129-637: The Kentucky Derby Festival is an annual festival held in Louisville, Kentucky , during the two weeks preceding the first Saturday in May, the day of the Kentucky Derby . The festival, Kentucky 's largest single annual event, first ran from 1935 to 1937, and restarted in 1956. The festival's main components are: Thunder Over Louisville , the largest annual fireworks display in North America;
258-429: A "no-knock" search warrant which led to the killing of Breonna Taylor , a 26-year-old African-American woman. For months afterward, Taylor's family, members of the local community, and people around the world protested to demand that officers involved in the shooting be fired and criminally charged. These protests and demonstrations coincided and intertwined with the international George Floyd protests , as well as
387-622: A pegasus . The pin is used as proof of purchase for admission to a number of the KDF events. A controversial aspect of the Derby Festival is "Derby Cruising." Though it is not an official or licensed event during Derby Festival, it takes place in the historically black areas of West Broadway on Derby day and the Friday before it. Cruising consists of motorcycles and cars (many elaborately modified) driving slowly down Broadway, pedestrians crowding
516-617: A 10-block portion of Broadway for a short time on Derby evening after gridlock developed. Louisville, Kentucky Louisville is the most populous city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky , sixth-most populous city in the Southeast , and the 27th-most-populous city in the United States . By land area, it is the country's 24th-largest city , although by population density, it is the 265th most dense city. Louisville
645-616: A 45-foot (14-meter) steamboat on the Delaware River on 22 August 1787, in the presence of members of the United States Constitutional Convention . Fitch later (1790) built a larger vessel that carried passengers and freight between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey on the Delaware. His steamboat was not a financial success and was shut down after a few months service, however this marks
774-472: A Confederate prison camp, blew up, causing more than 1,700 deaths. For most of the 19th century and part of the early 20th century, trade on the Mississippi River was dominated by paddle-wheel steamboats. Their use generated rapid development of economies of port cities; the exploitation of agricultural and commodity products, which could be more easily transported to markets; and prosperity along
903-478: A Seine steamboat service. In 1818, Ferdinando I , the first Italian steamboat, left the port of Naples , where it had been built. The first sea-going steamboat was Richard Wright's first steamboat "Experiment", an ex-French lugger ; she steamed from Leeds to Yarmouth , arriving Yarmouth 19 July 1813. "Tug", the first tugboat, was launched by the Woods Brothers, Port Glasgow, on 5 November 1817; in
1032-455: A block designated for whites. He was prosecuted and found guilty. The second case was planned to create a test case. William Warley , the president of the local chapter of the NAACP, tendered a purchase offer on a white block from Charles Buchanan, a white real estate agent. Warley also wrote a letter declaring his intention to build a house on that lot and reside there. With the understanding that
1161-451: A center of breeding high-quality livestock throughout the 19th century. Ten thousand spectators watched the first Derby, which Aristides won. On March 27, 1890, the city was devastated and its downtown nearly destroyed when what scientists now estimate was an F4 tornado tore through as part of the middle Mississippi Valley tornado outbreak . It is estimated that between 74 and 120 people were killed and 200 were injured. The damage cost
1290-519: A crank. He got support from Lord Dundas to build a second steamboat, which became famous as the Charlotte Dundas , named in honour of Lord Dundas's daughter. Symington designed a new hull around his powerful horizontal engine, with the crank driving a large paddle wheel in a central upstand in the hull, aimed at avoiding damage to the canal banks. The new boat was 56 ft (17.1 m) long, 18 ft (5.5 m) wide and 8 ft (2.4 m) depth, with
1419-515: A decline in local manufacturing. The West End and older areas of the South End, in particular, began to decline economically as many local factories closed. In 1974, a major (F4) tornado hit Louisville as part of the 1974 Super Outbreak of tornadoes that struck 13 states. It covered 21 miles (34 km) and destroyed several hundred homes in the Louisville area, causing two deaths. Since
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#17327767728071548-414: A giant warship version, 246 feet (75 m) long. Miller sent King Gustav III of Sweden an actual small-scale version, 100 feet (30 m) long, called Experiment . Miller then engaged engineer William Symington to build his patent steam engine that drove a stern-mounted paddle wheel in a boat in 1785. The boat was successfully tried out on Dalswinton Loch in 1788 and was followed by a larger steamboat
1677-541: A lot of stress on the rear of the ships and would not see widespread use till the conversion from wood boats to iron boats was complete—well underway by 1860. By the 1840s the ocean-going steam ship industry was well established as the Cunard Line and others demonstrated. The last sailing frigate of the US Navy, Santee , had been launched in 1855. In the mid-1840s the acquisition of Oregon and California opened up
1806-405: A more racially progressive city than other Southern cities, although only when black citizens accepted a lower status than white citizens. Many historians have referred to this "veil" of segregation as a "polite" racism . Historian George Wright stated that polite racism "often deluded both blacks and well-meaning whites into believing that real progress was being made in their city". For example, in
1935-651: A partial load of her about 60 saloon (about $ 300 fare) and 150 steerage (about $ 150 fare) passenger capacity. Only a few were going all the way to California. Her crew numbered about 36 men. She left New York well before confirmed word of the California Gold Rush had reached the East Coast. Once the California Gold Rush was confirmed by President James Polk in his State of the Union address on 5 December 1848 people started rushing to Panama City to catch
2064-660: A result of the training camp. In 1929, Louisville completed the lock and dam in the Falls of the Ohio and the city began referring to itself as "where Northern enterprise and Southern hospitality meet". Between the industrial boom of that year and through the Great Depression , Louisville gained 15,000 new residents, about 3% of them black, most fleeing poverty in rural areas. Throughout January 1937, 19.17 inches (48.7 cm) of rain fell in Louisville, and by January 27,
2193-419: A second boat made 30-mile (48 km) excursions, and in 1790, a third boat ran a series of trials on the Delaware River before patent disputes dissuaded Fitch from continuing. Meanwhile, Patrick Miller of Dalswinton , near Dumfries , Scotland , had developed double-hulled boats propelled by manually cranked paddle wheels placed between the hulls, even attempting to interest various European governments in
2322-687: A steamboat to ply a route between New York City and Albany, New York on the Hudson River . He successfully obtained a monopoly on Hudson River traffic after terminating a prior 1797 agreement with John Stevens , who owned extensive land on the Hudson River in New Jersey. The former agreement had partitioned northern Hudson River traffic to Livingston and southern to Stevens, agreeing to use ships designed by Stevens for both operations. With their new monopoly, Fulton and Livingston's boat, named
2451-709: A trip around Cape Horn . About 20–30% of the California Argonauts are thought to have returned to their homes, mostly on the East Coast of the United States via Panama—the fastest way home. Many returned to California after settling their business in the East with their wives, family and/or sweethearts. Most used the Panama or Nicaragua route till 1855 when the completion of the Panama Railroad made
2580-483: A visit to England, made his own engine, and put it in a boat. The boat sank, and while Henry made an improved model, he did not appear to have much success, though he may have inspired others. The first steam-powered ship, Pyroscaphe , was a paddle steamer powered by a double-acting steam engine ; it was built in France in 1783 by Marquis Claude de Jouffroy and his colleagues as an improvement of an earlier attempt,
2709-645: A wooden hull. The boat was built by John Allan and the engine by the Carron Company . The first sailing was on the canal in Glasgow on 4 January 1803, with Lord Dundas and a few of his relatives and friends on board. The crowd were pleased with what they saw, but Symington wanted to make improvements and another more ambitious trial was made on 28 March. On this occasion, the Charlotte Dundas towed two 70 ton barges 30 km (almost 20 miles) along
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#17327767728072838-501: A year with high temperatures at or above 90 °F (32 °C). The mean annual temperature is 58.2 °F (14.6 °C), with an average annual snowfall of 12.7 inches (32 cm) and an average annual rainfall of 44.9 inches (1,140 mm). The wettest seasons are spring and summer, although rainfall is fairly constant year round. During the winter, particularly in January and February, several days of snow can be expected. January
2967-588: Is among the oldest traditions of the Kentucky Derby Festival tradition, dating back to the 1950s by The Fillies, Inc. The Royal Court consists of a group of five young women chosen to preside over events related to the Kentucky Derby. These women officially represent both the Derby Festival and the city of Louisville. In January, a court of Derby Princesses is selected from a pool of more than 1000 applicants. Thirty finalists are selected and
3096-679: Is included in the Louisville–Elizabethtown–Madison, KY–IN Combined Statistical Area (CSA), which also includes the Elizabethtown, KY MSA, as well as the Madison, IN Micropolitan Statistical Area . The Louisville area is near several other urban areas, especially Frankfort, Kentucky (the state's capital); Cincinnati , Ohio (the two cities' metropolitan statistical areas almost border each other); Lexington, Kentucky ; Bowling Green, Kentucky ; Nashville, Tennessee ; and
3225-534: Is not uncommon, with occasional tornado outbreaks in the region. Winter typically brings a mix of rain, sleet, and snow, with occasional heavy snowfall and icing. Louisville averages 4.5 days with low temperatures dipping to 10 °F (−12 °C); the first and last freezes of the season on average fall on November 2 and April 5, respectively. Summer is typically hazy, hot, and humid with long periods of 90–100 °F (32–38 °C) temperatures and drought conditions at times. Louisville averages 38 days
3354-412: Is the coldest month, with a mean temperature of 34.9 °F (1.6 °C). July is the average hottest month with a mean of 79.3 °F (26.3 °C). The highest recorded temperature was 107 °F (42 °C), which last occurred on July 14, 1936, and the lowest recorded temperature was −22 °F (−30 °C) on January 19, 1994. In 2012, Louisville had the fourth-hottest summer on record, with
3483-464: Is the correct pronunciation for the name of the much smaller Louisville, Colorado ). There are also acceptable hybrid ways of saying the name, such as / ˈ l uː ə v ɪ l / LOO -ə-vil , a mixture of the first and second pronunciations. The dominant local pronunciation, the LOO -ə-vəl pronunciation is widely practiced and accepted. Some even refer to it as the "only" correct way to pronounce
3612-580: Is the historical county seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County , on the Indiana border. Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark , making it one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachians . With the nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico ,
3741-609: Is used to refer to small steam-powered vessels working on lakes, rivers, and in short-sea shipping . The development of the steamboat led to the larger steamship , which is a seaworthy and often ocean-going ship . Steamboats sometimes use the prefix designation SS , S.S. or S/S (for 'Screw Steamer') or PS (for 'Paddle Steamer'); however, these designations are most often used for steamships. The first steamboat designs used Newcomen steam engines . These engines were large, heavy, and produced little power, which resulted in an unfavorable power-to-weight ratio. The heavy weight of
3870-504: The Phoenix , which used a high-pressure engine in combination with a low-pressure condensing engine. The first steamboats powered only by high pressure were the Aetna and Pennsylvania , designed and built by Oliver Evans . In October 1811 a ship designed by John Stevens , Little Juliana , would operate as the first steam-powered ferry between Hoboken and New York City. Stevens' ship
3999-493: The 2000 census , Louisville had a population of 256,231, down from the 1990 census population of 269,063. Due to the city-county merger that occurred in 2003, which expanded the city limits, the city's population increased to 597,337 at the 2010 census count. Louisville is the largest city in Kentucky, with 17.1% of the state's total population as of 2010; the balance's percentage was 13.8%. The 2007 demographic breakdown for
