By Kopana Terry
Contributing Writer

LuigART Studios is a vibrant creative center for working artists with individual studios in a two-story warehouse on Luigart Court, just off Limestone Street in north Lexington. Each studio is unique, and the artists share a large, open space for installations, exhibits and salon-style gatherings.

But the artists and their studios are just one chapter of the building’s storied past. Like most of Lexington, owners Mike Satterly, Marco Logsdon and Casey Mather didn’t realize how extraordinary their building’s history was when they bought it in 2017. Reinette Jones, a historian, librarian and co-creator of the Notable Kentucky African Americans (NKAA) database, and I worked with Satterly to look into the old building’s previous lives. What we found was as unexpected as a donkey winning the Derby. 

The LuigART building’s oldest section dates back to 1850 and housed “the first hemp factory in Fayette County operated by steam power.” By 1873, German immigrant Joseph Luigart, for whom the street was named, transitioned the building from hemp to the Luigart & Harting Malt Mill to make barley malt. The building fell into neglect after Luigart died in 1896, and its third story was removed. However, in August 1937, the building was resurrected to become the Dixieland Gardens, “Kentucky’s smartest Night Club,” a music and dance venue that catered to the African American community, advertising itself as a dance hall for “colored people.”

At the time, Luigart Court off North Limestone was outside the Lexington city limits. Proprietor A. C. Harper, along with J. J. Galvin, R. L. Mulloy, Embry Lagrew and George W. Hall, were licensed to operate a dance hall that also offered athletic contests, amusements, amateur contests, charity functions, organization dances, anniversary and birthday celebrations, balls and school dances. It seemed to function as a community center of sorts.

Blacks and whites lived side by side in this section of north Lexington and had businesses alongside each other with little trouble, which was an unusual situation anywhere in the country, let alone in Lexington. Not much is known about Dixieland Gardens or how it was operated as an African American club in a racially mixed neighborhood. It doesn’t appear on the list of halls that welcomed the Chittlin' Circuit, a network of entertainment venues that booked Black performers for African American audiences in the Jim Crow era. Nevertheless, the owners billed the old malt warehouse as a showplace with “an elevated bandstand, hardwood maple floors, a full-size bar and 100 tables,” and brought in some of the biggest names in American jazz during its existence between 1937 and 1944.

The Grand Opening of Dixieland Gardens was held Oct. 8, 1937, headlined by Andy Kirk and His Orchestra, with prodigy Mary Lou Williams on piano, and Pha Terrell and Henry Wells sharing vocals. Kirk, originally from Newport, Kentucky, became well known for his Kansas City sound, and he was popular during the swing period with records on the Brunswick and Decca labels. With jazz powerhouse Williams on piano and Terrell on vocals, the orchestral combo that opened Dixieland Gardens was considered one of the best Kirk lineups in the band’s history.

Andy Kirk went on to be a frequent performer at Dixieland Gardens, as was national jazz master and former Kirk bandmate Jimmie Lunceford, who had recordings on Decca and Columbia. Lunceford played a one-night performance in early December 1937. A section of the club was segregated for whites, another rarity, but it kept with the spirit of the surrounding mixed-race neighborhood. Whites purchased their tickets at Sageser Drug Store at 127 North Mill Street. Allowing whites at the club became standard practice and students from the University of Kentucky soon became frequent patrons.

1938 was perhaps the biggest year for Dixieland Gardens. January 29 of that year, Hollywood star and comedian Stepin Fetchit brought his Harlem Hit Parade to Dixieland Gardens. Erskine Hawkins and His Orchestra and Velma Middleton, Queen of the Blues, soon followed. At the time, Hawkins was one of the house bands at the famed Savoy Ballroom in Harlem and alternated that gig with Chick Webb and His Orchestra. Middleton’s appearance in 1938 was just a few short years before she joined Louis Armstrong’s big band full time (1942), where she remained until her death in 1961.  

Count Basie and the Count Basie Orchestra first appeared at Dixieland Gardens on March 24, 1938, and returned in May for a second performance. The Sunset Royal Entertainers, a swing band from Florida, came to Dixieland Gardens in April; tickets cost $.50. Chick Webb and His Orchestra first appeared at Dixieland Gardens in July, featuring none other than Ella Fitzgerald. In October, Walter Barnes and His Chicago Orchestra, featuring Dolly Hutchinson, Queen of the Trumpet, debuted. Advance tickets were $.65, or $.75 at the door.

1939 began with even more big acts. “Trumpet King of Swing” Louis Armstrong played Dixieland Gardens in June 1939 and Duke Ellington and “His Famous Orchestra” on Nov. 28. 

The nightclub seemed to thrive for the few years at the very end of the Great Depression, but things took a turn when Dixieland Gardens, Inc. was dissolved on April 1, 1939. It was April Fool's Day, but the breakup was no joke. President John J. Galvin Jr. signed: "Notice is hereby given of the dissolution of Dixieland Gardens, Inc." No reason for the dissolution has been found, but given the high-quality national acts it supported, the lingering impact of the Depression, and the growing tensions ahead of World War II, financing may have been an issue. 

Nevertheless, proprietor A. C. Harper remained at the helm (perhaps as the sole owner), and events and performances continued at Dixieland Gardens into the 1940s, although the appearance of big-name bands began to wane through lack of funding previously afforded by Dixieland Gardens, Inc. Andy Kirk and His Clouds of Joy played in March, and The Celtic Club brought in the Kentucky State Collegians. In April and again in November, the Four Ink Spots featured the return of the Sunset Royal Orchestra from Florida. Count Basie returned in May, and Erskine Hawkins and His Tuxedo Orchestra, featuring Dolores Brown, performed in June. Andy Kirk ended the year with his December performance, again featuring Mary Lou Williams, along with Floyd Smith and June Richmond. 

Erskine Hawkins’ September performance fell the same month that the Selective Training and Service Act of 1940 took effect, and all men between the ages of 21 and 45 were required to register for the draft. With the prospect of war on the horizon, entertainment news gave way to more pressing concerns. Ella Fitzgerald returned to perform twice in 1941, without notices in the Lexington newspapers.