Clyffeside Park (1890s-1923)

First settled by Scots-Irish Americans in the late eighteenth century, Ashland, Kentucky was incorporated as a city in 1856. The community soon became a center of industry for eastern Kentucky, with trade in coal, iron ore, sheet steel, wire rods and nails, brick, lumber, furniture, leather, and other products. As Ashland’s industrial prospects grew and early businesses filled its downtown, residents sought opportunities for recreation away from the hustle and bustle of the city. They gathered at a body of water called Savage Pond, which extended back from the Ashland-Catlettsburg turnpike up the hollow between Gartrell Hill and Clyffeside Hill near the eastern city limits. At Savage Pond, families could picnic during the summer and ice skate during the winter. When the Ashland-Catlettsburg Street Railway line was built during the 1890s, a dam with a spillway was built and the pond expanded into a 350 feet wide and 1,500 feet long lake. 

In 1900, the fifty-acre park was purchased by the Ohio Valley Electric Railway and renamed Clyffeside Park. By this time, streetcars had become a popular form of public transportation. The Ashland & Catlettsburg Street Railway was organized in the 1890s, originally using horse-drawn cars before electric streetcars were introduced. The railway soon connected Ashland to Catlettsburg, and Huntington to Ashland. The lines in Huntington, Ashland and Catlettsburg were eventually taken over by the Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company, whose name was briefly changed to the Camden Interstate Railway Company from around 1901 to 1908. After 1908, the company’s name returned back to the Ohio Valley Electric Railway Company.

Under the streetcar company’s ownership, Clyffeside Park quickly became one of the area’s most popular attractions. Average attendance in 1900 was 1,200 people in the summer, and around 1,000 in winter when ice skating was possible. Marshall College held its annual outing at Clyffeside Park in 1901, giving it a glowing review in a publication: 

“This beautiful park with its varied forms of attraction, chief among which are the fine clear water lake for rowing, conveniences for rest, sport, promenades, cooking, and restaurant, and music, has grown to be not only a favorite resort for Marshall College but for all the Ohio valley for 20 miles each way.”  

For the cost of a 25 cent trolley ride, visitors to Clyffeside could enjoy picnic grounds, boating, bandstands, a ballpark, and a pavilion built on a peninsula that extended out into the lake. During the spring of 1900, a 3,000-seat Casino, which hosted dances and other live entertainment rather than gambling, was built. The Casino became the scene of many banquets and dances, including the Ashland Annual Charity Ball. Additionally, Ashland's first swimming pool was at Clyffeside, and some of Marshall College's earliest football games were played at its ballpark. In the park’s later years, a large wooden roller coaster and a carousel were added. The entire park was lit by electric lights, allowing visitors to enjoy its attractions into the evening.

Clyffeside Park was one of hundreds of other parks owned and developed by the country’s trolley lines during the early twentieth century. These parks were built at the end of trolley lines as a way of encouraging workers and their families to use their services on weekends and holidays. The precursors to today’s amusement parks, trolley parks originated as picnic groves and pavilions where events like dances, concerts and fireworks could be held. As the parks became more popular, trolley companies added new attractions like carousels, Ferris wheels, roller coasters, swimming pools, sports fields, restaurants, and other facilities. By 1919, between 1,500 and 2,000 amusement parks operated around the country, the majority of which were trolley parks. 

By the end of the First World War, trolley parks entered a gradual decline due to the growing popularity of automobiles and changing urban demographics. Clyffeside Park was no exception. From 1917 on, visitorship fell as it lacked parking space for cars and faced rising competition from other sources of entertainment like movies and radio. At the same time, downtown Ashland’s Central Park was becoming more popular, and Camden Park in Huntington was attracting visitors who otherwise may have gone to Clyffeside. After experiencing years of decline, Clyffeside was finally closed and sold in March 1923. The new owners, who planned to divide the property into a residential subdivision, drained and filled the lake and swimming pool and had most of its buildings demolished. The Casino remained standing until at least the 1950s, but it was eventually torn down as well. The planned Clyffeside subdivision was never completed, due to the Great Depression and the Ohio River flood of 1937. In 1976, a new park at the site of the former trolley park was envisioned. Named after Commissioner Johnny Oliverio, the park features playground equipment, picnic shelters, and two little league baseball fields.

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