City name: Kenton Vale
City size: .1 square mile
Population: 108
Median income: $43,750
Median home value: $101,896
Incorporated: 1949
Mayor: Mike Pendergast
On Madison Pike, just past Latonia, sits Jackson Florist, the oldest business in the small city of Kenton Vale. The tiny town barely has room for any other type of enterprise.
With a population of around 110 and stretching just a short distance of Madison Pike (KY 17), you could blink and miss the entire city. But, while the town might be small, it has a rich and unique history, all of which includes Jackson Florist.
Last year was one of the most challenging years in the history of the popular flower and gardening center. The Kenton Vale business, which was opened in the late 1890s by Winnie and Pete Jackson, amid biblical flooding, said current owner Tony Works.
Tony Works and his father, Jack, had never seen that type of flooding. Not only that, but the pandemic and cicadas were happening at the same time. It even forced them to consider whether or not they wanted to move the business for the first time ever.
“We were discussing ‘is this the jumping-off point,’” Tony said. “Do we build somewhere else, or do we continue, and we were seriously discussing that. It was very hard for me to say, ‘Yeah, we’re out’ because of the community outreach. It was just incredible.’”
Jackson Florist is also the only job Jack Works has ever had. He started when he was 15, just cleaning up around the greenhouse. He’s now 82, and the world around the florist and in Kenton Vale has changed significantly over the years.
“I remember all the old structures … and I remember all the old city meetings,” Jack said. “Years ago, Tom Lang, the owner of the florist here, he was the mayor of Kenton Vale.”
City meetings would be held at the florist, either in the front of the building or in the back office.
“All the council would show up, and at that time, Kenton Vale had a police officer. Jack Wallens was his name,” Jack said. “They equipped him with a gun, and if you got in any trouble, it was more or less the kangaroo court up here. That’s what it was.”
When the father and son duo talked with LINK nky, they stood in the same office where the small city once held this unofficial “kangaroo court.” Tony shared pictures of years past, one of which came from up on the hill overlooking the florist’s building and KY 17 before it was widened.
The overlook was once home to Benedictine monks and a winery. Monte Cassino sits just off Kuhr’s Road and is roughly a five-minute drive from the florist.
In its heyday, it produced about 5,000 gallons of wine a year. The road is named after Rev. Ferdinand Kuhr, a priest who founded the Mother of God Church in Covington in 1841.
Now the property is owned by Mark Schmidt, who has honored its history by building out a museum and several other buildings used for intimate weddings or short-term rental guests. Schmidt cleared the property and found the stone retaining walls used for the terraced vineyards.
“The monks were here from 1877 to 1918,” Schmidt said. “There were a few of them left into the early 1920s.”
Schmidt tried to reproduce the vineyards, but it proved too burdensome, so he turned his attention to remodeling the property. He eventually bought the two homes up the road from his, one of which is where they host weddings. The other is a museum dedicated to the history of the monks, and upon entering, there’s a large tiled mural of monks.
He also has other Catholic relics in the museum, which he only offers to people who have events there. In one unique display case, he has reliquaries, which contain the bones of saints and monks.
In the 1960s, a subdivision was built on what used to be the monastery. It had a famous tiny chapel that now is on view at Thomas More College.
