River Mile: 471

Population: 40,961

U.S. Census Profile

Incorporated in 1815 where the Licking River enters the Ohio, and named after a hero of the War of 1812, Covington prospered in its early decades as a market for Kentucky’s tobacco and cigars, and later as the home of a large iron works, distilleries, glassworks and other businesses. As in Cincinnati across the Ohio and Louisville downstream, large numbers of Catholic Germans settled in Covington in the 1800s. The city is a Roman Catholic bishopric and hosts one of 89 basilicas in the U.S. At the turn of the 20th Century Covington was the second-largest city in Kentucky after Louisville, but like many river towns declined during and after the Great Depression. Its historic neighborhoods and convenient location across from Cincinnati have driven redevelopment in the past decades.