Cherokee Gardens is a residential area six miles east of downtown
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 ...
USA. The area is a collection of small, unconnected subdivisions along Lexington Road and large estates built just outside
Cherokee Park
Cherokee Park is a municipal park located in Louisville, Kentucky, United States and is part of the Louisville Olmsted Parks Conservancy. It was designed in 1891 by Frederick Law Olmsted, the father of landscape architecture along with 18 of L ...
.
Many of Louisville's early 20th Century elite lived in the area, drawn there by the large, undeveloped parcels of land near downtown. Most houses in the area were built from the 1920s to the 1950s, several being designed by noted Louisville residential architect
Stratton Hammon
Stratton Owen Hammon (March 6, 1904 – October 22, 1997) was a Louisville, Kentucky, architect known for his Colonial Revival style homes.
Life
Hammon was a graduate of DuPont Manual High School in Louisville where he studied art and architectur ...
.
Cherokee Gardens is bounded by Lexington Road, Cannons Lane, and I-64. As of 2000, the population of Cherokee Gardens was 927.
History
The area was deeded to James Southall and Richard Charlton for their part in the
French and Indian War
The French and Indian War (1754–1763) was a theater of the Seven Years' War, which pitted the North American colonies of the British Empire against those of the French, each side being supported by various Native American tribes. At the ...
. The land remained untouched well into the 1850s because it lay off Frankfort Avenue and Bardstown Road, the two major through routes of the area. In 1851 an alternative route of Frankfort Ave was built for travellers who wanted to avoid the railroad further down in
Clifton
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*Clifton (surname)
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* Clifton, Queensland, a town
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*Clifton, Nova Scotia ...
. The new road was first called 'Shelbyville Branch', today it is called Lexington Road.
The first subdivision called Cherokee Gardens was announced in 1925 by the firm of Otis & Bruce. Jr. it was built on land that had been a part of the Vigilini and Turner estates, with the
Olmsted Brothers
The Olmsted Brothers company was a landscape architectural firm in the United States, established in 1898 by brothers John Charles Olmsted (1852–1920) and Frederick Law Olmsted Jr. (1870–1957), sons of the landscape architect Frederick Law ...
firm hired to design the landscaping. The lots were sold quickly, with 241 of the original 256 lots selling within 10 days of their initial offering for over $900,000 (). Many of these lots were combined by initial homeowners.
The initial Cherokee Gardens subdivision consisted of homes built in the 1920s and 1930s off the streets, from west to east, Primrose, Fairfield, Barberry, Rainbow, Garden, Poppy, Sunset and Sunnyside. West of that, Cressbrook was developed in 1955. The homes off Daneshall Drive were built in 1968, in a small subdivision named for the original house which still stands, and was a well-known horse farm into the 1950s. Cherokee Gardens West, with homes off Altagate and Circlewood on the old Speed Estate, was built in 1970. Cherokee Woods subdivision, built off the road of that name and Juniper Hill Road, was built in 1974.
References
External links
Street map of Cherokee Gardens Images of Cherokee Gardens (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
{{Louisville
Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky