Amos Shinkle built this home in 1854 in the oldest part of Covington. Amos was THE richest person in the city.
He built at least 40 houses in Covington and Cincinnati.
Amos also brought gas street lights to Covington and financed the Roebling Suspension Bridge.
An Enquirer tribute read, in part:
“Amos Shinkle was a man in all the word implies. He was generous to a fault, but although he contributed thousands every year to charity, no one ever heard him say a word about it.
He built the Protestant Children’s Home in Covington and gave it to the city.
He attended the dedication of every Methodist Church in the Cov and for every $1 the congregation gave, he gave $1. He gave a half million dollars to Methodist churches and conferences.
Mr. Shinkle left a fortune estimated at $2.5M and he does not owe it to anyone. He made every dollar of it by his own exertions.
The bulk of Mr. Shinkle’s fortune was amassed since 1865 when he obtained control of the Suspension Bridge and First National Bank. The mansion in Covington in which Mr. Shinkle died...cost nearly $350,000.”
That mansion was actually a castle. Amos' wife Sarah prefered this "more modest" townhome and reportedly stayed here.
After Amos' death, Sarah donated the castle on 2nd Street to the Salvation Army. It was torn down in the 1920s for a new Booth Hospital.
In 1982, when the 100+-year-old home needed some love, Bernie Moorman, a former Covington mayor, and partner Don Nash bought it from Earl King. They turned the house into a B&B that enjoyed success for many years.
The home sold after Bernie's death and is now a single-family.
There is a beautiful carriage house behind the main house; runaway slaves likely hid there. It still has a horse stable!
Swipe for photos by Madison Schmidt for the Enquirer (2016); from @kentonlibrary, the Castle, the house in 1992, and Bernie Moorman with Betty Shinkle in 1977—even before he bought the Shinkle house?!