Germantown is a neighborhood three miles southeast of downtown
Louisville, Kentucky
Louisville is the List of cities in Kentucky, most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky, sixth-most populous city in the Southeastern United States, Southeast, and the list of United States cities by population, 27th-most-populous city ...
, USA. Germantown is also a general term for an area of Louisville from the
Original Highlands to
St Joseph
According to the Gospel, canonical Gospels, Joseph (; ) was a 1st-century Jews, Jewish man of Nazareth who was Espousals of the Blessed Virgin Mary, married to Mary, mother of Jesus, Mary, the mother of Jesus, and was the legal father of Jesus ...
and
Bradley neighborhoods that were predominantly settled by Germans. The actual neighborhood is roughly bounded by Barrett Ave,
Eastern Parkway
Eastern Parkway is a major east–west boulevard in the borough (New York City), New York City borough of Brooklyn. Designed by Frederick Law Olmsted and Calvert Vaux, it was built between 1870 and 1874 and has been credited as the world's fir ...
, Goss Ave, and the South Fork of
Beargrass Creek.
History
The area was settled as small farms and butcher shops by
German
German(s) may refer to:
* Germany, the country of the Germans and German things
**Germania (Roman era)
* Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ancestry, or native speakers of the German language
** For citizenship in Germany, see also Ge ...
immigrants in the 1870s. At this time the area was nicknamed 'Frogtown' because the adjacent Beargrass Creek frequently flooded the area, causing numerous epidemics of malaria. The flooding problem was solved when Beargrass Creek was routed into a much deeper concrete canal. The area was subdivided and developed heavily during the 1890s, when the largest collection of
shotgun house
A shotgun house is a narrow rectangular domestic residence, usually no more than about wide, with rooms arranged one behind the other and doors at each end of the house. It was the most popular style of house in the Southern United States from t ...
s in the city of Louisville was built.
In 1907, a bridge was built across the South Fork of Beargrass Creek which allowed French settlers north of the creek, in an area called Paristown, to attend the one
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
church in the area.
The German-Paristown Neighborhood Association was founded in 1973, making it one of Louisville's first neighborhood associations.
Today the area is undergoing a transition to a younger, more educated demographic. Many homes in the neighborhood are being renovated and urban homesteading (complete with gardens, bee hives, and backyard chickens) is common.
Demographics
As of 2000, the population of Germantown was 3,867, of which 93.9% are white, 4.2% are black, 1.6% are listed as other, and 0.7% are Hispanic. College graduates are of the 17.9% population, people without a high school degree are 29.3%. Females outnumber males 52.9% to 47.1%.
See also
*
North of Bourbon
*
Butchertown, Louisville
Butchertown is a neighborhood just east of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, United States, bounded by I-65, Main Street, I-71, Beargrass Creek and Mellwood Avenue.
The Butchertown Historic District is a part which was listed on the National Re ...
*
History of the Germans in Louisville
References
External links
Images of Germantown (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
{{Louisville
German-American culture in Louisville, Kentucky
Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky