Thursday again already Fixers? Time to dive into history!
This week I’m bringing you something a little closer to my own hometown; the Cavern Nite Club that ran in Bowling Green from the 1930s thru the 1960s. What’s so special about dance hall, you ask? It was air conditioned. Sweet, precious cold air was continuously pumped into the building year round…because it was built in a cave mouth. In a time when central air was a distant dream, this gimmick pulled in people from around the state.
Some kids enjoy a break from the dancing.
Sorry for the poor photo quality but my Photoshop skills at turning tiny images into impressive images is extremely limited.
The really cool thing here though is the strange coincidence of this club opening the same year Prohibition was repealed; no mean feat considering the 21st Amendment didn’t get singed into law until December 5th. So either Cavern Nite Club had the fastest construction crew in the country, or more likely, they just finally publicized their establishment.
Speakeasys were pandemic during Prohibition and a cave that sits 50 feet down, is covered by heavy brush and is only accessible by a rickety set of steps would be a prime location. Couple that with the local town being known as Little Chicago at the time(yes I know, pretty much every small town east of the Mississippi held that title at one point) and it seems the owners took the opportunity to make more money and jumped on it. Below is a photo of the cave as it as been restored today; the original steps to the cave floor can still be seen in the background.
All information and images courtesy of: Lost River Cave
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It’s my understanding that there was a “ballroom” in Huntsville, Alabama that was also situated in a cave. I believe the local National Speleological Society has their offices in close proximity to it. Unfortunately, it has not been restored like this one has.
Can anyone read anymore? Does anyone know their geography? Isn’t Chicago WEST of the Appalachians?
Brain fart. Fixed!
– the local town being known as Little Chicago at the time (yes I know, pretty much every small town east of the Mississippi held that title at one point)
……every small town east of the Mississippi, including Chicago itself.
By the way, it should be mentioned — Bowling Green is in Kentucky. And it’s the Lost River Cave (more speculation – it could be part of the Mammoth Cave system, which extends for hundreds of miles).
Not really. No serious speleologist in the area thinks the two are connected.
The Flint-Mammoth system is hundreds of miles long, but it all fits within something like 10 square miles.
Spelunking the night away I see…
I’ve been thoroughly enjoying the Historic kludges, complete with stories. Awesome work on something I probably never would have known about. Thanks! I look forward to more of them!
I had the distinct pleasure of passing out in that cave forty years ago. Woke up in a fraternity house some thirty miles away without the jacket that I had the night before. Second weekend in college.
You’re lucky the jacket was all that went missing. Sixty or more years ago, the usual was to leave the hapless freshman only in his trousers (sans BVDs) – with the fly buttons cut off. If he was really unlucky or unpopular, he’d be left with no clothes at all.
Ah, the good ol’ days!
Singed? The 21st Amendment was singed? Perhaps legislators should be told not to play with matches.
Maybe it means they sung it. After all, they give us a song and dance about everything else they’re supposed to be doing.
Hey, I’ve been in that cave! It’s a pretty quick tour, but fun and easy going. We took a toddler with us. The tour guide said that Jesse James is alleged to have spent a night there (and in every other cave in Kentucky). The restoration of the club hadn’t yet happened. I’m delighted to see the pictures.
My brother had his wedding reception in a cave here in NZ. It had electricity and a toilet, but the floor is just rock and sand covered with sacks, so it’s still pretty cave-y.
The only real Cavern Club is the one in Liverpool. Wish i could have seen the Fab Four play there….
It’s funny that you feel this in not a real Cavern Club when it’s a REAL cavern… the one in Liverpool was not. Ironic, ain’t it?
“In a time when central air was a distant dream, this gimmick pulled in people from around the state.
Willis Haviland Carrier is credited with inventing the commercial air conditioner in 1902, but the idea of circulating cool air through a building has been around since ancient Rome.
Holy macaroni Batman, they took over our Batcave!
