Louisville, Kentucky

==History==
{{Main|History of Louisville, Kentucky}}
{{For timeline}}
{{Broader|History of Kentucky}}
{{See also|National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Kentucky}}

The history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's [[#Geography|geography]] and proximity to the [[Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area|Falls of the Ohio River]].

===Early history and founding===

[[File:George Rogers Clark.jpg|thumb|left|upright=0.65|alt=Painting of the head and shoulders of an older, gray-haired, balding man in a colonial-era military uniform (blue jacket with white lapels and gold epaullettes)|[[George Rogers Clark]] founded Louisville in the midst of the [[American Revolutionary War|Revolutionary War]].]]

Since the Falls created a barrier to river travel, settlements grew at this [[portage]] point. The first European settlement in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on [[Corn Island (Kentucky)|Corn Island]] in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him.<ref>{{cite web|title=George Rogers Clark: Kentucky Frontiersman, Hero, and Founder of Louisville|publisher=Kentucky Department for Libraries and Archives|url=http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/kygrclark.htm|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070425213827/http://www.kdla.ky.gov/resources/KYGRClark.htm|archive-date=April 25, 2007|access-date=July 19, 2007}}</ref>

Two years later, in 1780, the [[Virginia General Assembly]] approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of [[Louis XVI of France|King Louis XVI of France]], whose soldiers were then [[France in the American Revolutionary War|aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War]]. Early residents lived in [[Fort Nelson (Kentucky)|forts]] to protect themselves from raids from the local indigenous population, but they moved out by the late 1780s.<ref>{{cite book |title=Two Hundred Years at the Fall of the Ohio: A History of Louisville and Jefferson County |last=Yater |first=George H. |year=1987 |publisher=[[The Filson Historical Society|Filson Club, Incorporated]] |location=Louisville, Kentucky |edition=2nd |pages=9–10 |isbn = 978-0-9601072-3-0}}</ref> In 1803, explorers [[Meriwether Lewis]] and [[William Clark]] organized their [[Lewis and Clark Expedition|expedition across America]] in the town of [[Clarksville, Indiana]] at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky.<ref>{{cite web|title=The Journals of the Lewis and Clark Expedition|url=http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/read/?_xmlsrc=introduction.general.xml&_xslsrc=LCstyles.xsl|access-date=July 30, 2009|archive-date=May 17, 2011|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110517182106/http://lewisandclarkjournals.unl.edu/read/?_xmlsrc=introduction.general.xml&_xslsrc=LCstyles.xsl|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|title=Lewis and Clark—Falls of the Ohio|url=http://www.in.gov/dnr/lewis-clark/falls/|access-date=July 30, 2009|archive-date=February 17, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090217165128/http://www.in.gov/dnr/lewis-clark/falls/|url-status=dead}}</ref>
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===19th century===

{{See also|Louisville, Kentucky in the American Civil War}}
[[File:Louisville 1846.jpg|alt=Artist's rendering of Main Street in Louisville as it appeared in 1846|thumb|right|View of 2nd Street and Main Street, Louisville, in 1846]]

The city's early growth was influenced by the fact that river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching the falls. By 1828, the population had grown to 7,000 and Louisville became an incorporated city.<ref>Yater, pp. 46–48.</ref>

Early Louisville was a major shipping port and [[Slavery in the United States|enslaved African Americans]] worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for [[Fugitive slaves in the United States|fugitive slaves]] to the north, as Indiana was a free state.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}

