Newport was laid out on the Ohio River in 1791. It was a station on the Underground Railroad, the loosely organized system for helping fugitive slaves escape to Canada or to areas of safety in free states during America's Civil War. It was also the place where Kentucky's only antislavery newspaper was edited in the 1850s.

The city has steel and clothing industries and a brewery.

St. Mark's Lutheran Church is also known as Movement Church. It was built in 1897 and it is located on the corner of Monroe Street and 8th Street. The buff-brick St. Stephen Catholic Church was built in 1938 in an Art Deco interpretation of the Romanesque Revival style. It replaced an earlier church that was built in 1861. It is located on Washington Avenue in the East Row Historic District.

Martha Saunders Mansion dates from the 1870s. The Italianate-style mansion isl ocated at Washington Avenue, in the district of Mansion Hill. Also in the same area is Belle Vue, which is also known as the General James Taylor Mansion. It was built in 1820 and it is located in 3rd Street. St. Stephen Parochial School was built between 1912 and 1913. It is located on Washington Avenue.

There are several hotels and restaurants in Newport. The city is in the north of Kentucky, on the Ohio River opposite Cincinnati and on the east bank of the Licking River opposite Covington. It is 100 km northeast of Frankfort and 650 km west of Washington D.C.

Monroe Street ©Warren LeMay

Houses from 1903 in Maple Avenue ©Warren LeMay

St. Mark's Lutheran Church ©Warren LeMay

St. Stephen Catholic Church ©Warren LeMay

Martha Saunders Mansion ©Warren LeMay

St. Stephen Catholic Church ©Warren LeMay

St. Stephen Parochial School ©Warren LeMay