The Little Loomhouse is a place on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in the

Kenwood Hill Kenwood Hill is a hill and neighborhood on the south side of Louisville, Kentucky, United States. Its boundaries are New Cut Road, Kenwood Drive, Southside Drive and Palatka Road. The hill, earlier known as ''Sunshine Hill'' and then ''Cox's Knob'' ...

neighborhood on the south side of

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 ...

. It consists of three cabins constructed between 1870 and 1896: Esta Cabin, Tophouse, and Wisteria Cabin. It not only displays weavings, but has active education and resident artist programs. The organization participates in several local festivals, giving demonstrations of

spinning Spin or spinning most often refers to: * Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thread by twisting fibers together, traditionally by hand spinning * Spin, the rotation of an object around a central axis * Spin (propaganda), an intentionally b ...

dyeing Dyeing is the application of dyes or pigments on textile materials such as fibers, yarns, and fabrics with the goal of achieving color with desired color fastness. Dyeing is normally done in a special solution containing dyes and particular ...

, and

weaving Weaving is a method of textile production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. Other methods are knitting, crocheting, felting, and braiding or plaiting. The longitudinal th ...

. It is the biggest repository of original and classic textile patterns in the United States.Volunteer with Little Loomhouse - Louisville, KY
/ref> Among the history of the cabins have been the visits of past

First Ladies of the United States The first lady of the United States is the hostess of the White House. The position is traditionally filled by the wife of the president of the United States, but, on occasion, the title has been applied to women who were not presidents' wives, s ...

, and the composition of the song ''

Happy Birthday to You "Happy Birthday to You", also known as "Happy Birthday", is a song traditionally sung to celebrate a person's birthday. According to the 1998 ''Guinness World Records'', it is the most recognised song in the English language, followed by "For ...

''.

Esta Cabin

The Esta Cabin encapsulates the history of the Loomhouse, and is the cabin where the song "Happy Birthday to You" was first sung. The cabin was first built by a Beoni Figg in 1870 as a business office for his

charcoal Charcoal is a lightweight black carbon residue produced by strongly heating wood (or other animal and plant materials) in minimal oxygen to remove all water and volatile constituents. In the traditional version of this pyrolysis process, cal ...

, lumber, and quarries interests. It has been enlarged since then from a two-room cabin. One of these enhancements replaced the vertical split log siding with

board and batten A batten is most commonly a strip of solid material, historically wood but can also be of plastic, metal, or fiberglass. Battens are variously used in construction, sailing, and other fields. In the lighting industry, battens refer to linea ...

. In 1939 Lou Tate acquired the cabin and based her weaving business there, living on the property until her death in 1979. On a visit in the 1940s while still the

First Lady First lady is an unofficial title usually used for the wife, and occasionally used for the daughter or other female relative, of a non-monarchical A monarchy is a form of government in which a person, the monarch, is head of state fo ...

Eleanor Roosevelt Anna Eleanor Roosevelt () (October 11, 1884November 7, 1962) was an American political figure, diplomat, and activist. She was the first lady of the United States from 1933 to 1945, during her husband President Franklin D. Roosevelt's four ...

crushed a floorboard, which she later signed; it is now lost. While visiting the Loomhouse, Mrs. Roosevelt bought woven mats that would see use in the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...

. Displays of weaving decorate the interior.

Other cabins

Wisteria, which houses the office and giftshop, was built in 1895 and similarly became endangered. In fact, it had to be closed for years due to erosion damage; in 1986,

Jefferson County Judge/Executive The Jefferson County Judge/Executive is the nominal chief executive of Jefferson County, Kentucky. On January 3, 2003, the county government merged with that of its largest city, Louisville, to create the Louisville Metro Government. The former p ...

Harvey Sloane helped in a rededication ceremony celebrating the restoration of the cabin. Tophouse Cabin

The Tophouse was built as a summer home for the well-to-do Sam Stone Bush in 1896. It was made of oak harvested from the hill upon which it stands. It was acquired by Tate in 1939 for using her looms. Since that time it has been used for looms, save during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

when supplies dwindled, and she rented out the cabin for both funding and providing a defense worker's family a place to live. Although endangered by development in the 1960s and 1970s, it still stands today as the home of the looms from which the Little Loomhouse gains its name, and where weaving is still taught.

Collective history

For many years the Loomhouse has sold a small portable table loom designed by First Lady

Lou Henry Hoover Lou Hoover (née Henry; March 29, 1874 – January 7, 1944) was an American philanthropist, geologist, and First Lady of the United States from 1929 to 1933 as the wife of President Herbert Hoover. She was active in numerous community organizatio ...

, wife of President

Herbert Hoover Herbert Clark Hoover (August 10, 1874 – October 20, 1964) was an American politician who served as the 31st president of the United States from 1929 to 1933 and a member of the Republican Party, holding office during the onset of the Gr ...

. In his 1948 visit to Louisville,

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

praised both the cabins and the setting. In 1940, he described it as "board-and-batten summer houses, set down in the dignity of nature". By 2007, the cabins were deteriorating. Stefanie Buzan wrote in a book about the site that, "They weren't built to last this long." Problems include tree trimming, sagging floors, and preventing the cabins from falling down the side of Kenwood Hill by using reinforcements. It was hoped that a second edition of Buzan's book would raise funds for needed repairs, as the money made normally by the Loomhouse was not enough for the needed repairs.Pike, Bill. "Preserving the Loomhouse: Iroquois, Kenwood history re-issued to pay for repairs." ''Louisville Courier-Journal''. November 14, 2007

Gallery

File:Esta_Cabin_2.jpg, Esta Cabin backside File:Little Loomhouse.jpg, The three cabins File:Little Loomhouse backside.jpg, Backside of the three cabins

References

External links