During this point in the 1850s, the city was growing and vibrant, but that also came with negativity. It was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the [[Western Theater of the American Civil War|Western Theater]]. Ethnic tensions rose, and on August 6, 1855, known as "[[Bloody Monday]]", Protestant mobs attacked German and Irish Catholic neighborhoods on election day, resulting in 22 deaths and widespread property damage.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Bloody Monday Memorial |url=https://www.louisvilleirish.com/bloody-monday-memorial/ |access-date=September 9, 2022 |website=Ancient Order of Hibernians |language=en-US |archive-date=September 9, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220909105328/https://www.louisvilleirish.com/bloody-monday-memorial/ |url-status=live }}</ref> Then by 1861, the civil war had broken out. [[Louisville, Kentucky, in the American Civil War|During the Civil War]], Louisville was a major stronghold of [[Union Army|Union forces]], which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. By the end of the war, the city of Louisville itself had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of [[Battle of Perryville|Perryville]] and [[Battle of Corydon|Corydon]], took place nearby. After Reconstruction, returning [[Confederate States Army|Confederate]] veterans largely took political control of the city, leading to the jibe that Louisville joined the [[Confederate States of America|Confederacy]] after the war was over.{{citation needed|date=December 2021}}
[[File:Churchill Downs 1901.jpg|thumb|right|[[Churchill Downs]] in 1901]]

The first [[Kentucky Derby]] was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club track (later renamed [[Churchill Downs]]).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.churchilldowns.com/visit/about/churchill-downs/history/|title=History of Churchill Downs {{!}} {{!}} Churchill Downs Racetrack {{!}} Home of the Kentucky Derby|website=churchilldowns.com|language=en|access-date=March 23, 2019|archive-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324005237/https://www.churchilldowns.com/visit/about/churchill-downs/history/|url-status=live}}</ref> The Derby was originally shepherded by [[Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr.]], the grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and grandnephew of the city's founder George Rogers Clark. Horse racing had a strong tradition in Kentucky, whose [[Bluegrass region|Inner Bluegrass Region]] had been a center of breeding high-quality livestock throughout the 19th century. Ten thousand spectators watched the first Derby, which [[Aristides (horse)|Aristides]] won.<ref>{{cite web|title=Kentucky Derby Timeline: 1874–1899 |url=http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/history/timeline/1874-1899 |access-date=July 30, 2009 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090410204842/http://www.kentuckyderby.com/2009/history/timeline/1874-1899 |archive-date=April 10, 2009 |url-status=live }}</ref>

On March 27, 1890, the city was devastated and its downtown nearly destroyed when what scientists now estimate was an [[Fujita scale|F4]] [[tornado]] tore through as part of the [[March 1890 middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak|middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak]]. It is estimated that between 74 and 120 people were killed and 200 were injured. The damage cost the city $2.5 million<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.weather.gov/lmk/tornado_climatology_march271890|title=Tornadoes of March 27, 1890|last=US Department of Commerce|first=NOAA|website=weather.gov|language=EN-US|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324005235/https://www.weather.gov/lmk/tornado_climatology_march271890|url-status=live}}</ref> (equivalent to $69 million in 2019).<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1890?amount=2500000|title=$2,500,000 in 1890 → 2019 {{!}} Inflation Calculator|website=in2013dollars.com|language=en|access-date=March 24, 2019|archive-date=March 24, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190324005237/http://www.in2013dollars.com/us/inflation/1890%3Famount%3D2500000|url-status=live}}</ref> Established in 1896, [[Neighborhood House (Louisville, Kentucky)|Neighborhood House Louisville]] was the first [[settlement movement]] house in the state.<ref name="NHKY">{{cite web |title=Welcome to Neighborhood House |url=https://www.nhky.org/ |website=www.nhky.org |access-date=April 27, 2022 |archive-date=May 25, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220525225007/https://www.nhky.org/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

===20th and 21st centuries===
Following the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, freed slaves settled in a neighborhood of Louisville called Little Africa, nicknamed "the gateway to the South", near the present neighborhood of [[Park DuValle, Louisville|Park DuValle]].<ref name="WHAS">{{Cite web|date=February 14, 2021|title=What happened to Little Africa? Louisville's lost Black community|url=https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/black-history/louisvilles-lost-black-community-little-africa/417-c72f3e6a-698c-4a63-80a1-cabfd6336b93|access-date=October 15, 2021|website=whas11.com|language=en-US|archive-date=October 16, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211016144403/https://www.whas11.com/article/news/local/black-history/louisvilles-lost-black-community-little-africa/417-c72f3e6a-698c-4a63-80a1-cabfd6336b93|url-status=live}}</ref> The neighborhood was described as a "thriving community" by the 1920s, and declined between the 1940s and 1950s.<ref name="WHAS"/>

