LUDLOW, Ky. — The Ludlow Heritage Museum has partnered with Norfolk Southern Railway to restore a historic nineteenth-century storehouse in the city. Once restored, the museum hopes to move its operations and exhibitions into the building.
“We’re raising funds to replace the roof on the building,” said Ludlow Heritage Museum President Mark Mitchell. “That amount that we need to raise is right around $85,000.”
The museum is currently located in a building behind the Ludlow Municipal Center.
The current Ludlow Heritage Museum building (brick building in the back right) and a historic rail car. Photo provided | Ludlow Heritage Museum It has already raised about $50,000 for the storehouse roof and has engaged in other rehabilitative efforts throughout the property, such as vegetation removal and water mitigation.
Andy Wartman, the museum’s rail historian and president of the National Railway Historical Society, said the overall rehabilitation, including the roof repairs, will cost a little over $2 million. The museum is currently seeking both donations and grants to fund their efforts.
It was used as a storage facility for engine and rail car parts. The museum now leases the building from Norfolk Southern.
Cincinnati Southern ran from Cincinnati to Chattanooga, Tenn., and land on the Ohio side of the river was scarce. As a result, many of the rail system’s operations took place on the Kentucky side.
“The route went through Ludlow, so that was your first stop,” said Ludlow Heritage Museum Vice President and retired University of Cincinnati Professor of Architecture Patrick Snadon. “And it was a very busy, thriving rail yard with dozens of buildings, hundreds of rail cars, and it made the town of Ludlow. This is the only historic building left in that once busy rail yard, so it is Ludlow’s only connection to its railway. So, it’s important historically in that regard, but it’s a fine piece of architecture.”
The building sat next to a foundry (which is no longer standing) where parts were manufactured. The storehouse’s arched windows allowed a lot of natural light to enter the building, making it an ideal place to organize, store and retrieve parts.
The museum has partnered with Kenton County Schools for a STEAM (science, technology, engineering, arts and mathematics) program to educate students and enlist their help in restoring the storehouse. The students even constructed a diorama of what the museum may eventually look like once the rehabilitation is complete.
“The long-term plans for the storehouse is a regional destination for tourism and economic development and education,” Wartman said. “Not only just for K through 12 students in the region but also to enable families to be able to see the culture that built Ludlow and how that building was once home to thousands of parts that went into each of the buildings that had close to 500 employees at one time up there building, rebuilding and maintaining railroad equipment.”
You can see pictures of the storehouse, learn about the museum’s programs and donate to the rehabilitation efforts at ludlowheritagemuseum.com.
This story originally appeared on our partner's website LINK nky.
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