The Portland Museum is a neighborhood history and art museum in

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 details the history of the Portland neighborhood both as an independent town in the early 1800s and after Portland's amalgamation into Louisville after the construction of the

Portland Canal , image = Hyder Alaska IMG 0276 (22495379342).jpg , alt = , caption = Portland Canal from Hyder, Alaska , image_bathymetry = , alt_bathymetry = , caption_bathymetry = , location = Alaska and British Columbia , group = , coordinates ...

. The museum consists of three buildings: Beech Grove, a 19th-century

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

mansion, the former Portland Bridge Baptist Mission Building, connected at Beech Grove's north side, and the AHOY House, a renovated Victorian property adjacent to the museum. The museum is also working to restore the 1812

Squire Earick House The Squire Earick House is the oldest known wood-frame house in Louisville, Kentucky, United States, built in 1812 in the Portland area of the city, which was then a town all its own. It has had many owners and a complicated history. History ...

History

The museum was originally founded by seven teachers from the old Roosevelt Elementary School with an initial grant the

National Endowment for the Humanities The National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) is an independent federal agency of the U.S. government, established by thNational Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965(), dedicated to supporting research, education, preserv ...

. The collection originally consisted of scrapbooks from various local families but has now since been expanded since then to include various artifacts, paintings and other memorabilia from local residents. Upon the school's closing in 1980, the museum was moved to the Brown School before settling into its current facility in 1983.

Exhibits

The museum contains exhibits on famous residents of Portland, including an exhibit of paintings by John James Audubon. In 2014, the museum opened a permanent collection consisting of memorabilia donated by former football star

Paul Hornung Paul Vernon Hornung (December 23, 1935 – November 13, 2020), nicknamed "the Golden Boy", was an American professional football player who was a Hall of Fame running back for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL) from 195 ...

. The museum also features a book printing room for students. As part of a recent revitalization effort in the Portland neighborhood, the museum acquired an adjacent

Victorian home In Great Britain and former British colonies, a Victorian house generally means any house built during the reign of Queen Victoria. During the Industrial Revolution, successive housing booms resulted in the building of many millions of Victorian ...

in 2020 and has since begun developing it into an immersive space and play area for children called AHOY.

Danny Seim Lackthereof is the solo project of Danny Seim, a founding member of the Portland, Oregon-based band Menomena. History The first six Lackthereof albums were recorded at home and given out to Seim's friends on cassettes and CD-R's. In 2005, FI ...

of the indie rock group

Menomena Menomena is an indie rock band from Portland, Oregon, United States, made up of Justin Harris and Danny Seim. Both members of the band share singing duties and frequently swap instruments while recording. In concert, Seim plays drums, while Ha ...

was appointed as a co-director of the museum in 2019 and is now the executive director of the AHOY project.

References

{{Authority control Historic house museums in Kentucky History museums in Kentucky Museums in Louisville, Kentucky Museums established in 1978 1978 establishments in Kentucky Local museums in the United States