As we move closer to the 225th celebration of the establishment of Boone County, we take another step back in time. For now, the focus is one and one-half centuries in the past, 1874.
Prior to the Civil War, the Petersburg distillery had great success, but the owner, William Snyder, managed to borrow himself out of business. Despite record-breaking whiskey production of 1.125 million gallons in 1860, Snyder was broke by 1862. William Appleton took the reins of the business, but heavy federal liquor taxes during the Civil War forced him to sell most of his interest to JC Jenkins and James Gaff. By 1869, the Cincinnati-based distillery firm of Freiburg and Workum purchased ½ interest in the Petersburg distillery and began making improvements. In 1874, they purchased the remaining interest in the business and went full-throttle. Within five years of Freiburg & Workum acquiring full ownership, the distillery in Petersburg was the largest producer in the Commonwealth of Kentucky. In 1880, the total production of the nine distilleries in Bourbon County together was 433,263 gallons. By comparison, the distillery in Petersburg produced 975,820 gallons! The success continued and by 1897, 12 thousand gallons were produced daily, which translates to about 4 million gallons for the year. This number was many times more than any distillery in the state.
Aside from the dawn of Freiburg & Workum’s boom, 1874 also brought a highly publicized murder trial to Boone County. W. G. Terrell shot and killed Harvey Myers, the attorney representing his wife, after his brutality as a husband was revealed during divorce proceedings. Though the crime occurred in Covington, where all the parties resided, the trial was held in Burlington, after Terrell received a change of venue. The trial received sensational coverage in the press and Terrell was ultimately convicted. Unfortunately, due to “irregularities in court” his conviction was overturned several years later.
Finally, tragedy struck in the early morning hours of August 6, 1874. The Pat Rogers steamboat, a wood-hulled sidewheel, caught fire and ultimately ran aground on Laughery Island. The boat was carrying a load of highly-flammable cotton as well as many passengers and a full crew. Help came from both sides of the river, but the loss of nearly 50 lives required the services of the coroners from Boone County, Aurora and Lawrenceburg. The fire was determined to have been intentionally set.
