Indian Hills, Kentucky

Indian Hills, Kentucky
—  City  —
Indian Hills, Kentucky Location within the state of Kentucky
Coordinates: 38°16′41″N 85°39′35″W
Country	United States
State	Kentucky
County	Jefferson
Area
• Total	2.0 sq mi (5.1 km2)
• Land	2.0 sq mi (5.1 km2)
• Water	0.0 sq mi (0.0 km2)
Elevation	525 ft (160 m)
Population (2000)
• Total	2,882
• Density	1,459.5/sq mi (563.5/km2)
Time zone	Eastern (EST) (UTC-5)
• Summer (DST)	EDT (UTC-4)
FIPS code	21-39304
GNIS feature ID	0494968

Indian Hills is a city in Jefferson County, Kentucky, United States, along the Ohio River. The population was 2,882 at the 2000 census.

Indian Hills and with the neighboring cities of Mockingbird Valley and Glenview have been considered the most prosperous suburbs of Louisville since the mid-20th century. It was among the highest-income places in the United States in the 2000 census.

Geography

Indian Hills is located at 38°16′41″N 85°39′35″W (38.278087, -85.659762).

According to the United States Census Bureau, the city has a total area of 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²), of which, 2.0 square miles (5.2 km²) of it is land and 0.51% is water.

The muddy fork of Beargrass Creek runs through Indian Hills. The region is hilly karst with numerous rock outcroppings visible, and the area is densely forested. This terrain, along with the large house lots, have been mentioned as defining features of the community.

Over a third of the land is intentionally left undeveloped, mostly as woodlands. Ten areas were originally developed by the Olmsted Brothers landscaping firm, and other tracts have been donated to the city over the years. Most of the undeveloped land is located on Indian Hills Trail between Louisville Country Club and the Ohio River. Caperton Swamp Nature Preserve is also located in the city.

The undeveloped areas around Beargrass Creek and nearly all of the city north of Interstate 71 are in the 100 year flood plain and seasonal flooding is common. The intersection of Indian Hills Road and River Road is closed occasionally in spring due to high water.

History

John Veech was an important early settler, farming 300 acres starting in 1805. In 1872, the farm became known as "Indian Hill Stock Farm" and was for a time one of the largest horse farms in Kentucky. An 1877 Courier-Journal article claims the name was chosen because hundreds of Indians camped near what became Veech's residence at the time of Louisville's founding in 1778, although naming developments after Indians was generally fashionable in the late 19th century. The Georgian-style Veech house still stands at 125 Indian Hills Trail, as does the farm's springhouse at 119 Arrowhead Rd. Both are listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

There are two other Indian Hills houses on the National Register of Historic Places, both in the northeastern fringe and more closely connected to the "Country Estates of River Road" properties which are mostly in Glenview. Blankenbaker Station was built in 1916 and was one of the first "fireproof" homes in Louisville. Midlands was built in 1913 for a member of the locally-prominent Belknap Family.

The Veech family owned much of the land into the 20th century. In 1911, the family contracted the Frederick Law Olmsted landscaping firm to plan the development of a golf course and subdivision. By 1924, the land had been developed as Louisville Country Club and the initial subdivision, sometimes referred to as Indian Hills-Country Club, was developed mostly from 1927 to 1941 by the Semonin company. Indian Hills incorporated as a city on December 15, 1941.

Initial lot restrictions required houses to be sold for at least $10,000, and this was raised to $20,000 in 1946. Calumet Road was the last street of the original Indian Hills plan to be built, with construction delayed until the 1950s due to the steep terrain. While some houses in Indian Hills were built in the 1920s, the bulk of the development occurred after World War II and into the 1950s.

The current fourth-class city of Indian Hills was formed after a 1999 election merged the former cities of Indian Hills, Indian Hills-Cherokee (incorporated 1955), Winding Falls (incorporated June 15, 1977) and Robinswood (incorporated June 25, 1965). The merger failed a vote in 1998, when Riverwood, Kentucky, which Indian Hills surrounds, was included. The modified proposal succeeded a year later, motivated primarily by desires to protect the cities from unknown changes in the impending merger of Louisville with Jefferson County. The merger also made the city large enough to seek fourth-class city status, which gave it additional zoning powers, and combined two smaller police departments into a larger force. Rolling Fields, Kentucky was also approached about joining the merger, but declined.

