Jeffery

I can see the sleepyness, but maybe this was on a Sunday. "Southern Urbanism" ...and I like that boulevard leading up to the capital building. A lot of potential here. Actually a bit "Sacramento" ish.

This post investigates the platting of downtown Louisville as a key to the morphology of downtown, investigating how downtown expanded and how the nature of the platting drove an elongated form to the downtown. The platting history starts with Colonial Viriginia and the French and Indian War, and the royal governor, Lord Dunmore. Dunmore gave grants beyond the Appalachians to his associates and veterans of the French and Indian wars. Since Kentucky at this time was part of Fincastle County the surveys were recorded at the county seat of Fincastle, hence their being called the Fincastle Surveys. There were two surveys, one of 1773, and a second official one of 1774. The head of this survey team, John Floyd, acquired the blue-shaded tract for himself. The survey camp was at the site of the downtown Louisville wharf, at the mouth of Beargrass Creek. The Louisville townsite was in the red shaded survey, which went to Pittsburgh trader and Dunmore favorite John Connolly. The adjacent orange tract, to DeWarrensdorf, was also acquired by Connolly. In order to purchase this tract Connolly had to mortgage his first tract to another Pittsburgh trader, John Campbell. The first mention of a projected town at the Louisville site was via an ad placed by Connolly in the Williamsburg (VA) Gazette in 1774, offering town lots. It’s not known if a town was actually surveyed, though. The Fincastle surveys were run using the Ohio River shore as the baseline, and became the basis for later surveys, property subdivisions and, eventually, much of the street and road system of modern Louisville, as can be seen by this 1855 map with selected Fincastle surveys tinted. The advent of the Revolution led to the true founding of Louisville, but not by the original land owners. John Connollay was a loyalist and was imprisoned, eventually fleeing to Canada, and John Campbell was captured during an Indian ambush. So the land title was uncertain. In 1778 George Rogers Clark led his expedition to conquer the Illinois country from the British. Clark founded a fort on Corn Island, just offshore from Louisville, as a base camp. Later this fort was relocated to the Kentucky shore. Clark also drew an unofficial plat of a new town at the site, which had public lands along the river, a gridiron of streets, a square, and a row of common lots at the south end of town. John Reps, in The Making of Urban America, speculates that Clark had intended that this strip of common lots would be repeated as the town grew. Which would have been an almost “Savannah” type of situation, a repeating system of open spaces. The first official plat was from 1779, and was only one block wide. The plat recognized the nature of the river bottoms here, as the town lots were set out on the flat second bottoms, just before the land dropped into the flood-prone first bottoms along the river. Shortly after this plat a larger fort was built in the center of the town site to protect against the Indians and British up at Fort Detroit. This fort was eventually relocated to the Indiana shore, and closed after Fallen Timbers ended the Indian threat. Louisville was named in 1779 at the suggestion of George Rogers Clark, who had just learned of the French alliance with the Americans, The town recieved its charter from the Virginia legislature in 1780. An additional plat was made in 1783, adding streets to the south (Market, Main, and Green), also adopting Clark’s proposed common lots as a sort of linear village green (which lent its name to Green Street). A graveyard was set aside on one of the common lots. This is modern day Baxter Square park. John Campbell also reappeared after being freed by the British. He claimed the town by virtue of his financial interest in the Connolly tract. This claim was settled and a new property line was draw west of the town perpendicular to the Ohio River, separating Campbells land from the town. …so the town had a rather odd trapezoidal shape. The southern limit was eventually to become Broadway, but the east and west diagonals are not reflected in the modern street system. It should be noted that the first three east-west streets back from the river, Main, Market, and Jefferson, had a 120’ width, while the numbered north-south streets were only 90 ‘ wide. This would have later consequences for the appearance of the city. Since the town was bounded, the town lands south of the first streets were further partitioned into ranges of out-lots, of various sizes (10, 20, and 40 aces), becoming progressively larger as one went south. The out-lot ranges were separated by lanes, which later became Walnut and Chestnut Streets. The row of common lots between Jefferson and Green Streets were eventually platted and sold, as were the bottom lots along the river. This sell-off was complete by 1800. A later strip of common land south of the Green and west and east of the original town plat was also sold off. Later writers (some not so late, as the first remarks on the subject came from the 1820s) lamented the short-sightedness of selling off the commons. If this strip of lots had survived Louisville would have had something akin to the park blocks in Portland, Oregon. Population growth really started to take off with the development of the New Orleans trade starting in the 1790s but becoming more important in the 1800s. Growth accelerated with the advent of upstream-downstream steamboat traffic after 1815 By 1831 the town had expanded into the out-lots as far south as Prather Street (Broadway) and east beyond the original town bounds into the old Floyd tract, via Prestons Addition of 1826, including the platting of the point between Beargrass Creek and the river and the establishment of a private landing. The bottom lots between Main Street and the river were being subdivided into secondary streets during the 1820s. Also, alleys are starting to be inserted in the original plat. The original town plat is shaded in yellow: A new hospital was established in 1825 on one of the out-lots, and an additional graveyard, todays Western Cemetery, also appeared. One of the consequences of the longer distances between streets in the outlots was the platting taking a somewhat north-south orientation as rectangular blocks vs the east-west orientation in the original town plat and in Prestons Addition. The steamboat trade led to a population take-off for three larger Ohio River cities, though Louisville shared in this growth it didn’t accelerate the way Cincinnati did. Louisville and Pittsburgh were both older places, but apparently Cincinnati had a superior location, and boomed during the first 25 years of the steamboat era. By 1856 the city had expanded well beyond the 1832 plats (drawn in black over the 1856 map). What’s interesting is that the old property lines didn’t drive street arrangements in this close-in part of the city. There appears to be some agreement to use a mostly consistent north-south street grid, overriding diagonal property lines and the staggered out-lot boundaries. The yellow area is the original town plat. This apparently informal agreement among subdividers was codified in the 1870 city charter, which established an official map to be followed in subsequent plats, with deviations permitted only by city ordnance. Development sorted out via an informal zoning, with the original town plat becoming the “old downtown”, with Main, Market, and Jefferson having somewhat specialized functions. South of Green (later renamed Liberty street) was a district of townhouses and villas, the “Italianate city”. A mansion row developed along Broadway. Eventually downtown expanded south of Green (Liberty), along 3rd, 4th, and 5th Streets, with 4th becoming the main spine of the southern expansion and the main shopping street. Since the blocks south of Green (Liberty) Street were long and rectangular, the intensification at the intersections caused downtown to elongate south along 4th until it reached Broadway. This black plan based on c. 1900 build-out is a snapshot of this process. Older features are labled, like the original graveyard, the old hospital of the 1820s (by now rebuilt and expanded), plus a large post office and customs house on 4th Street, which was developing as the spine of the southern expansion of dowtown. The dashed line is a rough estimate of the boundary between the solidly built-up commercial areas and the less dense villa/townhouse district, showing how downtown had also expanded east-west, but was starting to dip south. A close-up black plan of the core area of downtown, with the streets labled… …and a snapshot of one of the east-west streets, looking east down Chestnut toward Fourth, with the tower of the post office visible between the telephone poles …one can catch the character of the “Italianate city” from the houses here. Another snapshot of downtown encroachment, the Atherton Building had just been built at the SW corner of Walnut and 4th (kitty-corner from the post office) and one can see the earlier houses on 4th next door to the left (south) This building is also a good example of a type, not quite a true high-rise, but tall enough and massive enough to create a street canyon if there are equally massive buildings across the street. By the early 1960s 4th and flanking streets had developed as the north-south spine of downtown, and the surrounding areas were starting erode away due to parking lot construction Around this time (early 1960s) the planners envisioned this linear downtown extending out of the “old downtown” closer to the river; taken together they form the “core”. The surrounding areas, the “frame” was scheduled for treatment via urban renwal Before the 1960s skyscrapers were not clustered like in Pittsburgh or Cincinnati, but really just scattered around downtown, with some clusters at intersections. The older ones were closer to the river, in the “old downtown”, but then popping up at or near intersections of 3rd, 4th, and 5th with cross streets. Some aeriels of downtown as it entered the 1960s. 1959, looking north. Certain streets are labled. Early 1960s. Nice shot of the L&N coach yards, freight houses, and train shed at Union Station in the foreground. The L&N Building is pretty impressive all by its lonesome on Broadway, Sears parking is next door. A view south, showing downtown emerging from the urban carpet of 19th century Louisville. The riverfront Central Station platforms and tracks are visible along the river. Neighborhoods like Haymarket, Phoenix Hill, Smoketown, Shelby Park (at the upper edge of the image) are still mostly intact here, but you can see the North-South Expressway creeping in from the south. Things were about to drastically change. A Quick Tour In the old downtown, about a block south from the wharf, is Main Street. Looking west, this is the block between 5th and 4th, north side, with the high rise in the background marking the intersection with 4th This was the Columbia Building, opened in 1890, Louisville’s first true skyscraper (at 10 stories). (I might have a better pix of this) All this is gone. It was removed in the late 1960s as part of the Riverfront urban renewal scheme. The same block today Exactly one block south, Market Street looking east, just as wide as Main. High rises in the background mark the intersection with 4th. In the distance, the pointy tower is Levys, which is still standing as a Spaghetti Factory. The two corner skyscrapers. These were the Lincoln Savings building (demolished 1973)…. …and the Todd Building, with that neat curved corner. I actually remember this one standing, before it (and most of the block) was torn down for a parking garage. The same block today …the exceptionally wide streets remind me of Dayton a bit. This width continues out into the neighborhoods west and east of downtown. On 4th Street, which is considerably narrower than the wide east-west streets we’ve just seen. Looking north at the intersection of Walnut (AKA Muhammed Ali Blvd). The tall white building is the Starks Building (with a Chicag-style light well inside). The darker one to the right is Stewarts department store, to the left the Seelbach Hotel. A good example of how there are localized “street canyons” where buildings bulk-up near intersections. Further south on 4th, a long block south at the intersection of Chestnut, but still looking north. This is another view of the Atherton Building we saw earlier. By now the next door houses have been replaced by the Keith movie theatre. Next, a view south on one of the north-south streets flanking 4th. This is 3rd Street at Main, in the heart of the “old downtown” The view today (blocked by the Convention Center, which bridges the street. Another flanking street. This is the SE corner of 5th and Walnut (Muhammed Ali). You are looking somewhat south down 5th, but the back of the 10 story Seelbach Hotel (on 4th) is visible in the bacground The same intersection today, with the corner structures replaced by the 1920s-era Kentucky Hotel (now apartments). Rear of Seelbach is still visible in the background. Another view looking more south down 5th. Looking directly east on Walnut/Muhammed Ali at intersection with 5th. Here one can see the street canyon effect as the relatively narrow (compared to Main, Market, and Jefferson) Muhammed Ali crosses the core of downtown, the two blocks either side of 4th, between 5th and 3rd. In this case two 10 or more story high-rises act as “gateway buildings” Entering the core area from the east. This is Walnut/Muhammed Ali looking west, approaching the intersection with 3rd. Taller buildings in the background are Stewarts (left) and the Starks Building (right) One block south things become less intense. Approaching the core of downtown from the west, heading east down Chestnut approaching the intersection with 5th. The tall building is the 10 storey Francis Building, Chestnut approaching the downtown core from the east, heading west approaching the intersection with 3rd. The tall building at the intersection is the Henry Clay hotel/YWCA, converted into apartments. Finally, a quick look at two of the streets flanking the 4th Street spine, showing how empty things get just a short distance off of 4h. First, 3rd Street looking south, approaching the intersection with Walnut The Henry Clay visible in the background to the left. 5h Street looking south approaching the intersection with Walnut The Francis Building is visible to the left. Barely visible next door is the drastically modernized Atherton Building (name changed, too). What’s not show yet is the “Magic Corner”, the intersection of 4th & Broadway and vicinity (though we are close). That will receive it’s own post.

