Bellevue
 

The wind roared and dark clouds rolled overhead. The carpenters dove for cover. Tools, nails and boards were hurled through the air. It was a shaky beginning for the struggling community of Bellevue, trying to notch a toehold along the Ohio River banks.

A newspaper on August 26, 1867, reported that "a fearful tornado passed over the village of Bellevue, just above Newport, on Saturday afternoon, between one and two o’clock. Six or seven frame houses were in the course of construction in the place, nearly all of which were blown down or damaged by the storm".

The story reported that a small shack, used as a tollbooth at the Taylor Creek bridge between Bellevue and Newport, had been blown across the road. Wolf’s Rolling Mill and the Miami Coal Oil Refinery, located just west of Bellevue, lost their roofs. The streamer Allegheny Belle, docked in Bellevue, was ripped from its moorings into the Ohio River current. Ferries caught it before it could collide with anything.

The writer added, "five or six cows were found minus their horns. It is supposed they were knocked off by flying timbers." Not an auspicious start for a city.

Bellevue originally had been part of the property of General James Taylor, the founder of Newport. His mansion, Bellevue, still sits on East Third Street in Newport. Indians are said to have stated a massive three-day battle in 1745 on the grounds where the city was founded. The Shawnee tribe fought a combined force of Cherokee and Miami Indians. The town came more than 100 years later.

In 1866, a newspaper headline noted. "A New Town in Old Campbell". The story went on to say, "The beautiful property lying just above the Taylor Creek bridge, which as been advertised for some days past, has been laid off into town lots by our enterprising fellow citizen, Mr. A(lbert) S. Berry. He has named it Bellevue, in honor of the old Taylor estate, of which it formed an original part. Lots will be sold at public auction tomorrow. We predict that a beautiful town will soon spring up, as the property is only eight squares from the ferry and most handsome situated."

Among the first homeowners were Reuben Tedrow, Frederick Heintz, V Harris, Job Thompson and Mr. Robb. Albert S. Berry, the moving force behind Bellevue’s development, was a four-term congressman from Campbell County and a great grandson of General Taylor. Berry used his connection with Taylor not only to name the city and Taylor Avenue, but other streets as well. Foote, O’Fallon, Van Voast and Ward were named after Taylor’s sons-in-laws and Berry Avenue was named from the congressman.

By the time the city incorporated on March 15, 1870, Bellevue boasted about 380 residents. The first trustees met in homes and later in a barn. When the barn proved rather chilly, the meetings were moved to Genoway’s Hall on Berry Avenue. And the next year, the meetings were moved again, this time to Blinn’s Hall. The trustees spent $20 at the first meeting for a city map, a charter, an assessor’s book and a table. The book was put to use quickly; the trustees approved a tax of 25 cents per $100 assessed property value.

The question of merging with Newport became a recurring issue, and was brought up early in 1879. A story in the Newport based Kentucky State Journal said Bellevue was having trouble getting fire insurance. It said the problem was lack of water, but a move was afoot to tie Bellevue into the Newport waterworks. The writer urged Bellevue and Dayton to consider merging with Newport. Bellevue residents wanted no part of it.

Bellevue’s first telephone came in 1884. For 5 cents a call, G. E. Platz took calls at his drugstore, now 163 Fairfield Avenue and delivered the message. By the 1890s Bellevue was bustling. Balke’s Opera House at Berry and Fairfield avenues served as the town hall and firehouse. A city directory listed 15 grocery stores, four bakeries, six boot makers, seven confectionaries, two livery stables, a blacksmith, three millineries, six doctors, seven saloons and a wagon manufacturer.

The city also featured the Bellevue Hotel at Fairfield and O’Fallon, Bellevue Water and Fuel Gas Light Company at 190 Fairfield Avenue and two undertakers, Louis Betz at 104 O’Fallon Avenue and John Cunningham at 135 Fairfield Ave. Bellevue had churches-St. Anthony on Poplar for English speaking Catholics; Sacred Heart on Taylor Avenue for German speaking Catholics; the Christian Church which was meeting in the council chambers while its building at Poplar and Ward was under construction; and Calvary Methodist on Poplar Street.

About 9 am on February 15, 1901, a streetcar laden with passengers headed for work around a sharp curve below Horseshoe Hill. "The conductor had registered 22 fares and the car was dancing merrily over the rails, the passengers all unconscious of impending danger, when the curve was struck. Then in a jiffy the car had bumped about 30 feet over the ties, after leaving the rails, plunged 45 feet down the embankment, leaped the culvert and dived 20 feet into the water, meanwhile turning upside down with its load of human freight. The scene was one never to be forgotten. Some men had jumped from the rear platform where they had been standing and were sprawled around the ground, while from the partly submerged car came shrieks and groans. Some were unconscious when removed. Clothes were torn and muddy, while few faces did not show the effects of the flying glass." Later account said all were expected to recover except one.

In 1912 the voters rejected a $60,000 bond issue for street improvements and $15,000 sewer system bond. Most city sewage was emptied into the Ohio River. That eventually killed one of Bellevue’s greatest assets, its riverside bathing beaches. According to a 1914 city directory, they included Dorna’s Bathing Clubhouse on Front Street, Palace Bathing Beach at the foot of Van Voast, Princess Beach on Front, and Queen City Beach. The beaches were considered the finest in the country and drew conventions to Cincinnati. They featured hundreds of lockers for bathers, canoe rentals, and fine food and music. By the late 1920s river pollution and lawsuits from accidents closed most of the beaches.

Another tornado struck on July 7, 1915. The twister caused $500,000 damage in Northern Kentucky. In the 1920s Bellevue became a baseball Mecca. Semi-pro and amateur teams played at the old ballpark, located where the Bellevue Vets Building sets, and it featured a 2500 seat grandstand. The ballpark was torn down 1929 to make way for the Horseshoe Tennis Club. It was eventually replaced by the Horseshoe Gardens, an entertainment club. It was destroyed in the 1937 flood.

Bellevue celebrated its centennial in 1970 with about 9800 residents, but in the 1980 Census, it had dipped to 7700 residents.