California is a neighborhood in urban

Louisville, Kentucky Louisville ( , , ) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States. Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border ...

, United States. It is bounded on the north by Broadway, on the east by Ninth Street, on the south by Oak Street, and on the west by Twenty-Sixth Street. There are no written records of the beginning of the neighborhood, but the area was settled by

German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) ** Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language ** For citizens of Germany, see also German nationality law **Ge ...

immigrants around 1849. It is said that the subdivision, initially called Henderson, came to be known as California because it was the "far west" of Louisville. African Americans settled the area after the

Civil War A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

, starting the California Colored School and a branch of the Freedmen's Bureau. The early population was mixed between whites and blacks, but white families began to leave around 1900. The neighborhood lost 50% of its population and 40% of its single-family housing from 1950 to 1980 and became known for its

urban decay Urban decay (also known as urban rot, urban death or urban blight) is the sociological process by which a previously functioning city, or part of a city, falls into disrepair and decrepitude. There is no single process that leads to urban deca ...

. California has been the subject of

urban renewal Urban renewal (also called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address urban decay in cities. Urban renewal involves the clearing out of blighte ...

efforts, including those by the Brown-Forman Corporation, whose headquarters and warehouse is located in the neighborhood. A commercial neighborhood arose at 18th Street (Dixie Highway) and Oak. Both Madden Hardware and the Oak Theater were on the east side of 18th.

References

External links

Images of California (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
{{coord, 38, 14, 37, N, 85, 47, 03, W, region:US-KY_scale:50000, display=title German-American culture in Louisville, Kentucky Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky