Old Louisville
Old Louisville is a historic preservation district and neighborhood in central Louisville, Kentucky. It is the third largest such district in the United States, and the largest single neighborhood featuring purely Victorian architecture. It is also unique in that a majority of its structures are made of brick, and the neighborhood is said to contain the highest concentration of residential homes with stained glass windows in the U.S.[1] The homes were built in the Victorian-era styles of Romanesque, Queen Anne, Italianate, among others; although there are some shotgun and craftsman style houses scattered throughout. Developed residentially starting in the 1870s, Old Louisville is considered Louisville's first suburb.
The neighborhood hosts the renowned St. James Court Art Show on the first weekend in October. Old Louisville is located North of the University of Louisville Belknap campus and south of Downtown Louisville, in the central portion of the modern city. It was initially home to some of Louisville's wealthiest residents, but saw a decline in the early and mid-20th century. Following revitalization efforts and some gentrification, Old Louisville is currently is home to a diverse population with a high concentration of students and young professionals.
History
Old Louisville is not actually the oldest part of Louisville. In fact, large-scale development south of Broadway did not begin until the 1870s, nearly a century after what is now Downtown Louisville was first settled. However, some country estates had been built in the area as early as the 1830s, and some of Louisville's great early mansions were built along Broadway, very near Old Louisville, before the Civil War. A mulecar line was extended down Fourth to Oak in 1865.[2]
The land south of Broadway that became Old Louisville was annexed by the city in 1868, as a part of larger expansion efforts, moving the southern boundary of the city as far south as the city's House of Refuge, an area which is now the University of Louisville's Belknap Campus. A year later, architect Gideon Shryock called the area "a growing and beautiful suburban locality".
Development continued as lots were sold southward down to present day Oak Street, along Central Plank Road, which became Third Street. The neighborhood was simply called the Southern Extension at the time. Growth south of Oak was very slow until the Southern Exposition was held annually in the area from 1883 to 1887.[3]
At the urging of Courier-Journal owner Henry Watterson, the city held the first Southern Exposition, which in the words of Watterson, was meant to "advance the material welfare of the producing classes of the South and West." It was held on 45 acres where St. James Court and Central Park (originally Dupont Square) now are and attracted nearly one million in its first year. The exhibition was opened by President Chester Arthur and featured the first public display of Thomas Edison's light bulb.
After the exposition ended, the area between Oak and Hill Streets rapidly developed in the 1890s and became one of the city's most fashionable neighborhoods. From 1890 to 1905 the area contained one of America's best theatre houses, the Amphitheatre Auditorium, which featured the second largest stage of any theatre house and showcased many of the day's best actors. The structure, located at the corner of 4th and Hill Streets, was razed after its owner, William Norton, Jr died.
Another form of entertainment in the area was baseball, with the game first being played by 1860 and an early ballpark at Fourth and Ormbsby emerging after the Civil War, and by 1875, a new park had been built near St. James Court. [4]
Decline and revitalization
The area gradually declined as the affluent moved to newer streetcar suburbs, such as Cherokee Triangle, and areas east of Louisville recently connected by railroad, such as Anchorage and Glenview. The Ohio River Flood of 1937 caused a great number of the remaining wealthy households to move above the flood plain to East End neighborhoods. During the post world war years many of the old mansion homes were hastily converted into apartments to house the growing labor supply, a practice specifically encouraged by the federal government at the time with low-interest loans. A large section of the neighborhood, from around Kentucky Street to Broadway was razed. During the 1960s many low income residents downtown who were displaced as a result of urban renewal moved into the newly converted apartments, especially on the north side of the neighborhood. The area was now considered drug ridden and undesirable by most Louisvillians.
Many credit Old Louisville's revitalization to the efforts of Courier-Journal writer J. Douglass Nunn. In 1960 he began a vigorous public information campaign about the area, comparing it to neighborhoods like D.C.'s Georgetown and Boston's Beacon Hill. In 1961 Nunn took a leave of absence from his job and started "Restoration, Inc.", a group that restored ten homes in Old Louisville in 1961, spurring interest in preservation that lead many local activists moved to the area. This effort also lead to the first use of the name Old Louisville in that year, a reflection of the interest in preservation. With the activists' efforts the area was made into a historic preservation district in 1975. The area has continued to improve, with new restaurants and shops opening and many students and young professionals moving into the area, a process known as gentrification.