They have a lot of open land on their Vandalia site, so it might fit up there (not sure what kind of footprint this means). If not and they want to be close, they can located at other Vandalia locations (lots of available land up there).

The article says its a joint venture or partnership with UD, so it could go on the old NCR site, which is right next to their new campus (old NCR HQ bldg).

arenn usually discusses Indianapolis as he is based there. And Indy is perhaps one of the better performers in both population growth and economic growth in the entire Midwest, outside of Chicago.

yes, in Louisville's case that would be the modern extension of a trend that started during and just after WWII, rural in-migration from Kentucky counties to the south and west. For Lexington I am thinking the Toyota plant and suppliers might have something to do with it, as well as a long term trend in "branch plant" industrial siting in the towns around Lexington, where, by now there might be agglomeration effects due to backward and forward lnkages (suppliers of suppliers) happening, drawing in people. I'm wondering if the Bluegrass region is a little version of what's been going on in the Carolinas. Because that growth rate is pretty impressive, almost what you'd expect in the Sunbelt.

By the economic numbers, Gross Metropolitan Product, Pittsburgh is doing good. Yet not good enough to stem population out-migration and a negative birthrate (if thats the right term). Grand Rapids is..well..I guess the polite way to say it is the locals apparently believe that biblical dictum to be fruitful and multiply. ...and I'm scratching my head as to why Lexington and especially Louisville is getting this (relatively) big in-migration. I see this at city-data (I am pretty active at city-data) as there are always inquiries about moving to Louisville.

Here’s the big seven metro areas of Ohio in context…the 2000-2009 census projections for population, natural increase, and migration. The context are the cities surrounding Dayton/Cincinnati, which are Indianapolis and Fort Wayne the two largest metros in Indiana (not counting the Calumet Region), Louisville & Lexington, the two largest in Kentucky, Hutington-Ashland, Grand Rapids as a comparable for Dayton and Pittsburgh as a comparable for Cleveland (rust belt) and Cincinnati (Ohio River city). The rankings for growth or decline, based on percentage, 2000 -2009: 1. Lexington: 15.3% 2. Indianapolis: 14.3% 3. Columbus: 11.7% 4. Louisville: 8.3% 5. Cincinnati: 8.1% 6. Fort Wayne: 6.2% 7. Grand Rapids: 5.1% 8. Toledo: 2.0% 9. Akron: .7% …now we start with the declines 10. Huntington/Ashland: -1% 11. . Dayton: -1.5% 12. Cleveland: -2.6% 13. Pittsburgh: -3.1% 14. Youngstown: -6.6% So two Ohio cities in the top five and one with growth over 10%. Where did the growth come from? Only two metros had negative natural increase, where deaths exceeded births, and these were Pittsburgh and Youngstown. To measure the signifigance of natural increase, here is a percentage. The natural increase number expressed the % of the 2009 estimated metro population, for metros that had a net natural increase: 1. Grand Rapids: 7.23% 2. Indianapolis: 6.75% 3. Columbus: 6.67% 4. Fort Wayne: 6.55% 5. Lexington: 5.51% 6. Cincinnati: 5.04% 7. Louisville: 3.87 8. Toledo: 3.56% 9. Dayton: 3.12% 10. Akron: 2.46% 11. Cleveland: 2.34% 12. Huntington/Ashland: .042% These are somewhat interesting, showing places with declining populations also had a low rate of natural increase. For migration the numbers are dramatically different. Every metro area saw a net international in-migration. Yet only five had a total net in-migration. And only four and a net domestic in-migration. For the cities that had net in-migration, here is the migration as a percentage of the 2000-20009 estimated increase, metros ranked: 1. Louisville: 53.46% of the 2000-2009 increase came from in-migration 2. Lexington: 47.86% 3. Indianapolis: 46.27% 4. Columbus: 39.73% 5. Cincinnati: 3.39% ….and after that there was no metros that had a net total in-migration. Louisville really did rely pretty heavy on in-migration given the relatively low rate of natural increase as this metro area’s growth was due more to in-migrants than net increase, the only metro were this was the case) Cincinnati had negative domestic in-migration. For the cities that saw a net increase in both domestic and international in-migration, here is the split, ranked by the most domestic in-migration 1. Indianapolis: 71.71% domestic/28.29% international 2. Louisville: 66.86% domestic/31.23% international 3. Lexington: 57.34%/42.66% 4. Columbus: 45.54%/54.46% What’s interesting is that Columbus and Lexington saw the highest % of international in-migration, and in fact international in-migration was more than domestic for Columbus. An indication of having large “flagship” state universities attracting foreign students who stay? Or perhaps specialized factors, like the Somalis coming to Cols and the rise in Latino labor in the Bluegrass region? International in-migration is interesting as an indication of globalization, but is still pretty minimal. Expressed as percentage of the 2009 metro population estimates, not one of these 2000-2009 international migration increases exceeded the single digits. Here are the rankings over 1%: 1. Lexington: 2.71% 2. Columbus: 2.27% 3. Grand Rapids: 2.12% 4. Fort Wayne: 1.82% 5. Indianapolis: 1.64% 6. Cleveland: 1.38% 7. Louisville: 1.35% 8. Cincinnati: 1.06% It really does look like Lexington and Columbus are fairly attractive to international in-migrants, but it is unexpected to see Grand Rapids and Fort Wayne here. And Cleveland apparently is still attractive to foreigners even as it saw a net overall decrease in metro population from 2000-2009. I guess when the census comes out we will see the 100% count (more or less) vs the estimate for these numbers.

The issue of getting to he base from the station is the same, actually a bit worse, as getting to the museum from the station, in that some form of shuttle bus is going to have to be run from the base to the station...probably multiple runs since the base is geographically dispersed. There is one cantonment area close to the station, which is visible from the museum. But there are an additional two catonement areas further east, 3 and 5 miles from the Riverside station...this would be a six mile round trip bus run. So to commute in there is the drive to the Sharonville, or Coumbus station, a train ride, then an additional shuttle bus ride...a three-step commute. I'm not sure how reaslitic this is, but might be if we are entering the peak oil era, or an era of rationing and exceptionaly high gas prices.

I don't necessarily see Air Force Museum day-trips using 3-C, although that could work. I see overnight trips to the Museum with the vistors staying in that proposed hotel complex. This would still require a shuttle bus from the hotel/station area to the Museum proper. The base draws from the immediate area..mainly Greene and Montgomery County.... so would not be a user of 3-C as a commuter run.

The alignment between Dayton and somewhere beyond Fairborn lends itself to a sealed corridor. There are already grade seperations at some key points. I figure perhaps three additional grade seperations (Findlay Street + two in Fairborn) would be needed to completely segregate the alignement from auto traffic. There is also spare room for additional ROW if they decide to create a seperate track for true TGV style high speed rail.

You can scratch reason 1. Reason 2, however, is a valid justification. The Musuem, combined with Riversides' plan, would make this a viable destination for leisure travel using 3-C.

I notice they have a few pre WWII baby skyscrapers, so I guess this was a somewhat bigger town even before the defense boom in the area. I read somewhere this was one of the faster growing parts of Alabama. This looks pretty good:

I should note the canal here was not the kind we had in Ohio and Indiana, with horse or mule drawn canal boats. Though there was a connection between the builders involved in this canal and the ones in Ohio. Some of the same people worked on both. The Mexican stand-off situation between steamboats on the canal led to some colorfull incidents, too. Eventually a telegraph was set up between the Louisville wharf, the locks, and Portland, so canal transit could be coordinated. This telegraph line was eventualy extended downriver to Evansville. The big new public use is the the Falls of the Ohio State Park, which has a visitors center, and premits you to walk out on that limestone reef. Getting to the islands is probably not possible except by boat. There is also a local park on the site of the old "Clarkville" plat with a boat launch and the reconstructed log cabin of GR Clark. The last two pix were taken from that location. A part of Shippingport Island is accesssible via a bridge over the locks, for a boat launch and a fishing area, where you can fish in the river off of woodland trail. The rest of that island is used by the Corps of Engineers for stuff, like dumping dredge waste , storage, etc. Most of the Indiana side at the Falls somewhat underdeveloped, actually fairly wooded, with some low-density residential things. But it hasnt been used much other than that. I recall my old boss used to say that they should turn Shippingport Island into a Sin City, with legalized gambling and prositution, connected with the downtown riverfront via a Roosvelt Island style cable car. Sort of tongue in cheek but I think people do see this as an underutilized resource.

