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History of Louisville, Kentucky

2007 Schools Wikipedia Selection. Related subjects: North American History

   View of Main Street, Louisville, in 1846.
   Enlarge
   View of Main Street, Louisville, in 1846.

   The history of Louisville, Kentucky spans hundreds of years, and has
   been influenced by the area's unique geography and location.

Pre-settlement history (pre-1778)

   Although Kentucky was inhabited by Native Americans in prehistoric
   times, when white explorers and settlers began entering Kentucky in the
   mid-1700s, there were no permanent Native American settlements in the
   region. Instead, the country was used as hunting grounds by Shawnees
   from the north and Cherokees from the south.

   The area was first visited by Europeans in 1669 by René-Robert
   Cavelier, Sieur de La Salle, from France. He explored areas of the
   Mississippi and Ohio river valleys from the Gulf of Mexico up to
   modern-day Canada, claiming much of this land for France.

   In 1751, Christopher Gist explored areas along the Ohio River.
   Following the French and Indian War, France relinquished control of the
   area of Kentucky to England.

   In 1769, Daniel Boone created a trail from North Carolina to Tennessee,
   and then spent the next two years exploring Kentucky. In 1773, Captain
   Thomas Bullitt led the first exploring party into Jefferson County,
   surveying the land on behalf of Virginians who had been awarded land
   grants for service in the French and Indian War. In 1774, James Harrod
   began constructing Fort Harrod in Kentucky. However, battles with the
   native American tribes established in the area forced these new
   settlers to retreat. They returned the following year, as Daniel Boone
   built the Wilderness Road and established Fort Boonesborough at the
   site near Boonesborough, Kentucky. The Native Americans allocated a
   tract of land between the Ohio River and the Cumberland River for the
   Transylvania Land Company. In 1776, the colony of Virginia declared the
   Transylvania Land Company illegal and created the county of Kentucky in
   Virginia from the land involved.

Foundation and early settlement (1778-1803)

   George Rogers Clark as painted by Matthew Harris Jouett in 1825
   Enlarge
   George Rogers Clark as painted by Matthew Harris Jouett in 1825

   The first settlement was made in the vicinity of modern-day Louisville
   in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, who was conducting a campaign
   against the British in areas north of the Ohio River, then called the
   Illinois Country. Clark organized a group of 150 soldiers, eventually
   known as the Illinois Regiment, after heavy recruiting in Virginia and
   Pennsylvania. On May 12, they set out from Redstone, today's
   Brownsville, Pennsylvania, taking along 80 civilians who hoped to claim
   fertile farmland and start a new settlement in Kentucky, and arrived at
   the Falls of the Ohio on May 27. It was a location Clark thought ideal
   for a settlement and communication post.

   The regiment helped the civilians establish a settlement on what came
   to be called Corn Island, clearing land and building cabins and a
   springhouse. On June 24, Clark took his soldiers and left to begin
   their military campaign. A year later, at the request of Clark, the
   settlers began crossing the river and established the first permanent
   settlement and by April were calling it "Louisville", in honour of King
   Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers at the time were aiding Americans
   in the Revolutionary War. Today, George Rogers Clark is now recognized
   as the founder of Louisville, and many landmarks are named after him.

   During its earliest history, the colony of Louisville and the
   surrounding areas suffered from Indian attacks, and the Revolutionary
   War was still being waged, so all early residents lived within forts,
   as was suggested by the earliest government of Kentucky County,
   Virginia. The initial fort, at the northern tip of today's 12th street,
   was called Fort-on-Shore. In response to the threat of British attacks,
   particularly Bird's Invasion of Kentucky, a larger fort called Fort
   Nelson, after Virginia Governor Thomas Nelson, Jr., was built north of
   today's Main Street between Seventh and Eighth streets, covering nearly
   an acre. The GB￡15,000 contract was given to Richard Chenoweth, with
   construction beginning in late 1780 and completed by March 1781. The
   fort, thought to be capable of resisting cannon fire, was considered
   the strongest in the west after Fort Pitt, but due to decreasing need
   for strong forts after the Revolutionary War, it would be in decline by
   the end of the decade.
   York, William Clark's manservant and participant in the Lewis and Clark
   Expedition
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   York, William Clark's manservant and participant in the Lewis and Clark
   Expedition

