This home has served as a place of learning and training as well as private residences. Built in the 1840s, this home is an elegant and grand example of the Greek Revival style of architecture. Reverend William Orr operated a seminary for women, knows as the Orr’s Female Academy. This impressive structure once stood alone, high upon a hilltop with their entrance overlooking the Licking River.
In 1856, John Roebling (architect of the Roebling Suspension Bridge) was invited by the Henry Bruce and his family to stay in their home. The artwork called “Grandpa’s Bridge” displayed on the banner was done by Mary Bruce Sharon, the granddaughter of Henry Bruce. Mary was a primitive artist of some note at the time. There is a book of her paintings called Scenes from Childhood. The Gibson Card Company used her illustrations for a series of notecards. On occasion, the Beringer Crawford Museum places them on display. To keep the notecards here locally, philanthropists Oakley and Eva Farris purchased them from the Carnegie and gifted them to the Beringer Crawford Museum. https://kentoncountyhistoricalsociety.org/data/documents/May-June-2012.pdf
Steeped in Civil War history, the house was occupied by the Henry Bruce family, major provisioners for the Confederacy. It is believed that the Bruce family were instrumental in the escape of John Morgan, the “Rebel Raider,” when he was captured and imprisoned in Columbus. Henry Bruce was also president pro tem of the Roebling Bridge Committee prior to the Civil War. He fled the area at the end of the war because of his Confederate support. The Charles Withers family, related to the Bruce Family and prominent tobacco merchants occupied the house. In 1868, the Withers family arranged for the remains of Confederate General John Hunt Morgan lay here in repose.
In 1898, the Rugby School was established as a private school for boys and later became coeducational. The Rugby School closed in campus in 1906. Then it served as apartments until it was renovated and converted into condominiums in 1991 - called “The Ruby House.”
Kenton County Public Library - Covington Branch: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cP3aw2E0r2Q
Sources:
Covington at 200: Points of View © 2015 Batter Row Productions, Produced and Directed by Steve Oldfield & Sean Thomas.
Gateway City: Covington, Kentucky 1815-2015 © 2015 Clerisy Press, Edited by Paul A. Tenkotte, PhD; James C. Claypool, PhD; & David E. Schroder.
Kenton County Public Library’s Local History and Genealogy Department.
Kenton County Historical Society