Camp Taylor is a neighborhood and former military base six miles southeast 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 ...
, United States. First announced on June 11, 1917 it was originally a
military camp
A military camp or bivouac is a semi-permanent military base, for the lodging of an army. Camps are erected when a military force travels away from a major installation or fort during training or operations, and often have the form of large cam ...
named for former president
Zachary Taylor
Zachary Taylor (November 24, 1784 – July 9, 1850) was an American military leader who served as the 12th president of the United States from 1849 until his death in 1850. Taylor was a career officer in the United States Army, rising to th ...
. For a time it was America's largest military training camp, housing 47,500 men at one time, and spurred development in an area that was previously dominated by farmland.
Most of the camp was dismantled after
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
and a residential neighborhood emerged, composed mostly of small
bungalow
A bungalow is a small house or cottage that is either single-story or has a second story built into a sloping roof (usually with dormer windows), and may be surrounded by wide verandas.
The first house in England that was classified as a b ...
and
Cape Cod
Cape Cod is a peninsula extending into the Atlantic Ocean from the southeastern corner of mainland Massachusetts, in the northeastern United States. Its historic, maritime character and ample beaches attract heavy tourism during the summer mont ...
homes, many built or purchased by soldiers returning from the war. Many of these buildings were built from lumber and other materials from the dismantled military buildings. The working class community was annexed by Louisville in 1950.
F. Scott Fitzgerald
Francis Scott Key Fitzgerald (September 24, 1896 – December 21, 1940) was an American novelist, essayist, and short story writer. He is best known for his novels depicting the flamboyance and excess of the Jazz Age—a term he popularize ...
was stationed at Camp Taylor and mentions it in his novel ''
The Great Gatsby
''The Great Gatsby'' is a 1925 novel by American writer F. Scott Fitzgerald. Set in the Jazz Age on Long Island, near New York City, the novel depicts First-person narrative, first-person narrator Nick Carraway's interactions with mysterious mil ...
''.
Bellarmine University
Bellarmine University (BU; ) is a private Catholic university in Louisville, Kentucky. It opened on October 3, 1950, as Bellarmine College, established by Archbishop John A. Floersh of the Archdiocese of Louisville and named after Saint Rober ...
is built on part of the location of the former Camp Taylor.
Demographics
In the 2000 census, the population of Camp Taylor was 1,402 , of which 94.3% are white, 3.6% are listed as other, 1.9% are black, and 0.2% are Hispanic. College graduates are 10.9% of the population, people without a high school degree are 27.3%. Females outnumber males 54.9% to 45.1%.
See also
*
Camp Zachary Taylor
References
#
External links
Camp Zachary Taylor Neighborhood AssociationStreet Map: Camp Taylor
— Article by Grace Schneider of ''The Courier-Journal
''The Courier-Journal'',
also known as the
''Louisville Courier Journal''
(and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''),
is the highest circulation newspaper in Kentucky. It is owned by Gannett and billed as "Part of the ''USA Today'' Ne ...
''
{{Louisville
Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky
Populated places established in 1917
Taylor
Taylor, Taylors or Taylor's may refer to:
People
* Taylor (surname)
** List of people with surname Taylor
* Taylor (given name), including Tayla and Taylah
* Taylor sept, a branch of Scottish clan Cameron
* Justice Taylor (disambiguation)
Pl ...