   In 1780, the Virginia General Assembly and then- Governor Thomas
   Jefferson approved the town charter of Louisville on May 1. Jefferson
   County, named after Thomas Jefferson, was formed at this time as one of
   three original Kentucky counties from the old Kentucky County,
   Virginia. Louisville was the county seat.
   Meriwether Lewis and William Clark meeting at the falls of the Ohio
   River; statue at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville,
   Indiana (across from Louisville)
   Enlarge
   Meriwether Lewis and William Clark meeting at the falls of the Ohio
   River; statue at the Falls of the Ohio State Park in Clarksville,
   Indiana (across from Louisville)

   Also during 1780, 300 families immigrated to the area and Louisville's
   first fire department was established. The first street plan of
   Louisville was laid out by Willian Pope at this time. Daniel Broadhead
   opened Louisville's first general store in 1783. He became the first to
   move out of Louisville's early forts. The first courthouse was
   completed in 1784, a 16 by 20-foot log cabin. By this time, Louisville
   contained 63 clapboard finished houses, 37 partly finished, 22
   uncovered houses, and over 100 log cabins. Shippingport, incorporated
   in 1785, was a vital part of early Louisville, allowing goods to be
   transported through the Falls of the Ohio. The first church was built
   in 1790, the first hotel in 1793, and the first post office in 1795.
   However, the town was not growing as fast as Lexington during the 1780s
   and early 1790s, due to a variety of reasons, such as the threat of
   Indian attacks (ended in 1794 by the Battle of Fallen Timbers), a
   complicated dispute over land ownership between John Campbell and the
   town's trustees (resolved in 1785), as well as Spanish policies
   restricting trade down the Mississippi to New Orleans. By 1800, the
   population of Louisville was 359, to Lexington's 1,759.

   From 1784 through 1792, a series of conventions were held to discuss
   the separation of Kentucky from Virginia. On June 1, 1792, Kentucky
   became the fifteenth state in the United States and Isaac Shelby was
   named the first Governor.

   In 1803, Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition
   across America at the Falls of the Ohio and Louisville. The Lewis and
   Clark Expedition would take the explorers across the western U.S.,
   surveying the Louisiana Purchase, and eventually to the Pacific Ocean.

City development (1803-1900)

Antebellum

   Since settlement, all people and cargo had arrived by flatboat and
   later keelboat, non-motorized vessels, meaning that it was
   prohibitively costly to send goods upstream (towards Pittsburg and
   other developed areas). This technical limitation, combined with the
   Spanish decision in 1784 to close the Mississippi River below Vicksburg
   to American ships, meant there was little outside market for goods
   produced early on in Louisville. This improved somewhat with Pinckney's
   Treaty, which opened the river and made New Orleans a free-trade zone
   by 1798.

   However, most cargo was still being sent downstream in the early 19th
   century, averaging 60,000 tons downstream to 6,500 tons upstream. Boats
   passing through still had to unload all of their cargo before
   navigating the falls, a boon to local businesses. The frontier days
   quickly fading, log-houses and forts began to disapear, and Louisville
   saw its first newspaper, the Louisville Gazette in 1807 and its first
   theatre in 1808, and the first dedicated church building in 1809. All
   of this reflected the 400% growth in population reported by the 1810
   Census.

   The economics of shipping were about the change, however, with the
   arrival of steamboats. The first, The New Orleans arrived in 1811,
   travelling downstream from Pittsburg. Although it made the trip in
   record time, few felt it was very meaningful at the time, believing a
   steamboat could make it back upstream against the current. However, in
   1815, the Enterprise, captained by Henry Miller Shreve became the first
   steamboat to travel all the way from New Orleans to Louisville, showing
   the commercial potential of the steamboat.

   Industry and manufacturing reached Louisville and surrounding areas,
   especially Shippingport, at this time. Some steamboats were built in
   Louisville, and many early mills and factories opened. Other town sites
   were developing at the falls: New Albany, Indiana in 1813 and Portland
   in 1814. Still, Louisville's population grew rapidly, tripling from
   1810 to 1820. By 1830, it would surpass Lexington to become the state's
   largest city.

   The city's first library opened its doors in 1816, known as the
   Louisville Library Company, and started a subscription-based service.
   Also, in a series of events ranging from 1798 to 1846, the University
   of Louisville was founded from the Jefferson Seminary, Louisville
   Medical Institute and Louisville Collegiate Institute.

   In response to great demand, the Louisville and Portland Canal was
   completed in 1830. This allowed the transportation of boat traffic to
   circumvent the Falls of the Ohio and travel through from Pittsburgh to
   New Orleans. While the canal would lead to the gradual decline of
   Shippingport, Louisville continued to thrive. In response to several
   epidemics, and the increasing need to treat ill or injured river
   workers, Louisville Marine Hospital was completed in 1825 on Chestnut
   Street, an area that is today home to Louisville's Medical Centre.

   In 1828, the population reached a size of 7,000, and Louisville became
   an incorporated city, the first in Kentucky. John Bucklin was elected
   the first Mayor. The nearby towns of Shippingport and Portland remained
   independent of Louisville for the time being. City status gave
   Louisville some judicial authority and the ability to collect more
   taxes, which allowed for the establishment of the state's first public
   school in 1829.

   In 1831, Catherine Spalding moved from Bardstown to Louisville and
   established Presentation Academy, a Catholic school for girls. She also
   established the St. Vincent Orphanage, which was later renamed as St.
   Joseph Orphanage. Both of these institutions remain in operation to the
   present time.

   Louisville's famous Galt House hotel — the first of three downtown
   buildings to have that moniker — was erected in 1834. In 1839, a
   precursor to the modern Kentucky Derby was held at Old Louisville's
   Oakland Race Course. Over 10,000 spectators attended the two-horse
   race, in which Grey Eagle lost to Wagner. This race occurred 36 years
   before the first Kentucky Derby.

   The Kentucky School for the Blind was founded in 1839, the third oldest
   school for the blind in the country.

   Following the 1850 Census, it was reported that Louisville was the
   nation's tenth largest city, while Kentucky was reported as the eighth
   most populous state.

   The Louisville & Nashville Railroad Company was founded in 1850 by
   James Guthrie, who also was involved in the founding of the University
   of Louisville, and was completed by 1859. Louisville's strategic
   location at the Falls of the Ohio became central to the city's
   development and importance in the rail and water freight transportation
   business.
   Historical marker from the corner of 1st and Main in downtown
   Louisville depicting the slave trade
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   Historical marker from the corner of 1st and Main in downtown
   Louisville depicting the slave trade

   Also this year, Louisvillian Zachary Taylor, a hero of the
   Mexican-American War, was elected as the 12th President of the United
   States. He only served four months in office, however, before dying of
   cholera. He is buried in Louisville at Zachary Taylor National Cemetery
   on Brownsboro Road.

   On August 6, 1855, a day dubbed Bloody Monday, election riots stemming
   from the bittery rivalry between the Democrats and supporters of the
   Know-Nothing Party broke out.

   Founded in 1858, the American Printing House for the Blind is the
   oldest organization of its kind in the United States and since 1879 has
   been the official supplier of educational materials for blind students
   in the U.S. It is located on Frankfort Avenue in the Clifton
   neighbourhood, adjacent to the campus where the Kentucky School for the
   Blind moved in 1855.

   Louisville had one of the largest slave trades in the United States
   before the Civil War and much of the city's initial growth is
   attributed to that trade. Louisville was the turning point for many
   enslaved blacks since Kentucky was a neutral state and crossing the
   Ohio River would lead to freedom in the North.

Civil War

   Union Gen. Jefferson C. Davis shoots Union Gen. William "Bull" Nelson
   on the steps of the Galt House
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   Union Gen. Jefferson C. Davis shoots Union Gen. William "Bull" Nelson
   on the steps of the Galt House

   During the Civil War, Louisville was a major stronghold of Union
   forces, which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. It was the centre of
   planning, supplies, recruiting and transportation for numerous
   campaigns, especially in the Western Theatre. While the state of
   Kentucky officially declared its neutrality during the war, prominent
   Louisville attorney James Speed strongly advocated keeping the state in
   the union. Seeing Louisville's strategic importance in the freight
   industry, General William Tecumseh Sherman formed an army base in the
   city in the event that the Confederacy advanced.

