Daniel Henry Holmes (April 28, 1816 – July 3, 1898) was born in the Point Pleasant area of Clermont County, Ohio.
His original estate was called "Holmesdale," and more or less was bordered by Madison, 25th Street, the Licking River, and Lavassor Avenue.
At the son's death, the daughter in law, Rachel Susanna Goff Holmes, sold 13 acres of the estate to the Covington School Board for $50,000.
He eventually went into business for himself in 1842 with his retail company, and built the D.H. Holmes department store in 1849 on Canal Street in New Orleans, at the edge of the French Quarter.
[2] The city was booming and prosperous, buoyed by its port, from where it exported cotton to Great Britain and France, and by its large slave market and associated businesses.
[2] Holmes borrowed ideas from the pioneering department stores in England and Paris, such as Le Bon Marché, as well as major New York City retailers.
In Holmes' many trips by steamboat between New York and New Orleans in the early 1850s, the businessman frequently journeyed by the Ohio River and was attracted to Covington, Kentucky, as a rest stop.
Holmes bought land in the Kenton County area known as Buena Vista; in 1866, he began to build the home of his dreams.
The original store on Canal Street was sold and redeveloped as a boutique hotel, opening in 1995 as Chateau Sonesta.