Henderson history: Ellis Park racetrack stumbled at the gate
Ellis Park has suffered through a tornado, two fires and the accidental deaths of three jockeys but its most grueling trials were its birth pangs a century ago.
If not for namesake James C. Ellis the racetrack would have quickly become an also-ran.
The Green River Jockey Club, the developer of the track, was incorporated March 21, 1922, although plans had been in the works for at least a year. Probably the most important incorporators were Lee Baskett, A. Barret Dade, and Bradley Wilson.
Four days later, on March 25, Baskett bought about 73 acres of the property and on May 16 he bought the remainder of about 133 acres. On May 17 he sold both tracts to the jockey club for $64,500.
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The March 28 edition of the Bourbon News in Paris, Ky., reported that Baskett, the corporation’s president, initially planned to lease the property to the jockey club. The same story said another concern had been planning to build a racetrack in the Evansville vicinity but had abandoned that idea.
Problems plagued the track from the outset. Collyer’s Eye, a Chicago publication covering the racing scene, reported in its March 18 edition that “a healthy racetrack war” was in the making. The courses at Louisville, Lexington, and Latonia, it reported, feared to see “a few shekels filtering away from the great maw. Big stick methods have availed these people in the past, but we doubt very seriously if they can successfully throttle competition much longer.”
Opposition came also from another direction, The Gleaner of April 4 reported. The congregation of Trinity Methodist Episcopal Church in Evansville unanimously passed a resolution condemning the fledgling track. “It will be entirely outside the police control, not only of our city, but of the state of Indiana. We will be compelled to suffer all the evils and yet have no hand in the control of the matter.”
The Gleaner of April 23 reported blueprints had been accepted and the track had been named Dade Park to honor one of the incorporators and its official race starter. For the previous 25 years A. Barret Dade had been one of the country’s most distinguished race starters.
Bradley Wilson was the general manager, a position he also held at the Devonshire racetrack in Windsor, Ontario, where he was the main owner.
Collyer’s Eye of April 29 reported work had been delayed because of high water, but surveying would begin soon. The track would cost about $250,000 to build; the jockey club had been capitalized at $500,000.
Ernest H. Bohne, a civil engineer from Lexington, began surveying May 9, according to The Gleaner of that date, and work began on building the dike the next day. The bulk of that work was done by mule-drawn equipment.
The May 21 edition reported state banking authorities had authorized the jockey club to sell stock, and that the survey of the property had been completed the previous week.
The Gleaner of May 28 said contracts had been let to build the grandstand, which was to be 245 feet long and 75 feet wide. The contractors were Corum & Corum of Madisonville and Moore & Nelson of Hopkinsville.
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Henderson’s own Lambert-Grisham Hardware Co. won the contract to provide six railroad cars of slate roofing shingles to the project, according to the June 13 Gleaner. Work on the grandstand began June 20, 1922, according to The Gleaner of April 23, 1972.
The Gleaner of Oct. 1, 1922, touted the upcoming harness racing meet Oct. 17-21, in which some of the top reinsmen in the United States were to compete. Heading the list was Edward “Pop” Geers, 71, who the paper said was “the most attractive individual in the racing game today.” He was to die in a racing accident a couple of years later.
Also racing in the first meet was Tommy Murphy and an up-and-comer named Walter Cox. Cox was to win three of the four races on Oct. 19, the first day. Top talent was drawn because the races were on sulky racing’s Grand Circuit; the racetrack was also a handy stop on the way to winter racing in New Orleans.
The meet had been delayed two days because of heavy rains and a muddy track. In fact, all four races the first day were run on a shorter track because about 100 feet of the track was too muddy to race on, according to the Oct. 20 Gleaner.
The harness races, with purses of $32,000, drew fans from throughout the Tri-State and special trains from Louisville and Indianapolis. The capacity of the grandstand was 5,000 and The Gleaner reported it was nearly full.
The racetrack had been designed for thoroughbred racing and on Nov. 10 a 10-day thoroughbred meet began with $62,000 of purses.
But those short meets were not enough to pay the bills and by mid-August 1923 it was obvious the track was hopelessly mired in debt. That’s when the Green River Jockey Club signed over the deed to the Ohio Valley Banking & Trust Co.
“It was evident some time ago that this plant was not a paying proposition, and there have been rumors afloat that this company was to assign,” The Gleaner reported.
Between May 1923 and September 1924 there were 17 lawsuits filed by creditors in Henderson Circuit Court against the Green River Jockey Club.
Some of those creditors joined together in early October 1923 to file a petition in Louisville to force an involuntary bankruptcy. They maintained the deed assignment was an act of bankruptcy and listed the racetrack's debts at $237,400.
The track sat largely unused during all that financial turmoil. No horses ran in either 1923 or 1924, although several dirt-track auto races were held there both years.
Eventually the legal troubles were sorted out and the track was sold at bankruptcy auction Sept. 13, 1924 – right after a race pitting a motorcycle against an airplane flying about 30 feet off the ground. The winning bid was $20,100 and James C. Ellis of Owensboro was the buyer.
But the bankruptcy judge voided that sale, noting the jockey club had spent approximately $315,000 to build the track. The track was sold again that December and Ellis was once again the high bidder at $35,000.
The facility was called Dade Park until 1954, when it was renamed to honor Ellis, who reinvested all profits in the facility and absorbed all losses until it first turned a profit in 1934. Without his steadfast support, the racetrack probably never would have survived its formative years.
75 YEARS AGO
The Gleaner of March 30, 1947, reported work was resuming on what is now the oldest water tank Henderson Water Utility currently has operating.
The Atkinson Park tank replaced the water system’s original reservoir, a site now occupied by Atkinson Park Medical Building.
The tank was higher than its predecessor and was expected to resolve water pressure problems in areas like the vicinity of Dixon and Elm streets. “This will mean that people living on hills … will not have to wait all day to draw enough water for a bath.”
50 YEARS AGO
Henderson Fiscal Court authorized a $20,000 study by the Senex Corp. to determine the feasibility of erecting a health care facility for the elderly, according to The Gleaner of March 28, 1972.
County government lost its previous facility for the elderly when Walker Rest Home on U.S. 60-East closed in 1971.
Senex Corp. apparently felt pretty sure the study would show a new facility like Redbanks nursing home was needed, since the $20,000 would be paid for from the Redbanks bond issue.
Care for the indigent elderly was under the poor farm model for more than 100 years.
The county poor farm was established on Madisonville Road in 1854, but it moved to the Corydon vicinity in 1872 and stayed there until 1960, when Walker Rest Home began operations.
Henderson County Health Care Corp. was created by fiscal court May 23, 1972. It is the owner of Redbanks, which opened May 1, 1973.
25 YEARS AGO
Eddie Davis announced his upcoming resignation on June 30 as head of Operation Community Pride after 11 years of leadership, The Gleaner announced March 29, 1997.
OCP Chairwoman Virginia Newman praised Davis as being “instrumental in moving the organization from a fledgling organization to a productive, viable nonprofit agency providing invaluable services to the city and county of Henderson.”
During his tenure, she noted, OCP raised funds for and completed the popular River Walk (although it was later extended through the efforts of the city of Henderson), its Adopt-a-Spot program, and Christmas in the Park, as well as many other beautification efforts.
Davis died in 2004 at the age of 72. Along with his time at OCP, he spent 31 years as a science and biology teacher, had been a Chamber of Commerce distinguished citizen, and at the time of his death was chairman of the Henderson City-County Planning Commission.
Readers of The Gleaner can reach Frank Boyett at YesNews42@yahoo.com or on Twitter at @BoyettFrank.