LUDLOW — Neighbors of this tiny Ohio River town are celebrating a development boom.

        Just east of town, construction crews are finishing the framework of the showy Newport on the Levee complex, with its cinemas, restaurants and trendy shops.

        In Covington, buyers are gobbling up million-dollar condos offered in the Domaine de la Rive high-rise.

Lance Little, co-owner of Ludlow's Ameristop, with the tanks that have now been installed underground. Gas pumps were his customers' No. 1 request. (Patrick Reddy photo) | ZOOM |

        And across the river, work on Cincinnati's Great American Ball Park is in high gear. On its heels are plans for the $177 million Banks project, with its new riverfront homes and entertainment attractions.

        There's reason to celebrate in Ludlow, too. Only it has nothing to do with stadiums, movie screens or shops.

        It's about gas pumps. Four of them, actually.

        By April, Ludlow's only chain convenience store is expected to open four bright-and-shiny pumps, bringing the city its own gas station for the first time in six years.

        Giddy residents can't wait.

        “It seems like we've talked about them forever and a day, and now they're actually happening,” Mayor Tom Stacy said. “This shows Ludlow's still alive and kicking. To me, it means we're open for business.”

        That's welcome news to many of the 4,700-plus residents of Ludlow. Since 1995, they've had to travel up to three miles to get gas. They'll soon be able to pull up to the pumps at the Ameristop Food Mart on Elm Street.

AT A GLANCE

This fourth-class industrial and railroad city is on a hill overlooking the Ohio River and is just west of the Covington city limits. The town was settled about 1790 by Col. Israel Ludlow, who had helped found Cincinnati. In 1864, Ludlow was chartered mostly as an attempt to regulate ferry service to and from Cincinnati.     Population: 4,736.     Major employers: Ideal Supply, Duro Bag and Barker Fine Color Inc.     School system: Ludlow Independent.    The city's growth was triggered by the coming of the Southern (now Norfolk Southern) Railroad and the construction of a bridge across the Ohio River in 1873.     Fast facts:     • A former landmark was the Lagoon Park, where a manmade lake was finished in 1894. The amusement park could not recover from the loss of business under Prohibition in 1919 and closed soon afterward.    • Ludlow experienced rapid residential growth in its southern end in the 1920s. In the ensuing decades, the nucleus of the middle-class city moved to new suburbs in hills overlooking the river.    Sources: The Kentucky Encylopedia, The Tri-County Economic Development Corp. and the city of Ludlow

        The disappearance of gas pumps in Ludlow has been repeated in many small American cities in the past decade. Tough market conditions and stiff regulations by the Environmental Protection Agency pushed many independent gas station owners out of business.

        Worried about leaking underground tanks, the EPA forced service station owners to replace aged tanks with more secure — and more expensive — leak-proof ones, said Thomas Hogarty, a retired analyst for the Washington, D.C.-based, American Petroleum Institute.

        Almost simultaneously, petroleum prices soared and profits nosedived. The result: Many small stations shuttered.

        Police Chief Tom Collins, 45, remembers when “there were four gas stations within a five-block area of downtown. When I was little, we even had a gas station where the police station is today.”

        A town with no gas pumps has meant tons of inconvenience for those living in and doing business in Ludlow.

        “You have to drive to Covington or Fort Wright just to fill your lawn mower,” Mr. Stacy lamented.

        And don't remind June Clinkenbeard about what happens when she's driving on fumes. The 70-year-old remembers vividly the muggy day two years ago when she tried coasting her near-empty car to a Covington gas station.

        “I had to walk a couple of blocks in 90-degree weather,” she said. “By the time I got there, I had my scarf in one hand and my jacket in the other.”

        The pumps' return may be a political coup for Mr. Stacy. He was elected in 1998 after stumping aggressively on a plan to develop Ludlow's economy.

        His first task was dealing with fallout from the closing that year of Ludlow's only full-service grocery store, an IGA.

        That same year, Ludlow also lost its bakery, a laundry, a dry cleaner and a restaurant — all in the heart of its business district.

        About 15 months ago, Ludlow got its first break. An Ameristop convenience store opened on Elm Street, Ludlow's main drag. And almost immediately, co-owner Lance Little began negotiating with federal and local officials to add gas pumps.

        It was his customers' No. 1 request, he said.

        Now, the massive storage tanks are below ground, the land is filled over, and the framework of gas pumps is sprouting like crocus in winter snow.

        And gossip about gas pumps is blooming in the post office, the eat-in restaurant and the beauty salon.

        “Everyone's just ecstatic,” said Adidian, a hairdresser.

        “They're saying, "Can you believe we're getting a gas station?'”

        The pumps are garnering more conversation than a much larger venture in Ludlow, a $30 million luxury condo project.

        “The Chateaux Devou project is exciting, but the gas pumps are something tangible that you can put your finger on today,” Mr. Stacy said.

        John Boy Puckett, a 39-year-old Ludlow resident, predicts other businesses may follow the pumps.

        “It's a big thing in town. This town will be revitalized by having a gas station,” he said.

        “It'll truly be one-stop shopping,” Mr. Little promised. “You can get your pop. You can get your beer. You can get your eggs and bread. And you can get your gas.”

        The pumps just might reverse Ludlow's fortunes, said Betty McCauley, a 64-year-old retiree.

        “Everybody in Ludlow's excited about getting gas,” she said.

        “Now, if we could just get a grocery store.”
       

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