In 1914, the City of Louisville passed a racially-based residential zoning code, following Baltimore, Atlanta, and a handful of cities in the Carolinas.<ref>{{cite journal|title=Residential Segregation by Law, 1910–1917|first=Roger L.|last= Rice|journal=The Journal of Southern History|volume=34|issue=2|date=May 1968|pages=181–183|doi=10.2307/2204656|jstor=2204656}}</ref> The [[NAACP]] challenged the ordinance in two cases. Two weeks after the ordinance enacted, an African-American named Arthur Harris moved into a house on a block designated for whites. He was prosecuted and found guilty. The second case was planned to create a test case. [[William Warley]], the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, tendered a purchase offer on a white block from Charles Buchanan, a white real estate agent. Warley also wrote a letter declaring his intention to build a house on that lot and reside there. With the understanding that the Louisville ordinance made it illegal for him to live there, Warley withheld payment, setting in motion a breach of contract suit by Buchanan.<ref>Rice (1968), pp. 185–186.</ref> By 1917 the US Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of ''[[Buchanan v. Warley]]''. The court struck down the Louisville residential segregation ordinance, ruling that it violated the [[Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution|Fourteenth Amendment]]'s [[due process]] clause.<ref>Rice (1968), p. 194.</ref>

In 1917, shortly after the United States' entry into [[World War I]], Louisville was selected as the site of Camp Zachary Taylor. Camp Taylor was one of the country's largest World War I training camps. It was home of the 84th Infantry Division and trained over 150,000 men by the end of war, including [[F. Scott Fitzgerald]]. The camp was closed in 1921. Many of the buildings and infrastructure in the Camp Taylor neighborhood of Louisville are there as a result of the training camp.

In 1929, Louisville completed the [[McAlpine Locks and Dam|lock and dam]] in the [[Ohio Falls|Falls of the Ohio]] and the city began referring to itself as "where Northern enterprise and [[Southern hospitality]] meet". Between the industrial boom of that year and through the [[Great Depression]], Louisville gained 15,000 new residents, about three percent of them black(450), most fleeing poverty in rural areas.<ref name="Adams-2001">{{Cite journal|last=Adams|first=Luther J.|date=Autumn 2001|title=African American Migration to Louisville in the Mid-Twentieth Century|journal=The Register of the Kentucky Historical Society|volume=99|issue=4|pages=363–384|jstor=23384797}}</ref>

Throughout January 1937, {{convert|19.17|in|cm}} of rain fell in Louisville, and by January 27, the Ohio River crested at a record {{convert|57.15|ft|m}}, almost {{convert|30|ft|m}} above flood stage. These events triggered the [[Ohio River flood of 1937|"Great Flood of 1937"]], which lasted into early February. The [[flood]] submerged 60–70 percent of the city, caused complete loss of power for four days, and forced the evacuation of 175,000 or 230,000 residents, depending on sources. Ninety people died as a result of the flood.<ref>{{cite book |last=Purcell |first=Aaron D. |editor-first=John E. |editor-last=Kleber |year=2001 |title=The Encyclopedia of Louisville |chapter=Flood of 1937 |pages=296–297 |publisher=[[University Press of Kentucky]] |location=[[Lexington, Kentucky]] |isbn=978-0-8131-2100-0 |oclc=247857447 |chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=pXbYITw4ZesC&pg=PA296 |access-date=March 7, 2019 |archive-date=November 6, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106012909/https://books.google.com/books?id=pXbYITw4ZesC&pg=PA296#v=onepage&q&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite web |url = http://kyclim.wku.edu/factSheets/ohioRiver.htm |title=Fact Sheet: Ohio River Floods |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080604134934/http://kyclim.wku.edu/factSheets/ohioRiver.htm |publisher=[[Western Kentucky University]] |archive-date=June 4, 2008 |access-date=August 10, 2015 }}</ref> It led to dramatic changes in where residents lived. Today, the city is protected by numerous [[flood wall]]s. After the flood, the areas of high elevation in the eastern part of the city had decades of residential growth.

