Friday, February 11, 2000
100+ years in business: These firms do it right
BY TERRY FLYNN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
NEWPORT — The Anderson Ferry in Boone County and Stewart Iron Works in Covington are among the state's oldest businesses.
But many other Northern Kentucky businesses have endured for more than 100 years, in some cases remaining in the same family, as evidenced by displays presented by the Kentucky Historical Society at Kentucky Haus Craft Gallery this month.
A perfect example is Ebert's Meats in the 900 block of Monmouth Street, just across from the Newport government center. The Ebert family started the business in 1897 and third-generation family owner Ed Rayburn just sold the well-known butcher shop last year.
“My grandfather began the business, at Hodge and Patterson streets,” Mr. Rayburn remarked after taking a quick break from waiting on customers. He still works three days a week helping the new owner, Greg Steffen.
“The business moved to this location in 1908,” the 69-year-old Mr. Rayburn said. “I started working in
the business, for my stepfather, when I was 14.”
Ebert's has maintained a reputation for fresh, high-quality meat and poultry and has attracted regular customers from all over Northern Kentucky for decades.
Mr. Rayburn agrees that other area businesses have remained viable since before 1900.
“Buecker Machine and Iron Works on Sixth Street has been in business since the mid-1800s, and it's still owned by the original family,” he said.
Another Newport business that has continued in operation, but with a change in ownership, since the late 1800s is Peter Garrett's Gunsmith facility on Monmouth Street.
It was started in the 1890s at 207 York St. by a German immigrant craftsman named Gus Koehler, who was both a gunsmith and a locksmith.
“William Anderson purchased the business in 1928 and changed the name to Billy Anderson Gunsmiths,” Mr. Garrett explained. “After a big Ohio River flood in 1933, he decided to move to 510 York St. It was moved to a building on Ninth Street after World War II.”
Mr. Garrett, who has a college degree in gunsmithing and related work, purchased the business from Mr. Anderson in 1974 and eventually relocated to its present address at 838 Monmouth.
Stewart Iron Works, at 20 W. 18th St. in Covington, was founded in 1886. The firm specialized in iron gates and fencing, but has evolved in recent years to take advantage of modern steelworking techniques and products.
The company made steel cell blocks for Alcatraz and Sing Sing prisons in the 1930s. And although it is no longer owned by the same family, the art of making individually designed iron gates and fencing is still practiced and encouraged.
The Anderson Ferry began carrying passengers across the Ohio River from Boone County to western Hamilton County at the turn of the century. Two boats now transport automobiles across the river at the same location.
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