The Lookout House, A Very Brief History

The Lookout House for years sat at the top of the Dixie Highway Hill coming South out of Covington. It was on the left as you're going south, immediately before Kyle's lane turns to the east.

There was a one story brick building on the site, known as Rush's Tavern, which was torn down in 1886 for the construction of a three story building. There was a large cupola on top of the buildings, and patrons of Alois Hampel's outdoor beer garden and dance pavilion were invited to climb to the top to *Lookout* from the highest point in Northern Kentucky. There are stories that the Lookout House name was a result of it's location as a Civil War Lookout, but since the Civil War ended in 1865 and the three story building was erected in 1886. . .

Bill Hill bought the place in 1912, on Mr. Hampel's death. The first images on the prior page are of the interior when Bill Hill was the proprietor. Hill sold the Lookout House to Jimmy Brinks in 1933, and Brinks is the man who put it on the map. He remodeled extensively, brought in gambling, and brought in big name entertainment. 

Brink's died in a plane crash in 1952, and the business declined from there. The Schilling brothers rebuilt it in 1963 and brought it back to prominence. They sold it in 1971, and it would burn down in 1973. There are other Schilling Brothers images on Northern Kentucky Views' Pages - their restaurant in Fort Mitchell, and later, the tragic Beverly Hills Supper Club in Southgate.

Most of the details above are from Volume One of Chester Geaslen's Strolling Along Memory Lane.