A new book examines the history of the Lakeside Swim Club in Louisville

How do you turn a swampy hole in the ground into a neighborhood institution? Author Brigid Kaelin talks with LPM’s Bill Burton about the story of the Lakeside Swim Club in her just-released book, Lakeside.

Bill Burton: The Lakeside Swim Club in the Louisville Highlands neighborhood is celebrating its 100th anniversary this year. Musician, author and Lakeside member Brigid Kaelin has written a book simply titled “Lakeside” to celebrate the swim club’s 100th anniversary. Brigid, tell us a little about Lakeside’s beginnings.

Brigid Kaelin: Around 1920, this limestone quarry that people were renting was leased and they were getting pavers to build large parts of downtown Louisville from Lakeside and many other quarries in Jefferson County. But they hit water, as happens when you dig for many, many years. And the quarry just filled up. And about that time, the city of Louisville annexed a large portion of the county land. And the farmers who had mined the quarry and had a dairy farm on the land just said it was time. Let’s sell it and make a parcel. And the interesting thing to me was that the lake that we now know as Lakeside, this oasis, was actually kind of a disadvantage back then. It was full of mosquitoes and full of algae and swampy and nobody really wanted it, so the lots weren’t selling as quickly as they expected. And some of the owners got together and said, what if we made this a nonprofit cooperative? And to this day it is run as a non-profit cooperative, which, according to my research, is the reason the company still exists. And a group of neighbors developed who simply took care of the property.

B.B.: Lakeside was originally founded so that only homeowners from the immediate area could become members, so it is a very exclusive club. How is Lakeside trying to evolve and become more inclusive today?

BK: Louisville unfortunately has a history of redlining and is historically a very segregated city. Lakeside and the current members, staff and neighborhood are aware of that and are trying to correct those injustices. There is a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Committee. And that actively tries to make sure that people feel included, whether it’s with restroom issues and stalls or by actively seeking members from across the community. And that’s interesting because Lakeside was founded, of course, as a nonprofit, a community park whose sole purpose is to beautify a neighborhood park. And that’s how it’s been for 100 years. And unfortunately, because of the property restrictions in Louisville, most of the people who moved into the neighborhood were white and then supported their white friends because unfortunately Louisville wasn’t really integrated. But the neighbors, especially the younger people moving into the neighborhood, recognize that and try to do what they can to actively seek members from across the community.

B.B.: In preparing for this project, you read everything you could get your hands on about Lakeside. For example, you spent a lot of time reading the minutes of Lakeside meetings from the 1950s. What inspired you to put together this project for Lakeside?

BK: I grew up in Lakeside and was very lucky and very grateful for that privilege. And when I was about 10 years old, Lakeside historian Jack Thompson stepped in to look after that title. He wrote a book called The Lakeside Story. I was so fascinated by it, but I really wanted to see it on a bigger scale and with pictures and more depth. So since I was a kid, the idea had been floating around in my head that one day I would rewrite the book and tell the story a little more fully. And Lakeside’s 100th birthday seemed like the perfect opportunity to complete that project.

This transcript has been edited for clarity.