Louisville

Louisville, city in northern Kentucky and seat of Jefferson County. The city is a major port of entry on the southern bank of the Ohio River. Louisville is the economic focus of a large metropolitan area that extends across the Ohio River into Indiana and includes a great variety of industries. Manufactures range from household appliances, farm machinery, trucks, motor-vehicle equipment, processed food, tobacco products, paint, and rubber to such Louisville specialties as bourbon whiskey, “Louisville Slugger” baseball bats, and books printed in Braille (see Braille System). United Parcel Service (UPS) has a regional headquarters in the city. Louisville, which has extensive convention facilities, is served by Louisville International Airport as well as by modern port installations.

Louisville is famous as the site of the Kentucky Derby, a Thoroughbred horse race held each May since 1875 at Churchill Downs racetrack. The Kentucky Derby Festival, a two-week event featuring a fireworks display and balloon race, precedes the Derby. Louisville is also home to the Kentucky State Fair, held each August. The city has many attractions, among them the Louisville Falls Fountain, a floating water-and-light sculpture; the Belle of Louisville, a 1914 stern-wheeler still in operation; the Kentucky Art and Craft Center, located in one of the city’s five historic districts; and the Cave Hill Cemetery, which contains a botanical garden.

Museums in the city include the Speed Art Museum, the Kentucky Derby Museum at Churchill Downs, and the Louisville Slugger Museum. The city supports a number of performing arts groups, and is the location of the Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Kentucky Center for the Arts, which houses the Kentucky Opera, the Louisville Ballet, the Louisville Orchestra, and Stage One: The Louisville Children’s Theatre.

Near the city are the Louisville Zoo; the grave of President Zachary Taylor; Locust Grove, a Georgian-style mansion that was the residence of George Rogers Clark, founder of the original settlement; Farmington, a graceful Federal-style home built in 1810; and Fort Knox, a military installation housing the nation’s gold reserve. Institutions of higher education in Louisville include the University of Louisville (1798), Spalding University (1814), Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary (1853), Southern Baptist Theological Seminary (1858), Bellarmine College (1950), and several junior colleges.

Situated in an area once inhabited by the Shawnee people, the community was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark and is one of the oldest settlements west of the Appalachian Mountains. Originally located on Corn Island in the Ohio River, the settlement was moved to its present site in 1779. It was named in 1780 for Louis XVI of France in gratitude for French assistance during the American Revolution (1775-1783). In 1828 it incorporated as a city.

In the 19th century Louisville was a leading commercial center for the developing South and Midwest, prospering first as a transshipment point around the Falls of the Ohio, and later as a river port after a canal was constructed around the falls in 1830. The city became a rail center in the 1850s, and served as a Union stronghold during the American Civil War (1861-1865). Louisville was badly damaged by tornadoes in 1890 and 1974, and by a flood of the Ohio River in 1937. Its industrial base was broadened and many new buildings were constructed in the 1960s and 1970s. Louisville’s population declined considerably in the 1970s and 1980s, due to industry moving outside the city. The recession in the 1980s caused the loss of manufacturing jobs, but the population of its metropolitan area increased.

Louisville covers a land area of 161 sq km (62 sq mi), with a mean elevation of 137 m (449 ft). According to the 2000 census, whites are 62.9 percent of the population, blacks 33 percent, Asians 1.4 percent, and Native Americans 0.2 percent. Native Hawaiians and other Pacific Islanders represent less than 0.1 percent of the population. The remainder are of mixed heritage or did not report race. Hispanics, who may be of any race, are 1.9 percent of the people. Population 298,451 (1980); 269,063 (1990); 256,231 (2000); 248,762 (2003 estimate).