Louisville is the “Falls City”. This nickname was adopted as the brand for a long-lived local brewery, which lasted into the 1970s. Falls City beer signs are still found around the city: But what about these falls? They are the Falls of the Ohio, a 26 foot drop in the river over a short distance. The Falls of the Ohio was, along with the Grand Chain (of rocks) above Cairo and a rapids near Gallipolis, the only navigational obstruction of the Ohio River, and the most significant. The Falls are caused by the Ohio cutting over a rise in the limestone bedrock. The highest contour in this rise (at the river) is shaded in red in this map: The limestone bedrock reef formed a natural dam, and the river became shallow as it passed over the rock, and quickened before going over “the falls”. The total fall is 26 feet in 2.5 miles, with the greatest vertical drop being 9 feet But the falls was really more of a whitewater or rapids, a shallows in low water, in extreme low water largely a rock shelf… …which became inundated and lost its whitewater character in high water. This 1805 map of the Falls gives us a picture of what the Falls looked like in its natural state. From upstream to downstream was a set of islands, starting with Corn Island (originally named Dunmore’s Island), then Goose Island, Rock Island, and, finally, below the Falls, Sand Island. The river passage over the Falls was divided into three chutes. The northern chute was Indian Chute, sometimes called Indiana Chute. Then there was the Middle Chute, followed the Kentucky Chute. The chutes and islands are noted in this map: Indian Chute was the first to become passable as the water rose, followed by the Middle Chute, then the Kentucky Chute (which had the maximum 8’ vertical fall). At maximum high water all three chutes were overflowed. The features of Indian Chute were named; Backbone Reef, Wave Rock (since it formed a sort of bow wave in the current), Big Eddy (a whirlpool..there was also a Little Eddy), etc. The limestone reef was exposed on the Kentucky side at low water, but continued under the water to the Indiana side. As late as 1930 the river bottom starting midway across was the bare rock of the reef. This reef also formed a “harbor” at the mouth of Beargrass Creek. The Falls was one of the best documented reaches of the Ohio, starting with a British military expedition just after the French and Indian War (there may have been French delineations, too). Later maps were made to support canal projects around the Falls. The above 1805 map was for a canal proposal. One of the best was this 1824 map, showing the falls at the “low water of 1819”, which was an exceptionally low water. This map is the base for the following diagrams. European Settlement at the Falls The Falls were known to French and English traders and explorers, but no attempts were made to fortify or settle the location until the Revolution. In 1778 George Rogers Clark established the Fort on Corn Island as a base for his expedition to conquer the Illinois Country and Vincennes from the British. This fort was vacated and Fort-on-Shore established, later replaced by Fort Nelson, in the center of the Louisville townsite. Fort Nelson itself was vacated and a fort established on the Indiana shore, which lasted until the 1793. The first town plat was for :”The Town of Louisville at the Falls of the Ohio” in 1779, followed by “Clarkville” in 1783, on the Indiana shore, the first townsite downstream from the Falls. A failed Kentucky townsite was Campbelltown, which was later re-founded as Shippingport. The first town of the 19th century was Jeffersonville (1802), originally with a checkerboard plan suggested by Thomas Jefferson, an associate of the founders. This novel plat was later modified to a conventional block plan The last Kentucky Falls town was Portland, founded by Cincinnati entrepreneur Robert Lytle in 1814 at what was becoming a somewhat better location than Shippingport. The final “Falls City" on the Indiana side was New Albany (off the map to the left) on the Indiana shore, founded in 1813. The Indiana side is often neglected in this tale. The land here was a large military land grant to Clark and those who served under him in the Illinois campaign. Clark received the choice land at the Falls (platted in town- and out-lots), and Jeffersonville was platted on the adjacent Tract #1. This grant, Clarks Grant, was one of only two parts of Indiana not laid out in the rectangular coordinate system. The other was the land around the old French settlement of Vincennes. Shippingport & the Tarascon Brothers Shippingport became the largest town below the falls. It was founded by Louis and Jean (John) Tarascon and their business associate John Berthoud. All were refugees from the French Revolution (the Tarascons where merchants from Marseilles and Berthoud a minor nobleman). They first set-up in Philadelphia, but then became interested in trade beyond the Alleghenies, setting up a trading an boatbuilding operation at Redstone (a traditional jumping-off point for river trade), The difficulties of navigating the Falls convinced the Tarascons to relocate. Their business associate Berthoud purchased the Campbelltown site, and replatted it as Shippingport. Shippingport was located in bottomland and was flood-prone, but long remained the largest settlement below the falls (larger than Portland as late as 1830). This enlargement of the 1805 map shows the town and surroundings, including the proposed route of a canal in a ravine or slough Shippingport itself had a large mill, a wharf along a natural harbor (20 feet deep), a shipyard for the Tarascons’ boatbuilding business, and a rope-walk, needed for the rigging. Rigging was essential since these boats were to be ocean-going sailing ships once they reached the Gulf at New Orleans. The Tarascons continued to develop their town, as noted by this ad or broadside of 1819 By this time Shippingport was feeling the competition from Portland. Changes in the river were causing the Shippingport harbor to silt up, which was supposedly exacerbated by canal approach walls and the mill races. But perhaps also by increasing loads of sediment as the Ohio River watershed went under the plow, increasing erosion. Portland’s deeper anchorage was also better for the new steamboat trade. By the 1880s Shippingport had shrunk. A black plan of the surviving houses shows how settlement clustered around the canal locks and the old turnpike to Louisville. By this time the residents all worked at the mill, which had been converted into a cement factory. This structure was remarkable. Completed in 1819 it incorporated automated milling machinery based on the designs of Philadelphia “mechanic” Oliver Evans. The Tarascon Mill and a mill across the river in Indiana were the only attempts to harness the Falls for industrial water power. There was no intensive development as at the St Anthony Falls at Minneapolis. The mill as a cement factory. It burned in the 1890s. Shippingport was intimately connected to Louisville due to the portage business around the Falls. The connection was somewhat evident in this old song, which I first heard on an album by Cincinnati musicians Malcolm Dagleish and Gary Larson (“First of Autumn”, June Appal Records) I woke up one morning in 1845 I thought myself quite lucky to find myself alive Hitched up my haul team, my business to pursue And went to hauling coal as I used for to do. Now the ale-house being open and the whisky running free As soon as I had one glass, another stood by me I only hauled but one load instead of hauling four And got so drunk in Shippingport that I couldn’t haul no more. I took my saddle on my back and I staggered from the barn I saddled up my old grey mare thinking it no harm I climbed upon her back and I rode away so still I scarcely stopped for breath ‘till I came to Louisville. My father fast pursued me, he rode both night and day He must have had a pilot or else he’d a-lost his way He looked in every hole and corner where ‘ere he saw the light ‘Till his old grey head was wet from the dews of the night. I have a bold companion whose name I will not tell Invited me to go downtown with him to cut a swell After much persuasion, with him I did agree And we went down to the tailor shop a fiddler for to see. Up stepped two young ladies all ready for to dance Up stepped two young gentleman all in advance The fiddler being willing and his arm a-being strong We danced the night at