   In September 1862, Confederate General Braxton Bragg decided to take
   Louisville, but ultimately changed his mind due to lack of backup from
   General Edmund Kirby Smith's forces and the subsequent decision to
   install Confederate Governor Richard Hawes in Frankfort. In the summer
   of 1863, Confederate cavalry under John Hunt Morgan invaded Kentucky
   from Tennessee and briefly threatened Louisville before swinging around
   the city into Indiana during Morgan's Raid. In March 1864, Generals
   Sherman and Ulysses S. Grant met at the Galt House to plan the spring
   campaign, which included the capture of Atlanta, Georgia.

   By the end of the war, Louisville itself had not been attacked even
   once, even though surrounded by various battles such as the Battle of
   Perryville and Battle of Corydon. The Unionists — most whose leaders
   owned slaves — felt betrayed by the abolitionist position of the
   Republican Party. After 1865 returning Confederate veterans largely
   took control of the city, leading to the jibe that it joined the
   Confederacy after the war was over. Subsequently, in 1895, a
   Confederate monument was erected near the University of Louisville
   campus.

Reconstruction

   Churchill Downs in 1901
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   Churchill Downs in 1901

   The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville
   Jockey Club track (later renamed to Churchill Downs). The Derby was
   originally shepherded by Meriwether Clark, the grandson of William
   Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition. 10,000 spectators were present
   at the first Derby to watch Aristides win the race.
   A giant baseball bat adorns the outside of Louisville Slugger Museum in
   downtown Louisville
   Enlarge
   A giant baseball bat adorns the outside of Louisville Slugger Museum in
   downtown Louisville

   On February 2, 1876, Professional Baseball launched the National
   League, and the Louisville Grays were a charter member of the league.
   While the Grays were a relatively short-lived team, playing for only
   two years, they began a much longer lasting relationship between the
   city and baseball. In 1883, John "Bud" Hillerich made his first
   baseball bat from white ash in his father's wood shop. The first bat
   was produced for Pete "The Gladiator" Browning of the Louisville
   Eclipse (minor league team). The bats eventually become known by the
   popular name, Louisville Slugger, and the company he started, Hillerich
   & Bradsby, rapidly became one of the largest manufacturers of baseball
   bats and other sporting equipment in the world. Today, Hillerich &
   Bradsby manufactures over one million wooden bats per year, accounting
   for about two of three wooden bats sold worldwide.

   On August 1, 1883, U.S. President Chester A. Arthur opened the first
   annual Southern Exposition, a series of World's Fairs that would run
   for five consecutive years adjacent to Central Park in what is now Old
   Louisville. Highlighted at the show was the largest to-date
   installation of incandescent light bulbs, having been recently invented
   by Thomas Edison (a previous resident of Louisville).
   The Columbia Building was the tallest building in Kentucky for a decade
   Enlarge
   The Columbia Building was the tallest building in Kentucky for a decade

   Downtown Louisville began a modernization period in the 1890s, with
   Louisville's second skyscraper, the Columbia Building, opening on
   January 1, 1890. The following year, famous landscape architect
   Frederick Law Olmstead was commissioned to design Louisville's system
   of parks (most notably, Cherokee, Iroquois and Shawnee Parks) connected
   by tree-lined parkways. Train service arrived to the city on September
   7, 1891 with the completion of the Union Station train hub. The first
   train arrived at 7:30 am. At the time, Louisville's Union Station was
   recognized as the largest train station in the South.

   Interrupting these developments, on March 27, 1890, a major tornado
   measuring F4 on the Fujita scale visited Louisville. The "whirling
   tiger of the air" carved a path from the Parkland neighbourhood all the
   way to Crescent Hill, destroying 766 buildings ($2 1/2 million worth of
   property) and killing an estimated 74 to 120 people. At least 55 of
   those deaths occurred when the Falls City Hall collapsed. This is one
   of the highest death tolls due to a single building collapse from a
   tornado in U.S. history.

   In 1893, two Louisville sisters, Patty and Mildred J. Hill, both
   schoolteachers, wrote the song "Good Morning to All" for their
   kindergarten class. The song didn't quite catch on popularly, and the
   lyrics were later changed to the more recognizable, Happy Birthday to
   You. This is now the most performed song in the English language.

20th century and beyond

The city gains its character

   Louisville, Kentucky, ca. 1910
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   Louisville, Kentucky, ca. 1910

   The Waverly Hills Sanatorium was opened in 1910 to house tuberculosis
   patients. The hospital was closed in 1961. It was later used as a
   retirement home (1963-1981). It was unused for more than a decade until
   1991, when it was reopened for tours.