The area is now one of the most ethnically and economically diverse in Louisville. Crime is still seen as a problem, with rates increasing sharply in 2005 over the previous year. Old Louisville has more calls for police assistance than any other part of Louisville; however, the area has more police coverage than any other precinct. [5]
Features and attractions
Old Louisville features the largest collection of pedestrian only streets of any U.S. neighborhood. 11 such "courts", where houses face each other across a grass median with sidewalks, were built in the neighborhood from 1891 to the 1920s; most of them are centered off of 4th Street. Belgravia Court and Fountain Court were the first ones to be built in 1891 and are the most well known. Later ones included Reeser and Kensington (1910), which were built with large Victorian styled apartments instead of single family homes; and Eutropia and Rose Courts, which were the last ones built in the 1920s and featured small, single story houses. Many of the courts have been revived during the last several decades, with new lighting and trees planted. These developments are apparently unique to Louisville.[6]
Two of the three major four year universities in Louisville are located adjacent to Old Louisville, with Spalding University to the north and the University of Louisville to the south. The neighborhood contains The Filson Historical Society, Louisville's Central Park, which features the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival every summer, the Actors Theatre of Louisville Production Studio, DuPont Manual Magnet High School, and The Conrad-Caldwell House. The area of 6th and Hill Streets in the neighborhood was the setting of the best selling novel Mrs. Wiggs of the Cabbage Patch by Louisvillian Alice Hegan Rice. Today there is a non-profit counseling and services center, named Cabbage Patch House for the novel, on 6th Street at Magnolia Avenue, which serves children of low income families. During the Christmas holiday season a number of private homes are toured in the Old Louisville Holiday House Tour.
Old Louisville's boundaries are Kentucky Street to the north, (Cardinal Boulevard) to the south, I-65 to the east, the CSX railroad tracks to the west. Originally, the neighborhood extended all the way to Broadway on the north, Attwood Street on the south, and Floyd Street on the East; but the northern part was mostly razed for parking lots and light industry, the southern area between Attwood and Avery Streets (now Cardinal Blvd) was razed when the University of Louisville doubled the size of its main campus, and I-65 was built through the area in the 1960s, which created a physical barrier between it and Shelby Park neighborhood.
Demographics
As of 2000, the population of Old Louisville was 11,043 [7], of which 55.9% are white, 35.0% are black, 6.3% are listed as other, and 2.3% are Hispanic. College graduates are 24.5%, people without a high school degree are 22.6%, and people with college experience without a bachelor's degree are 28.4%. Females are 52.3% of the population, males are 47.7%. Households making less than $15,000 a year are 40.8%; although that is largely a function of the 2,000 to 4,000 University of Louisville students and many part time or retired artisans living in the neighborhood, and that most households are single headed. Ironically, Old Louisville has the youngest median age of any Louisville neighborhood and the highest percent of people between the ages of 20-29 (25%). [8]
Old Louisville's area is 1.88 square miles, its population density is 5,873 persons per square mile.
Culture
Old Louisville itself is made up of eight different neighborhood associations, which is evidenced physically in the different infrastructure on each street. For example, on 4th Street the street lights are designed as old lamp posts and there are ornamented trash cans with a fleur-de-lis symbol at frequent intervals, while on St. James Court there are gas lamp posts, 3rd and 2nd Streets have small light posts on the sidewalks, and several other streets have only basic infrastructure.
References
- ^ "What is Old Louisville?".
{{cite web}}: Unknown parameter|accesdate=ignored (|access-date=suggested) (help) - ^ "Walking Tours of Old Louisville". Retrieved 2006-08-02.
- ^ Yater, George H. (1987). Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County (2nd edition ed.). Filson Club, Incorporated. p. 110.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ Yater, George H. (1987). Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County (2nd edition ed.). Filson Club, Incorporated. p. 112.
{{cite book}}:|edition=has extra text (help) - ^ Lindenberger, Michael (2006-07-19). "Perception vs. reality - Have you heard that crime is up in Old Louisville?". Leo Weekly.
- ^ Yater, George H. (1986). "Court Society". Louisville: 21–22.
- ^ "Community Resource Network". Retrieved 2005-11-18.
- ^ Louisville Magazine, March 2005, p. 33