Louisville at least six hours long. …though another version puts the events further east on the Ohio, in Shippensport PA, and Laurel Hill, not Louis Ville. But it works either way. And also shows Louisville, even back then, was a bon temps roulez kind of place. The Falls of the Ohio and Trade on Western Waters The tale here is one of commerce, the interplay of trade, commerce and the Falls. The first trade to Louisville was opened by two French merchants from Vincennes. And this French connection would continue as the downstream ocean port of New Orleans was French (or, officially, Spanish). The first attempt to send goods downstream was in 1782 by two French traders, from Redstone to New Orleans. These apparently were lost en-route. The second attempt was in 1787, by Kentucky notable James Wilkinson (secretly an agent of Spain). After this shipping increased so that by 1797 Louisville was declared a port-of-entry and a customs house established to collect duty on goods coming up-river. Trade was by flatboat, AKA the broadhorn. They were built along the Monongahela, in Pittsburgh and Redstone. “Kentucky boats” went no further than the Falls. Others attempted to shoot the Falls in high water. In low water a portage was required. In the 1790s, as trade quickened, the keelboat came into use as the upstream trading vessel. Keels were a French Louisiana innovation, developed out of the bateaux, and were sailed or poled upriver. To get beyond the Falls they had to be warped over the Kentucky Chute by ropes attached to trees or ringbolts driven into the rock. Times to do this varied; in one case it took half a day to warp a keel over the Falls (using an 18-man crew). By 1804 there were four keels in regular service between Louisville and New Orleans. By 1811 there were 300 keels on the Ohio. This water trade led to a genre of folk music. Probably the most famous is the haunting Shenandoah (a “sea chanty”, but originating on the western waters, perhaps from French sources). Another well-known tune about keel- and flat- boating mentions Louisville and New Orleans, though its named after an early Illinois town (and containing an oblique mention of a nearby saline): Some rows up, but we floats down Way down the Ohio to Shawnee Town Chorus: And it's hard on the beach oar, she moves too slow Way down to Shawneetown on the Ohio Now the current's got her, And we'll take up the slack Float her down to Shawneetown and we'll bushwhack her back Whiskey's in the jug, boys; wheat is in the sack We'll trade them down in Shawneetown and bring the rock salt back I got a wife in Louisville, and one in New Orleans And when I get to Shawnee Town gonna see my Indian Queen The water's might warm boys, the air is cold and dank And the cursed fog it gets so thick you cannot see the bank Some rows up, but we floats down Way down the Ohio to Shawnee Town Falls Pilots & Shooting the Chutes As trade increased wrecks became more frequent at the Falls, with drownings and loss of goods. Explorers of the rock shelfs during low water would sometimes discover skeletal remains of the victims. In 1797 Kentucky established the post of Falls Pilot, who was to navigate boats around the Falls. Falls Pilots had to post bond, could charge fees, and were licensed by the county court. In 1803 Indiana Territory also started to license pilots. As an example of volume during the 6 months of high water in 1811, Kentucky pilots guided 743 boats across the Falls, Indiana pilots 106 boats. The trade was seasonal, resulting in gluts of flatboats (and presumably keels) during limited periods of high water. The Pilots were indispensable to commerce on western waters. During the War of 1812 Falls Pilots were exempt from military service. Boats not engaging a Pilot would not be insured. Falls Pilots sometimes brought their own small crews on board to help row & steer the 13 MPH current. They communicated to their crew via hand signals and shouts. They embarked in Jeffersonville or Louisville and disembarked at Clarksville or Shippingport (later Portland), returning by land to Jeff or Louisville. An example of a Louisville piloting, showing how boats had to be rowed upriver to be in position to run, in this example, the Indian Chute So at maximum high water, when the Kentucky and Middle Chutes were open, Louisville was in a better position, due to less upstream rowing. Running the Indian Chute was easier from Jeffersonville, where a boat just had to cast off the shore and be quickly in position to shoot the chute. Jeff could see river trade for longer periods as the Indian Chute was the last to close as waters receded. With the advent of steamboat traffic Jeffersonville pilots specialized in the remaining flatboat traffic (which eventually included coal boats of various types) and the Louisville pilots specialized in steamboat traffic. Steamboats and the Falls The first steamboat service on western waters was between New Orleans and Natchez under a monopoly held by the Fulton & Livingston interests. The first steamboat upriver to Louisville was the Enterprise, in 1815, part of a successful attempt to break the monopoly. The courts ruled against the monopoly, resulting in a boom in boatbuilding. This era marked the true start of steamboat navigation of the Ohio. The first boat built in Louisville was the Governor Shelby, of 1816, the 15th steamboat on western waters. All of the Falls towns engaged in boatbuilding, but New Albany and Jeffersonville eventually specialized in the business. Steamboat navigation was limited by the same high & low water seasons and inability to pass the Falls, resulting in an upstream (to Cincinnati and Pittsburgh) and downstream (to New Orleans) trade. Only in 1818 did a steamboat pass upstream to Cincinnati from New Orleans. Before 1830 3/4 of all steamboats arriving in Pittsburgh originated in Louisville. It has been said that the trade between New Orleans and the upper Ohio was more in goods than in ships. And this trade had to be shipped around the Falls. The preferred portage was on the Kentucky side as the route was more direct and less rugged (the Indiana side had multiple stream crossings with their associated up- and down-grades). The following diagram illustrates the portage trade, which was conducted by drays (for cargo) and hacks (for passengers) to & from the Louisville and Portland and Shippingport wharfs, eventually more the Portland wharf. Presumably there were also forwarding agents at the wharfs, making arrangements for loading & passage on upstream and downstream boats. The Indiana towns were left out of this trade. In 1851 a plank road was built between New Albany and Jeffersonville to try to capture some of the transshipment. Louisville and Portland countered with a plank road paralleling the original road to Portland and Shippingport (which was also turned into a plank road). Eventually a horse railroad was built (1854) from the Portland wharf, as part of a larger scheme to connect to Lexington. Instead this railroad ended just short of the Louisville wharf area. The result was multiple routes around the Falls, providing the framework for the modern street system in this part of Louisville …and a closer look at the Falls, at the start of the steamboat era. It is said “the map is not the territory”, but this one takes great pains to be almost an aeriel view, showing the whitewater over the limestone reef, different kinds of rock and riverbed surface conditions, etc. The canal had locks on the Shippingport end, an elevated stone bridge for the Shippingport turnpike (avoiding the need for a drawbridge) and was cut across the low water limestone shelf to the harbor a the Louisville wharf. Some details of the canal, including the stone arch bridge ..note that the canal had levees protecting it from high water. Close-up of the locks, which also had a dry-dock to permit the canal company to get into the ship-repair business. The locks were the largest in the US when built The canal was initially funded by Philadelphia investors, but was gifted to the Federal Government in an interesting arrangement. The canal corporation used toll revenue to self-liquidate. After turning ownership to the Feds the shareholders each retained one share and acted as an operating board, using the tolls to subsidize canal improvements. So the canal operated as non-profit government owned, privately operated corporation One of the players and facilitators involved in the canal was James Guthrie, a local attorney and businessman, and promoter, protégé of Kentucky notable John Rowan, Guthrie was the president of the canal corporation. Guthrie was also Secretary of the Treasury at the time the canal was coming into Federal ownership and acted as a protector and political godfather, ensuring tolls stayed were reduced and improvements were made. Eventually the canal was turned over to the Army Engineers, today’s Corps of Engineers. The canal was periodically being widened but the locks could not handle the increasing size of steamboats, driving a revival of the portage business. So new locks were planned, creating an angled channel to the Portland wharf, The locks were completed and opened in 1872. An example of widening during the Guthrie era. Note the turnout for boat passing. Amazingly enough there was no traffic-control on the canal. Boats entering from Louisville didn’t know if another boat was already in the canal heading upstream. If there was a meet, one boat had to back-out. The modern canal and turning basin at the Shippingport town site: John Rowan Buys the Falls: Cement Mining John Rowan already received a mention in an early post as tradition held that he owned the Old House on Fifth Street. Lawyer, judge, congressman, senator, and plantation owner, Rowan was also a land speculator. Rowan speculated in land between Portland and Louisville. platting one of the first western additions to the city. Political connections paid off. Rowan also purchased the bed of the Ohio River at a very reasonable price under an obscure Kentucky law permitting the governor to sell waste or vacant land. After purchase Rowan commenced quarrying on the limestone bed of the Kentucky Chute in the vicinity of Corn Island, much to the chagrin of the Falls Pilots, who were concerned about changes in the river current. This quarrying business eventually turned into a cement business when it was discovered that the limestone was excellent for hydraulic cement. By the 1880s the operation had assumed industrial scale, with a narrow gauge railroad running out onto the limestone reef to connect the quarries to the old Tarascon Mill, which had been converted to cement making. Note the first bridge across the Ohio here, the 14th Street Bridge, and the long “US Dam”, a crib dam built to protect the canal. The dam left an opening for downstream traffic to shoot the Indiana Chute. A close-up of the quarrying operations, and the barrel factory associated with the cement works Quarrying, combined with floods, eventually removed Corn Island from the landscape. The cement company came under control of J.B. Speed, a member of the Speed family, local plantation owners. The widow and heiress donated the Speed art museum to the city in his memory. The Falls in the later 19th Century The river was coming under increasing control via postbellum projects of the Army Engineers, as illustrated by this map showing a dam system cross the river, with a mix of permanent and moveable structures. The map also shows the 14th Street Bridge (the first bridge across at Louisville), another project of James Guthrie, and the two commercial waterpower operations with their millraces protruding into the river (which were navigation hazards). Presumably the Falls was not developed for waterpower was because the chutes remained in use for navigation. The Falls Pilots had periodic efforts to widen the Indian Chute, at first via chiseling away the rocks, then receiving assistance from the Army Engineers, which continued into the steamboat era. The reason why was the downstream coal boat trade, unpowered flats loaded with coal, floated and rowed down the river in pairs. This trade started in earnest in the 1850s and continued into the later 19th century. In the high water season coal boats were a major business for the Falls Pilots, one of whom guided 12 pairs across the Falls in one day, by having a servant and hack wait for the pilot in New Albany and then race back to Jeffersonville to engage a another pair. Eventually towboats came into use in conjunction with the coal trade, and these needed guiding as well. The treacherous waters of the chutes led to continued wrecks and capsizing, resulting in an inland branch of the US Lifesaving Service being established, using men of the Louisville wharf as the first staff. This was later turned into a Coast Guard station, which still stands as the wharf boat for the Belle of Louisville steamer: From the National Park Service historic site nomination: On November 7, 1881, the station performed its first rescue. The two lifeboats of the station removed the passengers and crew of the new steamboat Baton Rouge, stranded while trying to descend the falls. The next day, only the fourth that the station had been in operation, the crew continued to assist Baton Rouge and rescued three more people. The log of Keeper William McDevan describes the second rescue performed by the station. “ At about 4 PM went to the relief of a boat containing a man and two ladies of a rather cozy virtue, who had drifted into the strong current and were being carried over the Falls. Took the boat in tow and brought them out of their paid labors into still water.” The station performed invaluable services to the communities lining the Ohio River near the station well into the next century. The boats of the station assisted stranded vessels; rescued recreational boaters in danger from the Falls; grappled for the bodies of drowned swimmers; fought fires ashore and afloat; and saved several towboats, with barges in tow, from imminent destruction. In the 1890s a major project was completed to finally open the Indian Chute. The major obstruction of Wave Rock was dynamited away and dikes constructed to channel the high water through the chute. This was the death knell of the institution of Falls Pilot, as the channel was safe enough at high water without special assistance in piloting. A map showing the 1890s improvements of the Falls And a close-up of the dam arrangement at the wharf. These were moveable “Boule Dams”, developed in France. They were manually operated and dangerous to work, resulting in occasional loss in life. The bridge here had a drawbridge, a swing span to permit unhindered steamboat passage of the Portland canal (stacks didn’t have to be dropped) Eventually, during one of the rebuilds of the 14th Street Bridge, the draw was replaced by the modern lift bridge, which is still with us. The Falls of the Ohio Today By the early years of the 20th Century the Falls had undergone its final changes, with the dams controlling water flow, leaving most of the bed dry in low water (apparently this map followed the tradition of depicting the Falls in low water). This situation was to drastically change. A project of the 1920s finally harnessed the waterpower at the Falls, for a hydroelectric plant. A concrete dam with moveable upper and lower floodgates was built across the Falls, concentrating the current and creating sufficient head to power turbines and generators, generally following the Middle and Kentucky Chutes. Indiana Chute was left mostly bare, to be overflowed in high water. This aerial sketch shows how the river was changed. It also shows a sketch of operating a Boule Dam, which were removed when this project was built Navigation was now limited to the Portland Canal. A close up showing enlarged locks at the Portland Canal, the old 18th Street Bridge to Shippingport. This was the site of that big stone arch bridge, which was replaced with a drawbridge during subsequent canal widening. It was probably removed sometime after WWII. The two long spans on the 14th Street Bridge are noted, one to permit steamship passage through the Indiana and the other for the Kentucky & Middle Chutes. Shippingport survived until the 1937 flood. After that it was finally evacuated and the structures removed. The land between the Portland Canal and the Kentucky Chute is still called Shippingport Island. The modern Falls of the Ohio at maybe medium water, probably in the mid 1980s. The Wave Rock dike is clearly visible, and Goose Island survives as a wooded area. The 14th Street Bridge at the Indian Chute, showing two different high water levels. One can sort of see the whitewater effect in one pix. The Indian Chute looking downstream, woods of Goose Island across the channel Below the Falls. Sand Island is the woods across the river to the left, and in the far distance is the K & I Bridge. Envoi: La Belle Riviere

