There aren't many swimming pools that warrant their own book.
Then again, there aren't many pools quite as grand as Louisville's Lakeside Swim Club.
It's not until you physically walk through the unassuming front gate that you are bowled over by the massive 3-acre aquatic facility inconspicuously nestled within the 50-foot sheer limestone cliffs of a former quarry.
Did we mention, it's in the middle of a neighborhood in Kentucky's largest city?
Lakeside is so physically unique, its story so unusual, and the sense of pride it weaves through generations of its members so powerful, that it can be difficult to explain if you haven't been there in person. This is why Brigid Kaelin wrote "Lakeside," (Butler Books, $60) as a way to share the legacy of Louisville's one-of-a-kind pool.
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"I was born in July and was at Lakeside the next week," Kaelin told the Courier Journal. "My mom grew up going to Lakeside and this is where our family spent our summers. We never left town to go to camp or take vacations. We spent the summer at Lakeside. It's such a fun, unique, and bizarre place to grow up but most of all it's a safe and wonderful community."
Kaelin, a lifelong Louisvillian and Lakeside Swim Club member embarked on a three-year project to bring Lakeside to life in a 200-page coffee table book in honor of the facility's 100th anniversary this summer.
On any given summer day at Lakeside, future Olympians churn through the 50-meter swim lanes while teenagers fly off the high dive and dedicated water aerobics participants form a semi-circle in the shallow water. You'll find the tiniest swimmers splashing in the kiddie pool and a team of 100 plus staff members keep the place running — many of whom, like Kaelin, grew up swimming at Lakeside.
The limestone quarry swimming facility is magnificent to look at but the community built by its members and staff is the source of Lakeside's enduring history.
"Lakeside is unique for its 50-foot cliff walls. For its millions of gallons of chlorinated water. For it's unrivaled guard staff. But what Lakeside really is, is community," Kaelin writes in her book.
Before a swim club, Lakeside was a farm, quarry and swampy lake
Located just a few miles southeast of downtown Louisville in what is now the Highlands neighborhood, in the 1800s the rural landscape was used for farming. The invention of dynamite in 1875 allowed a rocky hillside on the property to be mined and it is believed some of the extracted limestone was used to pave the streets of downtown Louisville.
Sometime between 1918 and 1920, miners inadvertently hit an underground stream. The rock quarry immediately filled with water forcing the workmen to abandon their mining equipment. In Kaelin's book, Lakeside member Joyce Voit recalls stories about the newly formed lake as told by her father.
"The guys would go down underwater and pull up on the railroad tracks just for fun," she said.
In 1923, developers began auctioning lots for homes around the new quarry lake but it was not the attraction realtors had hoped it would be.
"There was no shallow area and the areas without cliff walls were swampy, full of cattails and water lilies," Kaelin writes in her book. "Three property owners came together to solve the quarry question. They knew that if the quarry was going to be an asset to the neighborhood, it needed to be co-owned by the community."
In filing an Articles of Incorporation with the state of Kentucky for a new non-profit, the early property owners included a statement that has allowed Lakeside to become what it is today. It read, "said lake shall never be sold or leased to any person or persons, firms or corporations and the lake shall never be used for commercial purposes or for private gain."
Fishing, sunbathing and swimming in the neighborhood lake
Scouring through Lakeside board minutes and newspaper articles, Kaelin pieced together the history of Lakeside Swim Club.
Lot owners in the Lakeside Addition, the name of the neighborhood surrounding the quarry, were able to join the newly formed Lakeside Corporation as certificate members, or stockholders.
"They would receive an actual certificate that granted them exclusive use of the lake. It was still private property but the formation of the corporation meant that no one was in it alone. An entire community would be responsible for caring for the land," writes Kaelin.
Neighborhood volunteers did their best to keep the quarry lake safe and even though the deep water lake was full of snakes, frogs, fish, and algae, they created a reason for the community to gather there.