   During World War I, Louisville became home to Camp Taylor. In 1917, the
   English-bred colt "Omar Khayyam" became the first foreign-bred horse to
   win the Kentucky Derby. Two years later, in 1919, Sir Barton became the
   first horse to win the Triple Crown, though the term didn't come into
   use for another eleven years.

   In 1923, the Brown Hotel's chef Fred K. Schmidt introduced the Hot
   Brown sandwich in the hotel restaurant, consisting of an open-faced
   "sandwich" of turkey and bacon smothered with cheese and tomato. The
   Hot Brown became rather popular among locals and visitors alike, and
   can be ordered by many local restaurants in the area today.

   The Belle of Louisville, today recognized as the oldest river steamboat
   in operation, came to Louisville in 1931. That same year, the
   Louisville Municipal College for Negroes was established to allow black
   Louisvillians to attend classes. (The college was dissolved into the
   University of Louisville with the ending of segregation in 1951.)

   In late January and February of 1937, a month of heavy rain throughout
   the Ohio River Valley prompted what became remembered as the "Great
   Flood of '37". The flood submerged about 70 percent of the city and
   forced the evacuation of 175,000 residents. In Louisville, 90 people
   died. At the crest on January 27, 1937, the waters reached 30 feet
   above flood level in Louisville. Photojournalist Margaret Bourke-White
   documented the flood and its aftermath in a series of famous photos.
   Later, flood walls were installed to prevent another such disaster.

   Standiford Field was built in Louisville by the Army Corps of Engineers
   in 1941. Bowman Field, a smaller airport, had been previously opened in
   1919.

   Otter Creek Park was given to Louisville by the U.S. Government in
   1947, in recognition of the city's service during World War II.

   Throughout the 20th century, the arts flourished in Louisville. The
   Speed Art Museum was opened in 1927 and is now the oldest and largest
   museum of art in Kentucky. The Louisville Orchestra was founded in
   1937. In 1949 the Kentucky Shakespeare Festival was begun, and today it
   is the oldest free and independently-operating Shakespeare festival in
   the United States.

   The Kentucky Opera was started in 1952, and the Louisville Ballet was
   founded that same year, though it only achieved professional status in
   1975. In 1956 the Kentucky Derby Festival was started to celebrate the
   annual Kentucky Derby. The next year, in 1957, the St. James Court Art
   Show was started. Both these are still popular festivals in the region.

Decline in mid-century

   Eight whiskey distilleries opened on 7th Street Road after the end of
   prohibition, and Louisville attempted to annex them to increase its tax
   base. The whiskey companies did not want to pay city taxes and they
   were able to persuade Kentucky's General Assembly to pass a bill (known
   as the Shively Bill) that made it much more difficult for Louisville to
   annex additional areas. The distilleries used Kentucky's existing laws
   (which favored the mostly rural communities in the state) to form a ½
   square mile city named Shively in 1938. Shively eventually grew to
   include residential areas.

   In 1946 Kentucky's General Assembly passed a law allowing the formation
   of a Metropolitan Sewer District, and Louisville's Board of Aldermen
   approved its creation a few months later. With the expansion of sewer
   service outside of traditional city limits and laws hindering
   Louisville's annexation attempts, areas outside of the city limits that
   were developed during the building boom after World War II became
   cities in their own right for the main purpose of preventing annexation
   by Louisville. As a result, Louisville's population figures leveled
   off.

   For a variety of reasons, Louisville began to decline as an important
   city in the 1960s and 1970s. Highways that had been built in the late
   1950s facilitated a flight to the suburbs, and the downtown area began
   to decline economically. Many formerly popular buildings became vacant.
   Even the previously strong Brown Hotel closed its doors in 1971.
   Fontaine Ferry Park, Louisville's most popular amusement park during
   the early 20th century, closed in 1969. Despite these signs of decline,
   a number of activities were taking place that presaged the Louisville
   Renaissance of the 1980s.

   Southeast Christian Church, today one of the largest megachurches in
   the U.S., was founded in 1962 with only 53 members. In 1964, Actors
   Theatre of Louisville was founded. It was later designated the "State
   Theatre of Kentucky" in 1974.

