In 1915, on the 700 block of Monmouth Street in Newport, a grand building that could seat 2,500 people opened.
It was the largest movie theater in Northern Kentucky. Built at a cost of $50,000 by Andrew Nordmeyer and H.N. Berning, who also owned the Hippodrome in Covington, the theater operated until 1963 following a showing of The Three Stooges in Orbit, according to Cinema Treasures. The theater was the setting of multiple fires, include one in 1934 that completely leveled “The Hipp”, though it was rebuilt and reopened.
Eventually the site became a car wash, then possibly a strip club in the 1980’s, and finally a parking lot.
But not just any parking lot.
The City of Newport has placed strong emphasis on this piece of land in the middle of downtown. In the years preceding the arrival of motion pictures and The Hippodrome, the lot was the site of the Daily Market where goods were bought and sold. Now it’s where the Newport Farmers Market takes place each week and where a new Red Bike location was recently installed.
In way, the lot is back to where it was in the early 1900’s. So, on Monday evening, the Newport City Commission voted to name the lot for the Daily Market. “Given the historic nature of Monmouth Street as the center for retail activity in Newport, and now using it for the Farmers Market and Red Bike, it seems appropriate to name the lot after the Daily Market that was at that location for thirty years,” said Scott Clark, the city’s historic preservation officer. “By giving a name to the parking lot, it allows the city to claim an identity for the location rather than it being ‘the lot next to the Pepper Pod’.”
