Kentucky Kingdom
amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky
Kentucky Kingdom, formerly known as Six Flags Kentucky Kingdom, is a theme park in Louisville, Kentucky, United States. The 67-acre (27 ha) park includes a collection of amusement rides and the Hurricane Bay water park. Kentucky Kingdom is at the intersection of Interstate 65 and Interstate 264, sharing a parking lot with the Kentucky Exposition Center.
In 1977, the Kentucky State Fair Board announced plans to build a theme park on the grounds of the Kentucky Fair and Exposition Center. The park's construction, overseen by Kentucky Entertainment Limited, began in 1986 and cost $12 million. Kentucky Kingdom opened to the public on May 23, 1987. The park went bankrupt after one season, and was reopened in 1990 by businessman Ed Hart. Due to loan payment challenges, Kentucky Kingdom was sold in 1998 to Six Flags, which operated it until closing it in 2009. Hart reopened the park in May 2014. Seven years later, the park's operating rights were sold to Herschend.
Begin with the source’s own compact description: “Kentucky Kingdom” is amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky. The dossier treats that line as a proposition to test through Kentucky, Kingdom and amusement, not as a finished interpretation.
Why this record matters
The phrase “amusement park in Louisville, Kentucky” supplies a clear boundary for inquiry. It also exposes the unanswered questions: who defined that boundary, when it became stable and which sources sit outside it.
The strongest evidence will usually combine a dated visual record with documents produced by the authority responsible for the place. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 1, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q369789. Authority coordinates are 38.195, -85.747. 2 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1977, 1986, 1987 and 1990.
A single description cannot reconcile every naming convention, rebuilding phase or administrative transfer associated with a place. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Treat names, boundaries and functions as historically changeable. Maps, plans, inventories and administrative records can clarify what the place meant at different dates.
- Historic place names
- Jurisdictional context
- Routes into maps and plans
Contemporary maps, plans, listed-building records, estate papers and the responsible local or national archive.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Kentucky Kingdom”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Kentucky Kingdom primary sources, Kentucky Kingdom archive and Kentucky research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Kentucky Kingdom”?
- What physical evidence or contemporary plan supports the description?
- Which authority defined the place, boundary or structure at the relevant date?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Kentucky Kingdom” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.