   In 1973, the racehorse Secretariat made the fastest time ever run in
   the Derby (at its present distance) at 1 minute 59 2/5 seconds.

   Another major ( F4) tornado hit on April 3, 1974 as part of the Super
   Outbreak of tornadoes that struck 13 states. It covered 21 miles and
   destroyed several hundred homes in the Louisville area but was only
   responsible for 2 deaths. It also caused extensive damage in Cherokee
   Park.

   There were signs of revival in the 1970s. Throughout the decade, new
   buildings came under construction downtown, and many historic buildings
   were renovated. Louisville's public transportation, Transit Authority
   of River City, began operating a bus line in 1974. And in 1981 the
   Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area was granted
   status as a Federal conservation area.

   On the down side, in the early morning hours of February 13, 1981,
   sewer explosions ripped through the southern part of Old Louisville and
   near the University of Louisville. The cause was traced back to
   chemical releases into the sewer system from a nearby manufacturing
   plant.

Louisville's renaissance

   From the 1980s until the present day, Louisville has experienced a
   regrowth in popularity and prosperity. This can be seen in the many
   changes in this period, including a great deal of downtown
   infrastructure.
   The Louisville Waterfront Park exhibits rolling hills, spacious lawns
   and walking paths on Louisville's waterfront in the downtown area
   Enlarge
   The Louisville Waterfront Park exhibits rolling hills, spacious lawns
   and walking paths on Louisville's waterfront in the downtown area

   Many cultural showcases were founded or expanded in this period. The
   Kentucky Centre for the Arts was officially dedicated in 1983. In 1984
   the centre hosted one of the U.S. presidential election debates between
   Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. Today the Centre hosts many touring
   plays and performances by the Kentucky Opera and the Louisville Ballet.
   An IMAX theatre was added to the Louisville Science Centre in 1988.
   Phase I of the Louisville Waterfront Park was completed in 1999, and
   Phase II was completed in 2004. Though originally built as a standard
   movie theatre in 1921, the Kentucky Theatre was reopened in 2000 as a
   performing arts venue.

   In 1988, the Louisville Falls Fountain, the tallest computerized
   fountain in the world, began operation on the Ohio River at Louisville.
   Its 420 foot high spray (later reduced to 375 feet due to energy costs)
   and fleur-de-lis patterns graced Louisville's waterfront until the
   fountain was shut down in 1998. For a single decade Louisville enjoyed
   this unusual and distinctive landmark on its cityscape.

   In communications, The Courier-Journal, Louisville's primary local
   newspaper, was purchased by media giant Gannett in 1987. The Louisville
   Eccentric Observer (LEO), a popular alternative newspaper, was founded
   in 1990, and the Snitch Newsweekly was established in the 1990s.
   Velocity was later released by the Courier-Journal to compete with the
   LEO in 2003.
   The Muhammad Ali Center, alongside Interstate 64 on Louisville's
   riverfront
   Enlarge
   The Muhammad Ali Centre, alongside Interstate 64 on Louisville's
   riverfront

   In 2003, the city of Louisville and Jefferson County merged into a
   single government named Louisville-Jefferson County Metro Government.
   This merger made Louisville the 16th or 27th most populous city in the
   U.S., depending on how the population is calculated.

   New changes and growth are still evident in the city. The entertainment
   and retail district called Fourth Street Live! was opened in 2004, and
   the Muhammad Ali Centre was opened in 2005. Louisville's metro area is
   outgrowing Lexington's by a significant margin (about 4,100 a year, or
   41,000 per census), and is growing nearly as fast as Cincinnati's metro
   area.

Preservation and presentation of Louisville history

   Since 1884, The Filson Historical Society (originally named the Filson
   Club), with its extensive collections, has led the way in preserving
   Louisville's history. The University of Louisville and the Louisville
   Free Public Library have also maintained extensive historical
   collections.

   Unlike some neighboring major cities, such as Cincinnati, Louisville
   does not have a museum dedicated to the complete history of Louisville,
   but various museums and historic homes present displays devoted to this
   history. Prominent among these locations include the Falls of the Ohio
   State Park interpretive centre, Historic Locust Grove, and the Thomas
   D. Clark Centre for Kentucky History in Frankfort.

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   with only minor checks and changes (see www.wikipedia.org for details
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