? Starting in the 1940s, the IRS required gamblers to buy licenses for coin-operated vending machines that paid cash prizes or tokens redeemable for cash. Covington had more than Newport!
