Phoenix Hill, Louisville

Liberty Green, a mixed-income residential complex under construction.

Phoenix Hill is a neighborhood just east of Downtown Louisville in Louisville, Kentucky, USA. Its boundaries are Market Street to the north, Preston Street to the west, Broadway to the south, and Baxter Avenue to the east. The area was originally known as Preston's Enlargement, part of the land granted to Colonel William Preston in 1774. The area was annexed by Louisville in 1827, known at the time as Uptown, and was densely populated by the time of the Civil War. Some of the Bloody Monday riots occurred in Phoenix Hill near the St. Martin of Tours church.

A triangular portion of the neighborhood bounded by Beargrass Creek was not developed at all before the Civil War. Though a park was built in 1865, most of the land was not developed until the 1890s.

An important local business still continuing in 2006, in one way or another, was the Phoenix Hill Brewery, established in 1865, which also established the nearby park. Orators including William Jennings Bryan and Teddy Roosevelt spoke there before it was closed (partially because of Prohibition) in 1919.

Preston Street on the U of L Health Sciences Campus

The newly completed Medical Office Plaza on the University of Louisville's Health Sciences Campus

The housing stock was heavily composed of Shotgun houses, and the residents were predominantly German in heritage, until after World War II, when many left for the suburbs. Revitalization efforts began in 1977, when mayor Harvey Sloane obtained federal funds for rebuilding. The area now is known for its many popular nightclubs, such as Phoenix Hill Tavern.

The Phoenix Hill neighborhood is currently experiencing a revitalization with Liberty Green, stretching 6 city blocks, and bounded by Jefferson Street on the north, Muhammad Ali Boulevard on the south, Shelby Street on the east and Jackson Street on the west, several other private and public housing developments and new retail.

A large segment of the University of Louisville downtown Health Sciences Campus is located in Phoenix Hill, and there are plans that could lead to clinical, educational and research space on the campus, more than doubling in size over the next 20 years.

Ground was broken in October 2010, for the first phase of The Edge, at Liberty Green, which is expected to include a 28-unit apartment complex, marketed to students in the University of Louisville’s medical and dental programs.

Phoenix Hill is also home to New Directions Housing Corporation, a local non-profit.

Demographics

As of 2000, the population of Phoenix Hill was 4,164 , of which 24.1% is white, 69.7% is black, 5.6% is listed as other, & 0.6% is Hispanic. College graduates are 14.3% of the population, people w/o a high school degree are 39.8%. Females outnumber males 55.1% to 44.9%.

References

• "Phoenix Hill". The Encyclopedia of Louisville (1 ed.). 2001. 

External links

• Mayor, Congressman Launch Home Ownership, The Edge at Liberty Green -- Oct 2010
• Mayor, Congressman Open New 13,400 square-foot Liberty Green Community Center -- July 2010
• Mayor Breaks Ground on New Mixed-Income Housing in Phoenix Hill -- Aug 2007
• Mayor Opens Liberty Green To New Residents -- April 2006
• Street map of Phoenix Hill
• Images of Phoenix Hill (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
• "Phoenix Hill: Early Residents Drank Deep of Social Life at Park; Area Has Taken Wing Again of Late" — Article by A. Clarice Partee of The Courier-Journal