Anyway, whats going on is the Gateway Quarter is liminal space. It's between places. So the juxtaposition is a bit jarring. As the place becomes more gentrified the urban underclass who used to live there will thin out. In fact on some blocks, particularly those vacant blocks along Race, it's pretty quiet. This was the genius of the 3CDC strategy, that the place had to be redone by entire blocks, not piecemeal. One would expect, as this happens, the place will seem less "ghetto" and start to attract fewer "pioneers" and more generic yuppies. It will be interesting to watch this happen.

^ Yeah, I still do but i dont bother posting about it on this board. And, so what? I don't see what I wrote back then contradicting: You agree this is acceptable public behavior? Yes or no.

This is a bullshit comment. So, you are somehow rationalizing this: music was bumping from cars going down the street, people were walking in the middle of the street in front of traffic ...this is uncivil behavior in my book, pure and simple. This what turns people off.

^ You will always have this until more of the place is rehabbed an gentrified, and that big Kroger there is going to draw people. I'm not sure if there is a "tipping point" number, but reduce the number of locals and you will have less of a 'street' presence. From what i can tell the first two blocks of Vine n. of Liberty is OK now. Having done some walks now north of Liberty that area is probably more ghetto, as is Pendeleton, the area around the Pendelteon arts center and that big chruch.

To compare, $5M is $1.7M in 1979 dollars. In 1979 the city contributed $1.6M ($800K loan and $800K general fund grant) to the first renovation project, and County Corp contributed $1M. That was the extent of local funds. A private limited partnership contributed $2.9M and two local banks contributed $2.0M The total project was $17.7M in 1979 dollars. In 2009/2010 dollars it would have been $51.6M (for a job that didn't renovate the entire building)

The article says one of the out-of-town investors wants that $5M local committment on condition of his particpation. This is a reasonable expectation. The article says the estimate is $38M. This is a little over 13% of the estimate.

...maybe its something people like Raj Soi and Clay Mathile could help fund. The local power structure contributes thousands to GOP candidates, maybe they can do something constructive with that money.

ROFTL!

There is something classy about this way of travel, checking in to your sleeping car and then going out on the town.

It would have happened anyway since Riverside wanted to re-develop the site. It is directly across from the gate to the Air Force Museum, so a primo locatin of leisure travel/tourism. It just so happened that railroad ran right by it. So a fortituous circumstance. This has a lot of potential for overnight tourist train riders on a quick vacation...families, retired military, aviation buffs, if a shuttlle bus could be arranged to go the museum and back.