Louisville was a center for factory war production during World War II. In May 1942, the U.S. government assigned the [[Curtiss-Wright]] Aircraft Company, a war plant located at Louisville's air field, for wartime aircraft production. The factory produced the [[C-46 Commando]] cargo plane, among other aircraft. In 1946, the factory was sold to [[International Harvester]], which began large-scale production of tractors and agricultural equipment. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Louisville's population as 84.3% white and 15.6% black.<ref>{{cite web|title=Race and Hispanic Origin for Selected Cities and Other Places: Earliest Census to 1990 |publisher=U.S. Census Bureau |url=https://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120812191959/http://www.census.gov/population/www/documentation/twps0076/twps0076.html |archive-date=August 12, 2012 }}</ref>

Throughout the 1940s, there were more black [[police officer]]s than any other Southern city, though they were allowed to patrol only black districts. This, in part, made Louisville seem like a more racially progressive city than other Southern cities, although only when black citizens accepted a lower status than white citizens. Many historians have referred to this "veil" of segregation as a [[Covert racism|"polite" racism]]. Historian George Wright stated that polite racism "often deluded both blacks and well-meaning whites into believing that real progress was being made in their city". For example, in the city [[Jim Crow laws|Jim Crow]] practices were not maintained by law so much as by custom.<ref name="Adams-2001" />

Similar to many other older American cities, Louisville began to experience a movement of people and businesses to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Middle class residents used newly built freeways and interstate highways to commute to work, moving into more distant but newer housing. Because of tax laws, businesses found it cheaper to build new rather than renovate older buildings. Economic changes included a decline in local manufacturing. The West End and older areas of the South End, in particular, began to decline economically as many local factories closed.
[[File:Louisville Fourthstreetlive.jpg|thumb|Entrance of [[Fourth Street Live!]]]]

In 1974, a major (F4) tornado hit Louisville as part of the [[1974 Super Outbreak]] of tornadoes that struck 13 states. It covered {{convert|21|mi|km}} and destroyed several hundred homes in the Louisville area, causing two deaths.<ref>{{cite book|title=Tornado: A Look Back at Louisville's Dark Day, April 3, 1974|url=http://www.butlerbooks.com/tolobaatloda.html|year=2004|editor=Butler, William S.|publisher=Butler Books|access-date=April 21, 2009|isbn=978-1-884532-58-0|archive-date=May 6, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090506025415/http://www.butlerbooks.com/tolobaatloda.html|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since the 1980s, many of the city's urban neighborhoods have been [[gentrification|revitalized]] into areas popular with young professionals and college students. The greatest change has occurred along the [[The Highlands, Louisville|Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue]] and [[Clifton, Louisville|Frankfort Avenue]] corridors as well as the [[Old Louisville]] neighborhood. In recent years, such change has also occurred in the [[East Market District]] (NuLu).<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/louisville-city-living/2019/07/10/louisville-neighborhoods-nulu-packed-dining-shopping/1621854001/|title=A Day in the Neighborhood: Headed to NuLu? I hope you're hungry (and thirsty)|last=Menderski|first=Maggie|website=The Courier-Journal|language=en|access-date=October 24, 2019|archive-date=November 6, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20231106012909/https://www.courier-journal.com/story/money/louisville-city-living/2019/07/10/louisville-neighborhoods-nulu-packed-dining-shopping/1621854001/|url-status=live}}</ref>

Since the late 1990s, [[Downtown Louisville|Downtown]] has experienced significant residential, tourist and retail growth, including the addition of major sports complexes [[KFC Yum! Center]], [[Lynn Family Stadium]] and [[Louisville Slugger Field]], conversion of waterfront industrial sites into [[Louisville Waterfront Park|Waterfront Park]], openings of varied museums (see [[#Museums, galleries and interpretive centers|Museums, galleries and interpretive centers]] below), and the refurbishing of the former Galleria into the bustling entertainment complex [[Fourth Street Live!]], which opened in 2004.

