Butchertown, Louisville

Butchertown is a neighborhood just east of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States, bounded by I-65, Main Street, I-71, Beargrass Creek and Mellwood Avenue.

History

The first homes in the area were laid out in the 1820s along the newly completed Louisville to Lexington turnpike, referred to in that stretch as Story Avenue. Two of the first landowners in the area, Whig Party loyalist George Buchanan and Isaac Stewart, had the new community's streets named after major Whig Party members, such as John Quincy Adams, Daniel Webster and Henry Clay. In the 1850s Beargrass Creek was rerouted away from what is now downtown Louisville and through the area, making it an ideal area for butchers and stockyards because the animal remains could be dumped in the creek and such businesses were banned in the downtown area for sanitation reasons. The population swelled as waves of German immigrants entered the area. Bourbon Stockyards, built in 1836, was the first stockyard to locate in Butchertown. A bank is in portions of the original building.

Due to the high German population, and resentment of them by supporters of the Know Nothing party, Butchertown was where the "Bloody Monday" riots of August 1855 began as Know Nothings tried to prevent Germans and Irish from voting in an election. The riots killed 22 people.

For the first 100 years of its existence, Butchertown was a thriving residential and industrial area, though other Louisville neighborhoods regarded it as a haven for drunkards and brawlers. However, the area began declining after the great Ohio River flood of 1937 destroyed many of the homes there. Many other homes were demolished for the construction of the Ohio River flood wall, the construction of interstates and the Kennedy Interchange ("Spaghetti Junction") through the area, and the expansion of industrial land into formerly residential areas. Suburbanization continued to bring the residential areas into decline, until the few remaining residents began lobbying for rezoning (the entire area was zoned as industrial), and fixing up vacant and underrepaired houses.

Since the 1990s the area has attracted many young professionals. In recent years, the east Market Street area of downtown Louisville has seen a great deal of revitalization, including the expansion of Waterfront Park, Louisville Slugger Field, and the conversion of empty store fronts into new condominiums. This has helped spur further improvements in Butchertown itself, as many new antique shops and art galleries have opened off the Market Street corridor.

One of the largest Butchertown area healthcare employers relocated whe
The Eye Care Institute
moved its ophthalmology clinic, LASIK laser vision correction suite and eye care services to their expanded and renovated building on December 29, 1995. As The Eye Care Institute developed its ambulatory clinical trials business it renamed the clinical trials business t
Butchertown Clinical Trials
and relocated it to 205 N. Spring Street in Butchertown during 2021. The Spring Street building was a refrigerated metal storage building that was built for making ice cubes in about 1979. It was heavily renovated into high-tech biomedical office and research space and features a façade of corrugated metal products, concrete slabs, and brick. The Eye Care Institute building contains architecture and building materials from three different centuries; the offices and conference room are in the portion of the building that was built as a house in about 1880 and features an Italianate façade. The 1880 section structurally consists of 24 foot clear span balloon framing. The main clinic building contains about 10,000 square feet and is a masonry and steel structure built in about 1985 when it served as the main location of Louisville's cable TV provider. The newest section of The Eye Care Institute is mostly clear span space, built in 1994 and 1995 of both steel support beams and wood framing. This late 20th Century section includes a Porte Cochere, stained concrete floors, and north facing transom windows.

In the 2000s, there were plans as part of the Ohio River Bridges Project to move the Kennedy Interchange further south when it was to be reconfigured by 2018, meaning that more buildings in Butchertown would be razed. However, these plans were scrapped in favor of reconfiguring the interchange in its existing location. Furthermore, the project included a second interstate bridge just east of the John F. Kennedy Memorial Bridge that opened as the Abraham Lincoln Bridge on December 6, 2015. The necessity of flyover ramps for the new bridge led to the demolishing of about one-third of Butchertown's David Armstrong Extreme Park, along with a rebuild of facilities on an adjacent property.

Demographics

As of 2000, the population of Butchertown was 975, of which Whites were 82.8%, Blacks were 7.2%, Hispanics were 5.3%, and other races were 4.7%. Males of all races were 60.1% of the population, while females were 39.9%.

Attractions

Butchertown contains several attractions, including the David Armstrong Extreme Park and Thomas Edison House, a shotgun house near where Thomas Edison lived in 1866 on Washington Street. The remaining front facade of the former early 19th century Heigold House, which features a detailed sketch of important early Whig Party leaders, displays the words "dedicated the greatest man in history, George Washington" etched across its front. The rest of the Fulton Street house has been razed.

Butchertown is also known for its emergence of more modern shops, restaurants, and destination spots. Located on E. Washington Street is Copper & Kings, a brandy and absinthe distillery that offers daily tours and various community events. It is also home to an LGBT night club and a variety of newer eateries.

Lynn Family Stadium, a soccer stadium for Louisville City FC, was planned to open in April 2020 at the eastern edge of the neighborhood, though the opening has since been delayed due to the coronavirus pandemic. It will anchor a larger complex of offices, retail, and hotel that is planned to open at a later date.

See also

* Germantown, Louisville
* History of the Germans in Louisville
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Jefferson County, Kentucky

References

External links

*

Street map of Butchertown Images of Butchertown (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections


— Article by Bill Pike of ''The Courier-Journal''

{{National Register of Historic Places

German-American culture in Louisville, Kentucky
Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky
Local preservation districts in Louisville, Kentucky
National Register of Historic Places in Louisville, Kentucky
Greek Revival architecture in Kentucky
Shingle Style architecture in Kentucky
Historic districts on the National Register of Historic Places in Kentucky
Populated places established in the 1820s
1820s establishments in Kentucky