Ludlow Lagoon, Ludlow, Kentucky

ludlow lagoon

Ponder this:
In the heyday of the Lagoon, from 1905 to 1915, on Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays, there was a trolley leaving Fountain Square, in Cincinnati, every two minutes destined for the Lagoon: A trolley every other minute. In 1897, there were 50 street cars dedicated to the Ludlow/Lagoon line. On some weekend nights, the crowd could go between 25,000-30,000 people.


Map Showing the Lagoon - 1904	Tip of our hat to Mr. Andy Corn for this great image. It's a current topographical map overlaid with a 1909 Sanborn Fire Map, showing the location of all the Lagoon buildings in that year. Don't blame Andy for the annotations; they're ours.


The Club House, from the lake, at the Lagoon, Ludlow	The entrance, on Laurel, between Park and Lake	The Lagoon, Ludlow Detail note, here.

1896


Panoramic Views of the Lagoon's Lake


Lake, Theatre, & Roller Coaster, There were 100 boats available to rent on opening day.	Beautiful Scenery, Lagoon Park	The railroad going up Erlanger Hill frequently required an engine to push as well as one to pull.

c. 1905


	1960 Aerial, showing the islands


Lagoon, 1911	An Aerial View of the Lagoon	Lagoon Scene


Entrance to the Lagoon Park	Club House at the Lagoon, from the Lake	A Glimpse of the Lake at the Lagoon "This is one of our summer gardens and the girls and boys hold hands"

Here's the Lagoon's Clubhouse's application to be on the National Register of Historic places, complete with photo's, history, and maps.

The Motorcycle disaster in 1913 followed by the tornado of 1915, followed by WWI in 1917, followed by prohibition in 1920, simply added up to finance losses that the Lagoon couldn't sustain. By 1921, a story of the Lagoon's dance hall burning notes that the park “has not been extensively used.”

Streets in the vicinity of the Lagoon - Deverill, Ludford, and Stokesay - are named for places near the Ludlow family's ancestral English home.	Eugene Debs speaks at the Lagoon, story here. Who was Eugene Debs? Background at this site.
KET (Kentucky Educational Television) has a video tape of Lagoon Scenes you can buy by clicking here. Please tell them Northern Kentucky Views sent you.

Mr. David Schroeder, Executive Director of the Kenton County
Library, has written this article about the Lagoon at the site of the Kentucky Tribune.