As we wrap up our long coverage of northern Kentucky, it's important to reflect on the past, to better understand present times.

Our Toby Gibbs looks back at the history of the region.

Almost 400,000 people live in Kentucky's three northernmost counties, Boone, Campbell and Canton.

It's home to about one out of every 11 Kentuckians.

Boone County, of course, is named for legendary explorer Daniel Boone.

In 1729, before Boone arrived in Kentucky, a French captain discovered one of America's biggest collections of prehistoric fossils in an area where mastodons, wooly mammoths and bison came for the salt along what's now called Big Bone Creek.

It became a state park in 1960.

Settlers from Pennsylvania created Boone County's first permanent community in 1785.

The county is home to the Cincinnati Northern Kentucky Airport, which began as a four runway training facility for B-17 pilots during World War Two.

Today, it employs 16,000 people and handled more than 8.7 million passengers in 2023.

Daniel Boone's friend, Simon Kenton, is the namesake for Kenton County.

It was first explored in 1751 by a party sent by the Ohio Land Company.

The Ohio River borders all three counties.

Covington, in Canton County, became a major river port and brought streams of settlers to the area, many of them German.

Fort Mitchell and Fort Wright were both built in response to the Confederate invasion of Kentucky in 1862.

The Civil War also delayed the completion of a suspension bridge between Covington and Cincinnati.

A bridge finally completed in 1867.

Campbell County was named for a Revolutionary War Veteran Colonel John Campbell.

The first permanent settlement was around 1789.

Newport attracted big numbers of Irish and German immigrants, and at one point in the early 20th century was home to the South's largest brewery and one of its biggest steel mills.

Although the three counties are heavily urban, they still have rural areas to the south that produced tobacco, corn, hay, cattle and vegetables.

One of the most memorable sights in northern Kentucky is the Florence Yawl Water Tower.

It was built in 1974 and originally included the words Florence Mall, which was being built and wouldn't open until 1976.

The state said the tower couldn't advertise something that didn't exist yet, so it was altered to read Florence y'all and plenty of people see it.

The water tower is next to Interstate 75, one of America's busiest for Kentucky additions.

I'm Toby Gibbs.

Thank you, Toby.

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