Russell is a
neighborhood
A neighbourhood (Commonwealth English) or neighborhood (American English) is a geographically localized community within a larger town, city, suburb or rural area, sometimes consisting of a single street and the buildings lining it. Neigh ...
immediately west 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 ...
, U.S.. It is nicknamed "Louisville's Harlem".
It was named for renowned African American educator and
Bloomfield, Kentucky native,
Harvey Clarence Russell Sr.
Its boundaries are West Market Street, 9th Street, West Broadway and
I-264.
History
Development began in the 1870s as street car lines were extended to the area. The area was considered one of Louisville's most fashionable in its early years with many affluent white families building elegant mansion homes on Walnut, Chestnut Street, and Jefferson Streets, while working class blacks and whites lived in
shotgun houses on adjacent streets. By the 1890s many white families began leaving the area for what would become
Old Louisville and the east end, and both middle and working class blacks quickly moved into the area.
By the 1940s Russell had become "Louisville's Harlem" as African American theaters, restaurants, and night clubs lined area streets.
However, in the years following
World War II
World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
many of the middle class blacks left for newly integrated neighborhoods on the south and east ends.
Urban renewal
Urban renewal (sometimes called urban regeneration in the United Kingdom and urban redevelopment in the United States) is a program of land redevelopment often used to address real or perceived urban decay. Urban renewal involves the clearing ...
efforts in the 1960s had the area's business districts razed and many public housing units built. America's first
public library
A public library is a library, most often a lending library, that is accessible by the general public and is usually funded from public sources, such as taxes. It is operated by librarians and library paraprofessionals, who are also Civil servic ...
open to African-Americans is in Russell. The Western Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library, on 10th Street off Chestnut, opened in 1908.
Demographics
As of 2000, the population of Russell was 9,060.
See also
*
Darnell Ferguson
*
Harvey C. Russell Jr.
References
#
External links
Street map of Russell Images of Russell (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
— Article by Betty Winston Baye of ''The Courier-Journal
The ''Courier Journal'', also known as the ''Louisville Courier Journal'' (and informally ''The C-J'' or ''The Courier''), and called ''The Courier-Journal'' between November 8, 1868, and October 29, 2017, is a daily newspaper published in ...
''
{{coord, 38.2545, -85.7873, type:landmark_source:enwiki-googlemaplink, display=title
Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky
African-American history in Louisville, Kentucky
Populated places established in the 1870s
1870s establishments in Kentucky