Legendary Locals of Covington by Robert Schrage

Author:Robert Schrage
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: unknown
Publisher: Arcadia Publishing Inc.
Published: 2014-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Jacob Price

Jacob Price was born in Woodford County, Kentucky, in 1839 and died in Covington in 1923. Price was a well-respected leader of the African American community. He served as minister of the First Baptist Church and later played a significant role in founding the Ninth Street Methodist Episcopal Church. He founded the First Baptist Church in Covington and the first private school for African Americans. As a businessman, he operated a lumberyard and is the namesake of the Jacob Price Housing complex in Covington. The Encyclopedia of Northern Kentucky reports Price was a freeman before the end of the Civil War and is listed in the 1860 census as a laborer and a minister of the gospel. Slavery remained legal in Kentucky until after the end of the Civil War when the 13th Amendment was ratified. The census also indicates that Price could read and write, which would have been unusual for a black man of the times. In total, Price was a businessman, advocate for education rights, and active in politics and civic affairs. An advertisement for his lumberyard in 1882, according to Jim Reis, reads as follows: “Headquarters for lumber. Jacob Price dealer in all kinds of rough and dressed lumber, shingles, lath, locust and cedar posts.” The lumberyard continued in operation until around 1914. Price’s political savvy and his relationship with William L. Grant helped lead to the establishment of an African American school. It was located at Seventh Street and eventually was named the William Grant High School and opened in 1880. It was because of smart political decisions, or just backing the right candidate, by Price and Isaac Black, that this school became a reality. According to Jim Reis in Pieces of the Past 2, in a 1929 account, Samuel Singer writes about a meeting between Grant, Black, Price, and two others: Grant “made his proposition to them: that if Colored voters would support him as a candidate to the legislature and if elected, he would have the Charter of Covington amended so as to provide for a public school for Colored children.” Price, while pressured to support a Republican, backed Grant, a Democrat. Price is buried in Evergreen Cemetery in Southgate. (Courtesy of Kevin T. Kelly.)

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