Does Your Ludlow House Have a Story? This one does...

223 Oak Street; © Robert Burge Photography, 2003

Driving or walking down the 200 block of Oak St., one would not notice anything unusual. The Fire Department dominates the block; the houses vary in size and architecture, but nothing out of the ordinary. However, one house in that block- 233 Oak St., has an extraordinary history. It is a story of the heroism of a railroad engineer and a closely knit railroad community that Ludlow became in the era of the railroad boom following the Civil War. In 1869, the city of Cincinnati finalized a plan to build a rail route to Chattanooga, TN, opening up a new trade route to the South. Because the Ludlow family granted property easements for the construction, a bridge was built across the Ohio River into Ludlow, and the town became the site of the major railyard for maintenance and supplies. Hundreds of workers, many German and Irish immigrants, moved to the town to work in the railyard. One such worker was Daniel Driscoll, an Irish-American immigrant, who was an engineer for the Cincinnati Southern Railway in the early 1880s. The Driscoll family numbered six children, all boys, ranging from three months to seventeen years. Driscoll’s wife, Elizabeth, was an active volunteer with the Irish Catholic community. Driscoll’s work schedule required him to be away from home for days at a stretch, followed by several days off. But as a favor to a fellow engineer (and with a poor safety record), Driscoll substituted for him soon after he arrived home with virtually no rest. On the route from Chattanooga back to Cincinnati, Driscoll encountered an oncoming train on the same track at the Versailles Pike Crossing, Lexington. Despite every effort to avoid a collision, the locomotive tumbled over an embankment and Driscoll was killed instantly. However, Driscoll’s capable maneuvers with the engine prevented further loss of life to passengers and workers on the train. Tragically, Elizabeth was left a widow and the children with no father. Several months after the tragic accident, rail workers and the Southern Railway had a new house built for Elizabeth and her boys in 1883 as a tribute to Dan Driscoll. In her diary Elizabeth noted: “Tis a beautiful house with lots of room for us all….The men from the railroad said whenever one of the boys is ready to start working that they will have a place with the Southern if they want it…. The house is the answer to my prayers. I know Daniel had a hand in it, watching over us still….” This humble 143 year old house, recently renovated, is another keepsake of Ludlow’s rich railroad stories.

Author’s Note: The complete account of the Driscoll family and Daniel Driscoll’s work experience with the railroad is available in Northern Kentucky Heritage. Douglas Burge, “Twenty Minutes ‘Til Daylight- An Account of a 19th Century Irish-American Hero”, Vol.XII, No.1, Fall-Winter 2004