By John Schlipp
Special to NKyTribune
Editor’s note: We’re celebrating ten years of Our Rich History. You can browse and read any of the past columns, from the present all the way back to our start on May 6, 2015, at our newly updated database: https://nkytribune.com/category/living/our-rich-history/
Nearly a century ago, the corner of Eighth Street and Madison Avenue buzzed with excitement as a new Montgomery Ward department store opened its doors in Covington on August 17, 1929, just months before the Wall Street stock market crash.
Similar in design to numerous Ward’s neoclassical facades constructed nationwide in the late 1920s, these buildings were among the earliest “place-product-packaging” examples of modern chain retailers. That is, the stores shared a recognizable logo and b