The Ludlow Heritage Museum will host a fundraiser to prepare for a $2.5 million renovation of its historic storehouse. The event will take place Thursday, May 16, at 6 p.m. at Elmwood Hall, at 243 Forest Ave, in Ludlow.
“There’s a lot to be done,” said Yolanda Mitchell, secretary for the Ludlow Heritage Museum board. “(The railroad storehouse is) the last building of its type of the Norfolk Southern railroad line.”
Mitchell, who has three generations of family that worked on the railroad, said this project is important to her personally, but it should also be important to the city of Ludlow.
The railroad storehouse, a building erected between 1889 and 1892, served as an office and storage for the railroad, according to the Ludlow Heritage Museum website. It housed offices and parts storage for the construction and repair of railway engines and cars.
“This building was almost ready to be torn down; it was on the list to be torn down when we were able to secure a lease for it from Norfolk Sothern,” she said.
If the museum can raise these funds, the money will be used for a new floor, a new roof, renovating the walls, and renovating the basement. Mitchell said once renovations are made, the Ludlow Heritage Museum will move in and use it to share the history of the city of Ludlow and its railroad.
“It needs a lot of work, but it’s a much bigger building and the Ludlow Heritage Museum is in great need of more space,” she said.
Three high school seniors, Erikah Brown and Trevor Fortner who attend Dixie Heights High School, and Nathanial Harmon who attends Simon Kenton High School, completed their final co-op project in Ludlow, creating a 3-D model of the historic railroad storehouse that is located on the Norfolk Southern Rail Yard in Ludlow.
The result of the project left the museum board delighted.
“It’s incredible,” Mitchell said. “You have to see it to believe it. I mean, they did a total professional job and they’re high school students.”
This project was done through the Ignite Institute, a learning program focused on providing education and experience in career fields in high demand in the Northern Kentucky community. Ignite students have access to multiple dual credit courses through partnerships with local universities that allow graduates from the Ignite Institute to earn an Associate’s Degree.
Andy Wartman, the sponsor for this project and owner of Allied Rail Corporation said what brought the students together was their interest in history.
The team of students created the diorama from images and drawings from the University of Cincinnati and an architect. Wartman said because they didn’t have blueprints, the students had to climb up on ladders and measure walls and bricks to get proper measurements before printing the models.
The museum plans to be a reminder of Ludlow’s community and the history that has happened there. President Mark Mitchell said the storehouse was used as a backdrop for the 1993 film Lost in Yonkers, starring Richard Dreyfuss and Mercedes Ruehl among other interesting historical moments.
The dioramas are on a tour around the state showing off what is in Ludlow. The storehouse model will be on display at Thursday’s fundraising event at Elmwood Hall. Brown, Fortner and Harmon will also be in attendance at the event.