The Friendship
City
A suburban city located in northwestern Kenton
County, was first settled around 1807, when Bartlett Graves
built a log cabin on land he had purchased there in prior years.
Large-scale settlement occurred after the Covington-Lexington
turnpike was chartered in 1829. The small community that grew
up around a tollgate was originally known as Timberlake in honor
local physician, William Timberlake.
When the Southern Railroad arrived in 1873, the depot was named
Greenwood after the president of the railroad. The depot was renamed
Silver Lake to avoid confusion with five other cities along the
rail line.
When a post office was established in 1882, both the post office
and the depot were named Erlanger in honor of Baron Frederic Emile
D'Erlanger. The Baron was a German-born English financier who headed
up a land syndicate created to develop the city.
The land syndicate persuaded the railroad to make Erlanger a stop
for all passenger trains and it offered one year of free rail transportation
to anyone who located there.
The town grew quickly and was incorporated in 1897. A business
grew along the Covington-Lexington Road, which was paved in 1921.
When Interstate I-75 came in the early 60's, subdivisions and industrial
areas built up along the interstate, and Erlanger led the Cincinnati
metropolitan area in new construction for three years in 60's. |