I lived in Bowling Green for 20 years, and know quite a bit about the cave. One reason they got the nightclub built so fast is that there was already a lot of construction at the cave mouth – there had been a grist mill there for decades, using the current of the small river that rises further down the valley and runs back underground in the cave.
It’s not part of the Mammoth Cave system. That, though known to be about 600 miles long, is confined beneath two ridge lines (Mammoth and Flint) about 40 miles to the north. But the entire region is karst, limestone terrain that’s riddled with caves and sinkholes.
They tell the Jesse James story a lot, but it’s extremely unlikely. It’s based on a bank robbery in Russellville, a small town to the west. It apparetly was hit by some members of the James Gang, though neither Frank nor Jesse is believed to have been with them at the time. The robbers hid
out for a night somewhere around Bowling Green, but the only argument that they hid in Lost River comes from a local doctor, decades later – and he was a known teller of tall tales.
Hey! My hometown, too. I live about a mile from the cave.
How cool and thank you for sharing!! I live not far from BG, and had no clue about the history, nor did I know you are from there. Bowling Green is such a fantastic little city!
Western Kentucky University hosts a reception for all new faculty there every year. That and the other caves in the area were the only reason that year of my life was even remotely tolerable.
It’s nice to see these pictures from my neck of the woods. I’m a short drive from there, in Kentucky.
Beautiful restoration.
Building a nightclub in a cavern sounds like a miner inconvenience.
The depth of your humor knows no bounds.
we could go on in this vein forever.
SFCRetired…you’re thinking of Bangor Cave, maybe? Located in Bangor, AL in Blount County, it was a dance club/bar/casino. Now it’s full of graffiti and dirty needles. Google it for photos and more info…fascinating.
The land it’s on is up for sale. I wish someone would buy it and restore it.
Longhorn Cavern near Burnet, Texas was also a speakeasy back in the day
there used to be a speakeasy and dance hall in longhorn cavern, in central Texas. It wasn’t that close to the entrance, though, and was supplied by an elevator that went about 200 feet down. during the civil war, it was a confederate powder magazine. they even made there own gunpowder from the nitrates in bat poop.
Meramec Caverns in MO used to hold parties like that. There is also a big ballroom size area that they actually used as a parking lot. Times were different before they knew about carbon monoxide poisoning.
wow next time we head over to eastern KY I’ll have to check that out.
It’s in south-central Kentucky. It’s pretty, but a very short tour. If you want something more serious, go to Mammoth Cave National Park just a few miles away.
not to pick nits, but it’s actually more like … western kentucky. southwest, actually. says a girl from nearby hopkinsville.
They really dig out old pics here!
Dakota Cavarns in North Alabama was Deeper and more secluded. Prohibition was the mother of Invention, or so it seems, as it was a saloon as well.
I recall visiting that cave back in… I think the early 90s. I wish I took pictures. The old ballroom floor was still there, and the one stone building, but it had been long abandoned and seemed to be mainly a place where local teens hung out to drink beer.
“But how does the air coming from the caves get so extraordinarily cool?” you may wonder. It really is a fascinating process! The bats that make their homes in the deeper recesses of the network of caves produce feces. This waste then mixes with the minerals in the rock on the cave floor. An enothermic reaction occurs that significantly lowers the temperature of the fecal concoction. As the air passes along the waste, it is cooled and carried out through the cave openings and…wait! Where are you going? Hmm…every time I share that information with people, they suddenly take off in the direction of the nearest bathroom…weird.
Whoops…endothermic.
And here is the original Flyer: LOL
http://blog.modernmechanix.com/mags/ModernMechanix/9-1933/night_club.jpg
I was married in this cave last fall!
Unfortunately, the recent flooding has damaged a lot of the renovations. The water reached the chandelier shown in the wedding picture!
In Fallout 3, it’s a: PARTY IN THE DEATHCLAW SANCTUARY!!!!
i actually am a tour guide here and i am so pumped to see it on here.
I live in nearby Glasgow, and was quite surprised to see this on here! Even more so to see all of my fellow Kentuckians posting comments!!
I’ve been there! Pretty cool.
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