On March 13, 2020, four [[Undercover operation|plainclothed officers]] from [[Louisville Metro Police Department]] executed a [[No-knock warrant|"no-knock" search warrant]] which led to the killing of [[Killing of Breonna Taylor|Breonna Taylor]], a 26-year-old [[African-Americans|African-American]] woman.<ref>{{Cite news|last=Oppel|first=Richard A. Jr. |date=May 30, 2020|title=Here's What You Need to Know About Breonna Taylor's Death|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html|url-status=live|access-date=June 1, 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200601003544/https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html|archive-date=June 1, 2020|issn=0362-4331}} (From the [https://web.archive.org/web/*/https://www.nytimes.com/article/breonna-taylor-police.html Internet Archive index] for the page, compare captures for August 30, 2020, and September 2, 2020, to see the change in coverage concerning the warrant.)</ref> For months afterward, Taylor's family, members of the local community, and people around the world [[Breonna Taylor protests|protested]] to demand that officers involved in the shooting be fired and criminally charged.<ref>{{Cite news |first1=Ray |last1=Sanchez |first2=Elizabeth |last2=Joseph |date=June 19, 2020 |title=Louisville, Kentucky, seeks to fire police officer in shooting of Breonna Taylor |work=CNN |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/breonna-taylor-shooting-officer-firing/index.html |access-date=June 19, 2020 |archive-date=December 29, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201229011459/https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/19/us/breonna-taylor-shooting-officer-firing/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> These protests and demonstrations coincided and intertwined with the international [[George Floyd protests]], as well as the [[Black Lives Matter]] movement and a [[2020-2022 United States racial unrest|broader movement of racial unrest]].<ref>{{Cite web |last1=Waldrop |first2=Evan |last2=McMorris-Santoro |first3=Kevin |last3=Brunelli |first1=Theresa |date=June 1, 2020 |title=Louisville fires its police chief over handling of fatal shooting during protest |url=https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/us/louisville-protests-man-shot-dead/index.html |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=June 2, 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200602000507/https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/01/us/louisville-protests-man-shot-dead/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref> As a result of the incident, the police chief was fired and four officers received federal charges, but no significant systemic changes were made.<ref name="USAToday20200619">{{Cite news|last1=Costello|first1=Darcy|title=Louisville police is firing officer Brett Hankison involved in Breonna Taylor shooting|newspaper=[[USA Today]]|publisher=[[Gannett]]|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/19/breonna-taylor-shooting-louisville-police-fire-officer-brett-hankison/3222169001/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200620052807/https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2020/06/19/breonna-taylor-shooting-louisville-police-fire-officer-brett-hankison/3222169001/ |date=June 19, 2020 |archive-date=June 20, 2020|issn=0734-7456}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |first1=Eliott C. |last1=McLaughlin |first2=Sonia |last2=Moghe |first3=Hannah |last3=Rabinowitz |date=August 4, 2022 |title=Four current, former Louisville police officers federally charged in Breonna Taylor's death |url=https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/us/breonna-taylor-federal-charges/index.html |access-date=September 28, 2022 |website=CNN |language=en |archive-date=August 4, 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220804153621/https://www.cnn.com/2022/08/04/us/breonna-taylor-federal-charges/index.html |url-status=live }}</ref>

On April 10, 2023, a [[2023 Louisville shooting|mass shooting]] occurred at the [[Old National Bank]], killing five people, and injuring nine others. The suspect, who was a bank employee and who officials said was livestreaming the rampage, was killed by the police after exchanging fire with them.<ref>{{Cite web |last= |first= |title=Louisville shooting live updates: 4 victims killed inside bank, 9 injured |url=https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/active-shooter-louisville/?id=98470141 |access-date=April 10, 2023 |website=ABC News |language=en |archive-date=April 10, 2023 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410142648/https://abcnews.go.com/US/live-updates/active-shooter-louisville/?id=98470141 |url-status=live }}</ref>