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Real Estate & Homes in Louisville - Louisville Information Louisville
Background The largest city in the state, Louisville is proud of its Southern charm and hospitality. The heart of all things Kentucky, such as bourbon, horses and college basketball, Louisville is proud of its individuality and small-town spirit. Whether they’re debating the perfect mint julep recipe or the pronunciation of their city’s name, Louisville citizens love a good race, a good basketball game, and a cool drink on a hot, humid summer day. History Louisville was, from the beginning, a city on the fast track. From its very first settlement in 1778, when thirteen families under Colonel George Rogers Clark arrived on the banks of the Ohio River, only two years passed until the city was incorporated and named for King Louis XVI of France, in honor of his aid to the Revolutionary cause. In its first few decades of existence, Louisville was the frequent target of Indian attacks. The city charter was approved in 1828. Given its relative isolation, Louisville remained a quiet backwater until the advent of steamboat travel in the early 1800’s. This sparked tremendous industrial development in the area, and by 1830 Louisville had become Kentucky’s largest city. This status made the city a key Union base of operations as well as an important supply center for the military during the Civil War. During the postwar era, manufacturing shaped Louisville into a major commercial center; its strategic location on the Falls of Ohio made it a key port on the river transportation system. The construction of the Louisville & Nashville Railroad provided a further boon to Louisville’s economy. Other key economic developments included the opening of the Seagram & Sons distillery and the arrival of DuPont, at which time Louisville became the world’s largest producer of synthetic rubber. Natural disasters have been something of a recurring theme in Louisville; the Ohio River has been the cause of great destruction in the area. The Great Flood of 1937 submerged about 70 percent of the city; 90 Louisville citizens lost their lives. The city has also been struck by severe tornadoes several times in its past. Fast Facts City population: 256,231 Community Louisville is an historic Southern city famous for horses, horse racing and mint juleps. Residents and visitors alike often remark on the city’s remarkable greenness, nestled on the banks of the flood-prone Ohio River in the humid river valley. Louisville’s neighborhoods vary in socioeconomic demographics and atmosphere, but to make a significant simplification, the west side of town is less affluent than the east side. The “East End” neighborhoods are considered more desirable. The city has many well-to-do neighborhoods including Prospect, Nitta Yuma, Bridgepoint, Woodstone, Falls Creek and Paramount Estates. The young-urbanite crowd tends to gravitate towards the Bardstown Road neighborhood. Newer neighborhoods such as Lake Forest and Oldham County are often magnets for new Louisville residents. Oldham County in particular has seen many families relocating there for the school system; the area is rapidly developing although there are still farms and open areas of land. More established communities with older homes include St. Matthews (more centrally located) and Anchorage (further from the city center). Attractions While Louisville is home to some of the more typical city attractions, most notably a lovely zoo known for its extensive gorilla exhibits and a Six Flags theme park, the attractions most often cited as favorites by residents and visitors are truly unique to Louisville. The first is Churchill Downs, Louisville’s most famous destination and home to the Kentucky Derby, which is not so much a sporting event as it is a point of local cultural identity. The racetrack itself is lovely and also houses the Derby Museum. Admission to the museum includes admission to the racetrack, where there is always a race of some kind being held. The museum showcases the history of the country’s most famous horse race and its past champions. Louisville is also home to two other unique sites: the Louisville Slugger factory and the Maker’s Mark Distillery. The Slugger factory, impossible to miss with the enormous baseball bat leaning up against the four-story building, offers a fascinating tour where one learns the history of these industry-standard baseball bats, sees them being made, and can even order a personalized bat. The distillery, now a recognized historic landmark, began making Kentucky bourbon just after Prohibition and now offers tours, tastings, and a quick education in the history of fine whiskey. Louisville is also a haven for fans of history and historic homes. Boasting the third largest historic preservation district in the country with over 64,000 listings of historic homes, the area features several home-based museums including Locust Grove, the preserved home of the city’s founder, the Thomas Edison House, and Farmington House. Louisville is also home to an interactive science center and a popular riverboat, the Belle of Louisville, which cruises the Ohio River for sightseeing. Arts & Culture Louisville is home to the Speed Art Museum, the oldest and largest art museum in the state, located near the University of Louisville campus. The permanent collection consists of over 1,200 pieces of art; the museum was recently renovated to the tune of $12 million. In addition, the downtown Kentucky Museum of Art & Craft features traditional and functional art by Kentucky and regional artists in a permanent collection and a retail gallery. The museum also offers workshops through their education center and annual events. Louisville is also home to an opera company, a Shakespeare Festival, a ballet company, and an orchestra. Education Louisville is home to such post-secondary institutions as the University of Louisville, Sullivan University, Spalding University, Bellarmine University, and Jefferson Community College. The largest of these is the 21,000 Student University of Louisville, which can trace its routes to 1798. The University is best known for its programs in engineering, law, business and medicine. It should also be noted that the University of Kentucky, located only an hour’s drive away in Lexington, is a frequent destination for Louisville graduates. For secondary education, Louisville is noted for the unusually high number of private and Catholic schools in the area. There are at least six all-girls schools and almost as many all-boys, not to mention a magnet high school and a public all-male high school. Louisville is also home to a Youth Performing Arts School. Sports & Recreation While professional sports aren’t the biggest draw in the area, Louisville can lay claim to the most exciting two minutes in sport: the Kentucky Derby, a definitive event for the city and indeed the entire state. The Derby Festival culminates in the titular horse race at Churchill Downs, as well as the Kentucky Oaks race. Churchill Downs also hosts the Breeders’ Cup with some regularity; it is scheduled to be held there again in 2006. While Louisville doesn’t have any major-league sports franchises, college basketball is very popular there. Both the University of Louisville and the University of Kentucky at Lexington are basketball powerhouses and enjoy fervent local followings. Minor league sports in the area feature the Louisville Bats, the triple-A affiliate of the Cincinnati Reds, the Louisville Dire, a minor league arena football team, and the Louisville Bulls, a semi-professional football team. It should also be noted that Louisville is home to one of the country’s top golf courses. The Valhalla Golf Club hosted the 1996 and 2000 PGA Championships, and is scheduled to host the 2008 Ryder cup. Festivals Without question, the largest annual event in Louisville is the Kentucky Derby Festival, which takes place during the two weeks preceding the Kentucky Derby, held the first Saturday of May. The Festival starts with Thunder Over Louisville, the largest annual fireworks display in the nation. The Derby Festival also features a wide range ofe vents such as parades, a balloon race, a marathon, and as many as 70 other events throughout the city and surrounding area. The Derby itself is a national draw, although many locals do not attend the event, preferring to avoid its sheer enormity. Summertime also brings the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival, held in July and featuring free plays in Louisville’s Central Park. A more recent addition to the city’s schedule of annual events is Lebowski Fest, a weekend gathering for fans of the movie “The Big Lebowski.” As autumn rolls around, Louisville hosts the Adam Matthews Balloon festival, and nearby Bardstown hosts the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. One of Louisville’s premier annual events, the St. James Court Art Festival, is held in October and features the work of thousands of artists exhibiting their wares to the collectors and aficionados who travel from all over the country to view them. Dining Louisville dining is extremely varied and of overall high quality; ask a resident to recommend their favorite restaurants and you’ll seldom hear the same restaurant named twice. What will be often cited is the city’s love of BBQ, and the many hometown eateries where it can be obtained. Juicy’s BBQ, Mark’s Feed Store and Wille’s BBQ are just three of the many local purveyors of ribs, meat and sauce featuring the local bourbons and the Southern love of outdoor cooking. Another Louisville feature is restaurants, which offer boat access from the Ohio River. One restaurant that is frequently cited by residents is local chain King Fish, a seafood restaurant with an open atmosphere that welcomes boaters; another dock-ready gathering place is the popular Captain’s Quarters. Visitors are often struck by the eclectic and multicultural offerings of the Louisville dining scene. From flea-market diner Lynn’s Paradise Café to upscale Azalea’s, from the Mediterranean food of the Grapeleaf to the Guinness-soaked Celtic ambiance of the Irish Rover, Louisville diners don’t want for variety. Economy Louisville’s economy was built in large part on the transportation industry. Its position on the Falls of Ohio, coupled with the fact that its geographic location make it one day’s travel to 60% of the cities in the continental United States, made it a key transfer point for cargo traveling over land and over water. Although some of the transport routes that passed through Louisville are no longer used, its importance to the shipping industry continues; it is the world air hub for UPS. Louisville is also home to such Fortune 500 companies as the Brown-Forman Corporation, Humana, Inc, Kindred Healthcare, and Yum! Brands, Inc (owners of KFC, Pizza Hut, and Taco Bell among other fast-food chains). In addition to such major local economic contributors as tourism and the horse-breeding industry, one third of all the bourbon whiskey in the world comes from Louisville. The median income in Louisville is $28,843 for a family and $36,696 for a family.
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