In "Lakeside," Kaelin describes a Saturday evening in 1928 when a new event called the Lakeside Swim Carnival was held. More than 1,500 spectators gathered to watch swimming and diving events. Louisville's Mayor Harrison attended, women of the neighborhood baked sweet treats, and The Sanitary Manufacturing Band entertained the crowd.
"These swim meets became the thing to do as a source of neighborhood and city entertainment. It was like primetime Saturday night entertainment," Kaelin told the Courier Journal. "People dressed up and sat on the cliffs to cheer for their favorites."
The success of the free summer carnival morphed into what has become The Ohio Valley Championships, the longest-running swim meet in the country held at the same pool.
Lakeside's legacy of Olympic swimmers and divers
Although Kaelin focuses primarily on the land and community that make Lakeside unique, she doesn't ignore the legacy of exceptional swimmers who trained at the facility.
"In 1940, the Lakeside women's swim team won the National Championship and that was a huge deal," writes the author. "In the 1940s, Ann Hardin and Mary Moorman-Ryan made the Olympic team but of course, the Olympics weren't held due to the war. Then in the 1970s, the competitiveness started up again."
The list of 11 Olympic swimmers who have trained at Lakeside includes Ann Hardin,1940; Mary Moorman-Ryan, 1940; Camille Wright, 1976; Lisa Buese, 1980; Mary T. Meagher, 1980, 1984, 1988; Tori Trees, 1984; Leigh Ann Fetter, 1988; Rachel Komisarz, 2004; Caroline Burckle, 2008; Clark Burckle, 2012; and Brooke Forde, 2021.
"When you are a young swimmer and there are people you see at the pool all summer who make it to the Olympics, it allows you access to those same dreams," Kaelin said. "Around the country, swimmers know Lakeside, they say 'Oh, you're the quarry pool' and that's pretty cool."
It's not uncommon for Olympians to return to Lakeside. This summer, Mary T. Meagher-Plant and Leigh Ann Fetter came by the swim club for Q&As and an autograph signing. Brooke Forde, Rachel Komisarz, Caroline Burckle, and her brother Clark have also delighted young swimmers and their parents, stopping by the swim club after their Olympic Games.
A century of changes and improvements to Lakeside Swim Club
Lakeside has been membership-based since 1946 when safety concerns and neighborhood complaints became important issues.
"I read 100 years of board minutes and they all seemed to deal with the same issues ― safety and respect," Kaelin told the Courier Journal. "During the years when Lakeside was open to the public, the board minutes discussed concerns over people showing up who didn't know how to swim, lifeguards being forced to work overtime to keep people safe, and complaints that people were parking in front of driveways and throwing trash in yards. By 1946, the board had decided the facility needed some restrictions."
Today certificate members, those who own property in the original Lakeside subdivision, can sponsor one new member each year.
Since the 1980s, additional swimming areas have been added and a new clubhouse and snack bar were built. The facility has been modernized in every way to ensure the safety of the members. From the large and well-trained lifeguard staff to the most up-to-date water cleaning systems, stringent maintenance protocols, and a full-time staff.
"When Lakeside was first established, it was intended to be a place for local residents to come together for recreation, for picnics, birthday parties and relaxing summer day," writes the author.
In many ways, that version of Lakeside still exists. Today generations of Lakeside members embrace long-standing traditions like the Big Splash contest on the Fourth of July, float-in movie nights, impromptu basketball games, monthly book club meet-ups, and a day for dogs to enjoy the pool after it closes at the end of the season.
"You watch the generations change, but everything stays the same. I've always thought Lakeside is this magical place where time stands still," member Angela Pike said in "Lakeside.
How to purchase Brigid Kaelin's 'Lakeside' coffee table book
"Lakeside" is $60 and available at locally owned ButlerBooks.com and Carmichael's Bookstore. Additionally, Kaelin plans to announce book signings for the 200-page hardcover book. Details will be announced at a later date.
Reach features reporter Kirby Adams at kadams@courier-journal.com.
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