A J Jolly Park
County names a park for its judge. Condensed from an article by Jim Reis from Pieces of the Past, Volume 3, page 190-202. Reprinted here with his permission.
The first step toward development of a Campbell County public park came on
November 16, 1959 when the fiscal court voted to establish a fiver person board,
appointed by the county judge, Andrew J Jolly Jr., to "provide, conduct and
maintain parks, playgrounds, and recreation centers in the county. They
met with Gov. Bert Combs at the Wiedemann Brewery roof garden in September 1960
to lobby for financial aid. The target for a county park and golf course
was a site on US 27 six miles south of Alexandria in Aspen Grove. The
county had options on 270 acres.
The Cincinnati firm of A M Kinney was hired to do the engineering work for the park project which included a proposed mile-long lake. In 1960, the site plan called for an 18 hole golf course, a 150 acre lake, playfields, a bathing beach and lakefront land for cottages. This called for 750 acres.
Ground breaking ceremonies were held April 16, 1961 in near freezing weather and snow showers. Jolly could not attend because he was ill, but his mother stood in for him. The golf course opened June 28 1962 with Orville McAtee as club pro and park superintendent. Also open was a bridle path and stable with 15 horses.
The park opened in 1963 as a Campbell County Public Park. In the spring of 1973, the fiscal court voted to rename the park A J Jolly Park in honor of the judge who spearheaded the park drive. In 1976, A J Jolly Park hosted teh 24th annual Kentucky Governor's Cup hydroplane races. A J Jolly Park is spread over 1000 acres with a 250 acre lake and an 18 hole golf course. The park also has bike trails, reserved areas for group picnics, a fishing pier for the handicapped and baseball and soccer fields.