Sewer dispute and annexation

In 1954, a long-running dispute began when Louisville proposed annexing Indian Hills to extend sewer service to the city and areas east. At the time, this met with what the Courier-Journal reported to be universal opposition in Indian Hills, with reporters unable to find a single supporter of annexation or sewers in Indian Hills.

Louisville's bid to annex Indian Hills eventually became a part of the broader Mallon Plan to annex many outlying suburbs in 1956. The plan was fiercely opposed in Indian Hills where leaflets were widely distributed claiming that taxes would go up, city buses would enter Indian Hills, and Louisville would send expensive sewer bills to Indian Hills residents. The plan required separate approval by voters in Louisville and in the cities to be annexed. While Louisville voters approved the plan in a large majority, suburban voters rejected it by a 2-to-1 margin.

In the wake of the annexation vote, Indian Hills began exerting its political autonomy by using a lawsuit to shut down a used car lot on Brownsboro Road, and then annexing the land and encouraging its redevelopment as residences. The triangle of land now includes many homes around Old Brownsboro Court, and a small shopping center with a Rite Aid. The city also sued the Louisville Gas and Electric company, seeking to remove the then-newly installed 135-foot tall electrical towers east of Indian Hills Trail. LG&E won the case by arguing that the land in question was scrubland and unsuitable for commercial development.

The issue lay dormant until the 1980s, when Louisville again proposed sewers for Indian Hills, this time without annexation. Indian Hills septic tank owners rejected sewers by a 4-to-1 margin in a 1988 vote. However, building a sewer line through Indian Hills was the only economical way to extend service to communities like Winding Falls that did want sewer service. Indian Hills filed various unsuccessful legal challenges until 1992 when construction finally began, although homes in Indian Hills were not connected to line when it was built through the city, and remained on their aging septic tanks.

The issue came to a head in 1995 when neighbors and the county sued a resident over his overflowing septic tank, which he and septic tank companies claimed couldn't be fixed and the only option was installing sewers. Jeanne Beam, who had been mayor for 22 years and was a staunch opponent of the sewers, abruptly resigned in June of that year when the city's commissioners would no longer support her efforts to continue fighting sewers. The sewer project ended up being the most expensive in Jefferson County history when construction finally began in 1999, costing residents between $20,800 and $31,200 each.

When Indian Hills merged with neighboring cities in 1999, the sewer issue was described as illustrating a long period from the 1950s to the 1980s when Indian Hills residents identified strongly with their independence from Louisville, but that period ended in 1995 with the sewer decision.

Demographics

Year	Indian Hills	Indian Hills-Cherokee	Robinswood	Winding Falls
1950	291	n/a	n/a	n/a
1960	601	226	n/a	n/a
1970	600	282	300	n/a
1980	787	585	273	454
1990	1074	1005	250	657

As of the census of 2000, there were 2,882 people, 1,119 households, and 914 families residing in the city. The population density was 1,459.5 people per square mile (564.8/km²). There were 1,162 housing units at an average density of 588.5 per square mile (227.7/km²). The racial makeup of the city was 95.70% White, 1.73% African American, 1.60% Asian, 0.03% Pacific Islander, 0.03% from other races, and 0.90% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 1.46% of the population.

There were 1,119 households out of which 32.0% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 76.3% were married couples living together, 3.5% had a female householder with no husband present, and 18.3% were non-families. 16.0% of all households were made up of individuals and 8.8% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.58 and the average family size was 2.88.

In the city the population was spread out with 23.6% under the age of 18, 4.4% from 18 to 24, 17.1% from 25 to 44, 36.7% from 45 to 64, and 18.1% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 47 years. For every 100 females there were 96.5 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 93.2 males.

The median income for a household in the city was $120,602, and the median income for a family was $134,600. Males had a median income of $98,469 versus $41,000 for females. The per capita income for the city was $66,637. About 0.5% of families and 1.2% of the population were below the poverty line, including 1.0% of those under age 18 and none of those age 65 or over.

See also

• List of cities and towns along the Ohio River

External links

• City of Indian Hills (Official page)