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City of Covington, SD1, Covington Business Council to unveil mural commemorating 1937 flood


The Covington Business Council, SD1 and the City of Covington will celebrate the completion of a mural commemorating the 1937 flood as the historic event’s 80th anniversary year comes to a close.

A view looking south from Devou Park toward the flooded areas of Willow Run and Lewisburg. The steeple of St. John’s Church can be seen at center right. (Courtesy of Paul Tenkotte.)

Muralist Tammy Batson Stephens was inspired by the castle insignia of the Army Corps of Engineers, which constructed the Russell Street Pumping Plant in the 1950s to protect the area from high Ohio River levels.

The mural turns the plain cube building into a painted castle, with a depiction on the east wall of the aftermath from the 1937 flood. It is painted in the trompe l’oeil tradition – a style of realistic painting.

The mural rejuvenates an important city corridor and highlights the importance of infrastructure protecting Northern Kentucky from high Ohio River levels. It was made possible through a generous grant from the Carol Ann and Ralph V. Haile, Jr. US Bank Foundation and a partnership among the Covington Business Council (CBC), the city of Covington and SD1.

The CBC also will highlight additional projects that are brightening up the surrounding area. Those projects, also funded by the Haile Foundation, include decorative LED lighting, spotlights, decorative rocks, and landscaping near the Clay Wade Bailey Bridge. The city of Covington also is planning improvements to the sidewalk and road that forms the S-curve around the nearby Internal Revenue Service building.

SD1


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