Silver Grove History
Prepared by
Gerald F Losey for the Campbell County Historical Society
and presented at the Cold Spring Library on April 8, 1993
I would like to give a little background of the area before the city of Silver Grove was established. Before the railroads, automobiles and trucks, we had the Ohio River for freight and passenger service. Also we had horse and wagons and horse and buggies. When President Herbert Hoover came to Cincinnati in October 1929 to dedicate the new locks and dams on the Ohio River, he stated, "For over 200 years the Ohio River was our highway to the west."
Time change and I have seen more changed in my lifetime than occurred in all the time before. In 1880 and 1881 the Cincinnati and South Eastern Railroad was buying property for the right-of-ways, and by 1883, according to the 1883 map, the railroad was in place in Campbell County. The railroad operated excursions that stopped at the north east end of Silver Grove, that was before the city was built by the railroad.
The trains brought people to this recreation resort called Phoenix Grove (called that on a 1905 picture I saw with about 200 people on it). The trains took people to camps in Melbourne and in Ross, to the Ross Hotel, which later became the home of Campbell County Commissioner, Jacob Martz. It also took people to the hotel in Oneonta, by 12 Mile Creek, built by the railroad bridge builder, Mel Boots.
At the same time, J T Murphy from Virginia, was in charge of laying railroad tracks from Maysville to the Campbell County Area not already constructed. The Cincinnati and Southeastern Railroad and the Chesapeake & Ohio Railroad combined into one railroad.
By 1910 the C&O needed to build railroad yard and a terminal at Silver Grove, because the trains had to be inspected before they crossed state line. The city was conceived because the C&O need a ready supply of workers to man the freight trains, as they were made up in the switching yards in Silver Grove. The main freight hauled at that time was coal. Some trains went west, some went south and some went north to be shipped on the Great Lakes. In all places it was used for heating homes, businesses and power plants to generate electricity.
Needing a ready supple of labor the town was created. The C&O Railroad engineers laid out the town in 1912. Consisting of streets, sidewalks, curbs, water lines, sewer lines, and electric transmission lines. Since the railroad engines were coal, steam powered the C&O needed and had a plentiful supply of water, and they generated their own electricity. Thereby, the railroad was able to furnish water to the people of Silver Grove for 75 cents per month, and electric for $1.00 per month.
The railroad donated a large brick building for a school. This building was purchased from the Heber family earlier when the railroad was buying the real estate in the area. The Heber family had operated a tavern, restaurant, hotel, saddle and harness shop in this building which later became our school. The railroad built next to the school, a dance pavilion and the W S Taylor Park for the school students and general public. It was also used for outings by stores like Rollman's and Pogue's.
In 1915 the railroad moved Al DeLong and wife Cora to Silver Grove to take charge of the town. Mr. DeLong had worked for the C&O real estate department in the Lexington area. The town was operated under the name of Silver Grove Land & Building, Inc. by the DeLong family and when Al and Mrs. DeLong passed away, their son Beattie DeLong continued to operate the town until the railroad dropped it in August 1948.
A group of people called The Silver Grove Improvement Assn. ran a campaign against the railroad for illegally being in the light and water business. Some people thought and voiced the opinion that the group had been paid by the railroad to carry on that campaign so the railroad would have a good excuse to drop the town. After the railroad did drop the town, the people organized a group to fight for incorporation and to include the railroad in the city. They hired attorney Malcolm Rhoads to handle the legal affairs and after we were incorporated he became the city attorney. In fighting the railroad, the case went from Circuit Court to Court of Appeals and back to Circuit Court three times.
I was the city's first mayor being sworn into office on my 40th birthday January 2, 1951. I served until March 1957 resigning, due to pressure of my business. Mrs. Julia Ruschell became Mayor and served until her death in December 1970. She was on the telephone discussing city business and had a stroke and died shortly thereafter. She was a very fine and bright person and dedicated to the improvement of the city. This gave the city the distinction of being the second city in Kentucky to have a Lady Mayor. Maysville's Rebecca Hord was first in Kentucky.
I think we have the distinction of the longest serving city clerk, Jean Boyer. She served as recording secretary to the original organization that was formed to incorporate the town, and to the fire department that was formed, and continued to serve as city clerk from January 2, 1951 until the present time (April 1993). Presently one of our volunteer fireman and council member, Dennis Decker is serving as State Fire Marshall.
When we were sworn in we had no money, no street lights and a non-operating sewerage system. No money made it a real challenge. We had to levy taxes and contract for street lights and other services. We had to pass ordinances, rules and regulation. Bob Hummel, Mayor of Bellevue, loaned us a copy of their city ordinances.
In June of 1951 the Kentucky State Fire Inspector called for an appointment. When we met, he wanted me to turn in a fire alarm to see if the railroad fire brigade would continue to respond as they always had. I told him that we had the assurance from the Railroad Fire Fighter Brigade that they would continue to respond. Also, since we were in a legal battle with the C&O over the inclusion of the railroad in the city limits, I did not want to turn in a false alarm. The state gave us 6 months to get organized and functioning as a fire department or they would disqualify the city for the favorable fire insurance rate the Railroad Fire Brigade was given. I talked to council member, Charles Jones, Bud Miller, Howard Kramer, Charles Ashcraft, Les Nelson and others who had formed a volunteer fire department.
After the state edict, we called the group together and arranged to nominate Lou Jacobs as fire chief, who had some experience in military service, another to second and then quickly close the nomination. This was railroading by a railroad town. With the help of Highland Heights and Cold Spring Fire Departments, they gave us good information on how to build a good fire department, and how to operate profitable carnivals each year. Because of the progress, the state lowered our fire rate.
When the other cities of the county went together in 1952 to form the Campbell County Water System, we had to purchase the Silver Grove system separately because it was not connected to the rest of the county.
As a compromise in the court case with the railroad, they agreed to sell water to Silver Grove for 10 cents per 1000 gallons for 17 years and 15 cents per 1000 gallons the next 8 years. Since our bonds were for 40 years, they agreed to 10 cents per 1000 less than the cost of production the next 15 years. In 1981 the railroad closed the railroad years and the city was forced to make a deal with the Campbell County Water District in October 1981.
Due to cleaning up the Ohio River, in 1965 the city was forced to connect to the Sanitation District Sewer System. This required Silver Grove to construct 1 mile of main sewer trunk line, and to refinance the water system. In 1981 the debt was $118,000. Campbell Count Water District put up $25,000 and Silver Grove put up $25,000 and bought one of the $50,000 or more 20year US Government bonds paying 15 3/4%.
In the year 2001 the water district and the city of Silver Grove each will get their money back, and the $118,000 debt will have been paid by the government which is the taxpayers, and Silver Grove will have lost a valuable asset. Thank you for inviting me.