History

Oldham County

Oldham County is situated on the Ohio River. The county was named in honor of Colonel William Oldham, a Virginia native and Revolutionary War ensign and captain. Oldham County’s population is approximately 45,000 and has been through the years mainly agricultural. Within recent years some industrial plants have located in the county.

Included in notable people from Oldham County are ROB MORRIS, renowned Masonic founder of the Order of the Eastern Star; ANNE FELLOW JOHNSTON, author of “the Little Colonel” series books: and DAVID MARK GRIFFITH, who captured fame as a pioneer motion picture director. One of his best known works was the film drama of the Civil War era, “The Birth of a Nation”.

Grand Dell

Grand Dell is a geographically diverse area, offering a mix of ponds, creeks, farms, wooded hills, and quiet residential streets. 128 households reside here; people from ethnic and socioeconomic backgrounds every bit as varied as the landscape. The neighborhood has a rich agricultureall heritage, extraordinary recreational opportunities, community events, and close is in close proximity to Louisville. But it's also friendly, casual, and open to new ideas. It's the kind of place where people feel welcome and your neighbors are also your friends.

“Woodland”--as the Grand Dell Mansion was known back in the 1840’s--was built by John Fible, who served in the Kentucky Legislature first in 1841 and the second time in 1873. It was widely known for its hospitality and distinguished guests, one of which was Col. Will S. Hays who wrote his famous song “Evangeline”.

During the Civil War there was money buried on the farm. To this day, nobody knows if the money was ever recovered. There is a rumor that it is still here!!

In the 1940’s, the Rice’s owned the farm and ran it as a dairy farm. Two brothers milked 20-30 head of cattle by hand and when one brother would want to “go out” at night, the other brother would charge him $15-20 for doing all the milking!

Grand Dell, in the late 1960’s was known as “The Ballardsville Dome” by LG&E. LG&E use to get their gas from Texas and they were made to buy as much in the summer as they did in the winter so they would store the gas by pumping it into the rock layer underground. They found that the porous rock would absorb some of the gas and they couldn’t get as much out as they put in. It was finally abandoned.

In the early 1970’s, Grand Dell was run as a Hereford Cattle business and was named Blue Ribbon Farms. Celebrities from all over would come to the cattle auctions that took place in the front of the present subdivision where Carl Klingenfus’s garden now stands. Arthur Godfrey, and others would fly into Louisville, take the Belle of Louisville to Westport and then be transported by Greyhound Bus to our subdivision for the sale. This was a tax write-off for them. Later, when the Hereford farm change to Charolais, a scam was devised for selling each head twice. People who wanted a tax write-off would buy them, not realizing they had already been sold because the cattle remained on the farm for grazing. At $35,000 to $135,000 a head, this was a lucrative business, until the owners would come for their cattle!!

The original farm was approximately 800 acres and wrapped around Hwy 53 and Hwy 22 toward Eminence. Large tracts were sold off to individuals by the developer and our present subdivision was born!

Information submitted by Carl Klingenfus