The History of Rose Island

In 1886, the Louisville and Jeffersonville Ferry Company purchased 118 acres of property along the Ohio River, at the bottom of the Devil's Backbone (a geologic wonder comprised of a narrow limestone wall), and built a picnic area called Fern Grove. The flat, open areas were ideal for large groups and the high bluff provided an excellent panoramic view of the Ohio River Valley. The property was to be primarily used by church groups wanting to hold picnics. They built a 12-room hotel named Fern Cliff Hotel to accommodate overnight guests.

An entrepreneur by the name of David B.G. Rose purchased the property in 1923 and renamed it Rose Island. The peninsula of land was not a true island, but had the appearance of one due to the way Fourteen Mile creek cut back on itself with the backbone in the middle. The amusement park grew to become a major attraction for Ohio River communities including Louisville, Kentucky and the Indiana cities of Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albany. During the mid 1920's over 135,000 annual visitors made their way to Rose Island.

If you enjoyed adventure, just getting there was something quite unusual in itself. The basic mode of travel to the park was by steamboat. The steamer "America" was a 4,000 passenger, rear paddle wheeler that measured 286' long by 83' wide. Owned and operated by The River Excursion Company, the America provided the major means of travel to Rose Island. A ticket on the America cost $.25 for adults and $.15 for children under the age of 12. Additional steamboats such as the side-wheeler "Rose Island," the rear paddle wheeler "Liberty," the "Sunshine," and smaller passenger boats like the "Vivianne III" provided shuttle service from the Falls Cities and the Kentucky side of the river. A parking lot was built along River Road, in Louisville, and shuttle service was available every ten minutes to the park.

For the privileged owners of an automobile, usually a model T, access was possible from the Indiana side of the river along a bumpy and steep road winding down from Highway 62 to the west side of Fourteen Mile Creek. A 400' swinging bridge provided a walkway across the creek into the amusement park. The foundations of the bridge are still visible today.Steamboat passengers arriving at Rose Island were met with a boat landing and impressive, electric lighted entrance sign. The arched "Rose Island" sign sat upon three columns of native limestone and were topped with Gothic styled lamp posts. Rose Island visitors had ample activities and facilities for their recreational visits. The twelve room hotel and twenty-two furnished cottages provided lodging for overnight and week long visits. A 400 seat restaurant and additional 100 seat cafeteria combined with a delicatessen served some of the finest foods in the area. The Rose Island Company owned their own flock of chickens for eggs and poultry and a purebred herd of Jersey cows supplied fresh milk, rich cream, and pure country butter. Meals were often rounded off with fresh fish caught from the Ohio River by the staff fishermen.

Recreational facilities included a swimming pool, dance pavilion, orchestra, merry-go-round, baseball fields, zoo, miniature golf course, shooting gallery, bird shows, row boat rentals, fountain, picnic tables for 1,600 people, hiking trails that included a set of wooden steps up to "Lovers Lane" on the Devil's Backbone, and a pony track complete with fifteen shetland ponies.

Operational facilities at the park included a ten ton ice plant, two motor boats, a "never failing spring", four 6-inch wells ranging in depth from 120 to 220 feet, and a 16,000 gallon water tower.

Mr. Rose was not only the owner and general manager of Rose Island but, he was also the reason for it's management success. Posted rules included No Gambling, No Drinking, and Animals Must Not Be Molested". A sign that hung in the hotel summarized the extent of the dream that was held for the recreational value of Rose Island:

Our Creed
To provide clean, safe, wholesome outdoor recreation for everybody.
To fill the hearts of children with joy while spending their hours of play in the sunshine and fresh air.
To treat our patrons as our guests and by courteous manners make them our friends,
who will look upon our island with pride and as a benefit to the community.
To send every Man, Woman, and Child home feeling that the time has been Well Spent and eager to return.
The Rose Island Company

The park was extremely successful during the 1920's but, like businesses across the country the depression took its toll on Rose Island. By 1931 the Rose Island Company was losing money and had a loss of $871. Continuing to provide entertainment through the mid 1930's the park unknowingly had it's last season in 1936. The devastating flood of 1937 completely wiped out the park and inundated everything with up to ten feet of water. Rose Island was washed away like the homes and businesses of so many thousands of people living along the Ohio River that year and it ceased to exist.