The back of Swiss Gardens and its sprawling open-air Pavilion. Here patrons enjoyed leisurely dinners to the strains of the world famous Danny Russo and his Orioles. After dinner, guests could dance the night away on the spacious outdoor dance floor. (Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
By Stephen Enzweiler
Special to NKyTribune
On a clear summer morning in 1929, Minnie Lohman walked out the front door of Swiss Gardens on Reading Road in Bond Hill and stepped into a waiting car. In her hands she carried two large canvas bags bulging with money. An armed driver behind the wheel put the vehicle into gear and sped off toward the bank. For Minnie, it was a morning ritual she had performed for nearly 30 years. During that time, she managed to build Swiss Gardens into a popular Cincinnati landmark, what the Cincinnati Enquirer touted as “the largest dining and dancing resort in the United States.” The roaring twenties were still roaring in 1929, and as the automobile sped on toward the bank, there was no indication to Minnie of it ever slowing down.
Swiss Gardens is one of the great lost stories from Cincinnati’s past. Advertisements from the 1920’s popularized it as “the pride of the Queen City” and called it “a Midwestern Landmark.” In an era of Prohibition and social change, Swiss Gardens became the destination for many looking to escape the drudgery of everyday life. It was more than just a fine dining establishment. In many ways, going to Swiss Gardens was almost like stepping into another time and place. People came from as far away as Chicago and Pittsburgh to enjoy its opulent atmosphere. And it was all the creative vision of Minnie Lohman.
Minnie Soergel in 1905, about the time she met Albert at the dance at Heringer’s Saloon.( Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
Minnie was born Maria Wilhelmina Soergel on October 17, 1882 in Nurnberg, Germany, the eldest of six children born to Andrew and Margareta Soergel. When she was six, the family immigrated to America and settled in Bellevue, Kentucky. Minnie was naturally outgoing from an early age and had no difficulty making friends. She was full of life and enjoyed both being entertained and entertaining others. When the mood struck her, she was known to hike her skirt and climb onto a tabletop, where she would perform a little dance for her friends. But she especially enjoyed attending the public dances given at Joseph Heringer’s Saloon on First Street in Newport. It was at one of these dances in 1905 where she met handsome 25-year old Albert Enzweiler.
Albert was tall and handsome, with a strong jaw and dimpled chin she found irresistible. Minnie was 23, attractive, with a lively laugh, wasp waist and volumes of thick, dark hair tied up in a swirling bun. The two quickly fell in love and were married at Corpus Christi Church in Newport on April 9, 1908. For the first year, Minnie helped Albert run the liquor sales and café business he owned at the corner of Fourth and Monmouth Streets. It was here where she first came into contact with the world of business.
Within the year, an opportunity fell under their eyes they could hardly ignore. A property called the Old Five Mile House on Reading Road was up for sale. It was located just five miles from Fountain Square and served as an inn for decades prior to the advent of the automobile. Minnie and Al bought the Five Mile House in 1909, renaming it “The Bond Hill House,” operating it much like the inn it had been.
Swiss Gardens as it looked in 1929 at the height of its popularity. Situated on Reading Road in Bond Hill just opposite California Avenue, it was one of the largest dining-dance resorts in the United States. (Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
But tragedy would color the early years of their marriage. In October 1910, the couple’s first child, seventeen-month old Alberta, became ill and died suddenly of meningitis. At the same time, Albert was suffering from a persistent cough that would not go away; he would follow his infant daughter three years later, dying on April 13, 1913 of tuberculosis.
The losses hit Minnie hard. For the next few years, she devoted herself to her business and the care of her two other children with Albert – Clara Mildred and a son, Albert. As if to reinvent herself, she renamed the business “Swiss Gardens.” In 1916, she married Ferdinand C. Lohman, a shipping clerk who quickly learned the inner workings of running her growing nightclub. “Ferd,” as he was known, proved to be an able partner, but through it all, Minnie was always the one to make the final business decisions.
Then came the passage of the Volstead Act in 1919, which threatened to upend everything. As owner of a prominent Cincinnati watering hole, she had no doubt been approached by druggist- turned-bootlegger George Remus as a target for his bootleg sales. But evidence suggests that Minnie resisted any temptation to run a speakeasy. During this period, Swiss Gardens not only thrived without alcohol, but grew substantially.
In 1925, she took out a $100,000 loan to expand the business once again on a larger scale. This time, her vision was to build an opulent addition to the existing building. The exterior was modeled after a Swiss chalet, with wings that spanned 214 feet in both directions from a central entrance. In one direction, a large, Greek-columned ballroom and dance floor was built to support 700 couples. In the other was a dining area for 1,200 guests that could be converted into a second ballroom if necessary.
Among the entertainers to play at Swiss Gardens were famed jazz and ragtime musicians Noble Sissel and Eubie Blake. (Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
Minnie also designed elegant outdoor gardens set amid a grove of cool, restful shade trees. Broad lawns accommodated 1,300 additional dinner patrons. She built a large, open-air pavilion with a bandstand and dance floor to accommodate 735 couples at once. There were two covered shelter houses, a miniature golf course, a large baseball field, and behind that – “unlimited” parking. The “new” Swiss Gardens opened to rave reviews on May 29, 1926.
As the roaring twenties continued roaring, people flocked to Minnie’s popular nightspot in record numbers. Money poured in. Radio provided additional opportunities for her to advertise. She booked nationally famous orchestras and jazz artists. There were acts like Danny Russo and his Orioles, the Swiss Gardens Orchestra, Marion McKay’s Orchestra, Tal Henry’s North Carolinians, all of which were broadcast on WLW, WFBE and WKRC. Dancers and theatrical acts also entertained. Fay Lanphier (Miss America 1925) was another act she booked, along with famed black jazz artists Noble Sissel and Eubie Blake.
But then came October 29, 1929 – Black Friday and the Stock Market crash. Nothing was ever the same after that. When all was said and done, the Great Depression would have a profound effect on Swiss Gardens – and on Minnie. She still made her morning trips to the bank, but falling patronage and dropping profits began to squeeze her. She was still paying off the $100,000 loan from the 1926 expansion, but by 1934, the money had run out, and the bank foreclosed on Swiss Gardens that summer. Minnie fell ill shortly thereafter, and could only watch from afar as the wrecking ball and bulldozers reduced her dream to rubble. Minnie Lohman died on April 9, 1935, the anniversary of her first marriage to Albert. Her son, when asked in later years what she died of, would only say, “The doctors never found a cause. But most people think she died of a broken heart.”
Stephen Enzweiler is a writer and journalist. He has been a columnist for the Kentucky Enquirer, the Oxford Citizen, and was a senior editor at Y’all Magazine. He is the author of “Oxford in the Civil War: Battle for a Vanquished Land (2010) as well as a forthcoming book about Minnie and Swiss Gardens.
The Old Bond Hill House as it looked in 1914 before the first renovation. Minnie had the exterior completely renovated that year, which gave it a like-new appearance. (Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
Another view of the lush, meandering gardens at Swiss Gardens. (Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
The Marion McKay Orchestra, a mainstay at Swiss Gardens, was regularly broadcast on WLW, WFBE and WKRC radio. (Stephen Enzweiler Collection.)
