Historic Plaque Program

As of April 20, 2018, the City has temporarily suspended its historic plaque program as we seek a new source for the manufacture of the plaques. Please contact Christopher Myers at cmyers@covingtonky.gov or (859) 292-2171 with any questions.

The City of Covington has an extensive number of historically significant residential, institutional, industrial, and commercial buildings. The City recognizes the increasing value of its historic resources and the impact of their contribution to the community’s pride of place. This architectural heritage is an important asset in the City’s increasing attractiveness to visitors and investors.

The City, in conjunction with concerned citizens, developed the Historic Plaque Program and Historic Register as a way to promote the City’s rich past, recognize the investments made to preserve Covington’s heritage, and provide for a standard method, in the form of a wall mounted metal plaque, to display the significance of contributing structures.

Any structure within the City of Covington that meets one or more of the following criteria is eligible for the program:

1. Its value as a reminder of the cultural or archaeological heritage of the city, state, or union.
2. Its location as a site of a significant local, state or national event.
3. Its identification with a person or persons who significantly contributed to the development of the city, state or nation.
4. Its identification as the work of a master builder, designer, or architect whose individual work has influenced the development of the city, state or nation.
5. Its value as a building that is recognized for the quality of its architecture and that retains sufficient elements showing architectural significance.
6. Its characteristic of an architectural style of a period.

(Covington Zoning Code 12.13.07 A-F)

The process to get an Historic plaque is a two part application:

•  Historic Plaque Application 1 of 2
• Historic Plaque Application 2 of 2

The first step is to fill out Part I of the application along with a photograph of the property. Once submitted, the Historic Preservation Office will review the application to determine if the structure meets the eligibility criteria. If Part I is approved, the applicant will be given Part II of the application. When Part II is submitted, the $192 fee for the plaque is also required.

Part II of the application entails gathering the property’s history, including property deed, city directory, census, and map research. This information can be found at City and County records, as well as the Local History Section of the Kenton County Public Library.

Once Part II has been completed and submitted to the City with the $192 fee, the Historic Preservation Office will verify the information. A register number will be assigned and the plaque will be ordered. Before receiving the plaque, the owner will be asked to sign a letter of agreement with the City in which the owner agrees to maintain the structure’s historic integrity.

The register numbers are a coding system for the City’s permanent records of its historic resources. The register numbers also allow the City to correlate its historic resource records with neighborhood walking tours.

The plaques are a standard 7″x10″ solid bronze oval with the construction date prominently displayed in the center. The bottom of each plaque displays the Covington Register number. Each applicant will be able to customize the wording at the top of the plaque as long as a maximum letter/space count is not exceeded. A name associated with the history of the structure of a building style is preferred and only verifiable historic facts will be allowed. Staff may assist in wording chosen for the plaque.

If you have purchased or currently live/work in a historic building, you might like to know the history of your building, such as when was it built, who lived there, what occupations did they do, was there a speakeasy during prohibition, is the house haunted, did the house previously belong to a infamous historic figures and other interesting facts.