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4128-544: The Black Lives Matter movement and a broader movement of racial unrest . As a result of the incident, the police chief was fired and four officers received federal charges, but no significant systemic changes were made. On April 10, 2023, a mass shooting occurred at the Old National Bank , killing five people, and injuring nine others. The suspect, who was a bank employee and who officials said
4257-599: The C-46 Commando cargo plane, among other aircraft. In 1946, the factory was sold to International Harvester , which began large-scale production of tractors and agricultural equipment. In 1950, the Census Bureau reported Louisville's population as 84.3% white and 15.6% black. Throughout the 1940s, there were more black police officers than any other Southern city, though they were allowed to patrol only black districts. This, in part, made Louisville seem like
4386-739: The Chagres River in Panama was won by the United States Mail Steamship Company whose first paddle wheel steamship, the SS Falcon (1848) was dispatched on 1 December 1848 to the Caribbean (Atlantic) terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail—the Chagres River . The SS California (1848) , the first Pacific Mail Steamship Company paddle wheel steamship, left New York City on 6 October 1848 with only
4515-497: The Clermont after Livingston's estate, could make a profit. The Clermont was nicknamed "Fulton's Folly" by doubters. On Monday, 17 August 1807, the memorable first voyage of the Clermont up the Hudson River was begun. She traveled the 150 miles (240 km) trip to Albany in a little over 32 hours and made the return trip in about eight hours. The use of steamboats on major US rivers soon followed Fulton's 1807 success. In 1811,
4644-412: The Delaware River between Philadelphia and Burlington, New Jersey, carrying as many as 30 passengers. This boat could typically make 7 to 8 miles per hour (11 to 13 km/h) and travelled more than 2,000 miles (3,200 km) during its short length of service. The Fitch steamboat was not a commercial success, as this travel route was adequately covered by relatively good wagon roads. The following year,
4773-422: The Falls of the Ohio . Louisville is an Upper South city located in a Southern state that is influenced by both Southern and Midwestern culture . It is sometimes referred to as either one of the northernmost Southern cities or as one of the southernmost Northern cities in the United States. Louisville is located in Kentucky's outer Bluegrass region . Its development has been influenced by its location on
4902-497: The Forth and Clyde Canal to Glasgow , and despite "a strong breeze right ahead" that stopped all other canal boats it took only nine and a quarter hours, giving an average speed of about 3 km/h (2 mph). The Charlotte Dundas was the first practical steamboat, in that it demonstrated the practicality of steam power for ships, and was the first to be followed by continuous development of steamboats. The American Robert Fulton
5031-593: The Great Steamboat Race , featuring the Belle of Louisville and the Pegasus Parade . The Kentucky Derby Festival Association started the first week-long festival in 1935, including a parade, a riverfront regatta and an orchestral concert. The first director was Olympic gold medalist Arnold Jackson . In 1937, a Derby Festival king and queen were crowned, marking the start of this tradition. After
5160-594: The Indianapolis, Indiana area (especially Columbus, Indiana , to the north of Southern Indiana). The downtown business district of Louisville is located immediately south of the Ohio River and southeast of the Falls of the Ohio. Major roads extend outwards from the downtown area in all directions. The airport is about 6.75 miles (10.86 km) south of the downtown area. The industrial sections of town are to
5289-424: The Isthmus of Panama or Nicaragua typically took about one week by native canoe and mule back. The 4,000 miles (6,400 km) trip to or from San Francisco to Panama City could be done by paddle wheel steamer in about three weeks. In addition to this, travel time via the Panama route typically had a two- to four-week waiting period to find a ship going from Panama City, Panama to San Francisco before 1850. It
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5418-735: The Panic of 1857 . Steamboat traffic including passenger and freight business grew exponentially in the decades before the Civil War. So too did the economic and human losses inflicted by snags, shoals, boiler explosions, and human error. During the US Civil War the Battle of Hampton Roads , often referred to as either the Battle of the Monitor and Merrimack or the Battle of Ironclads ,
5547-759: The River Clyde in Scotland. The Margery , launched in Dumbarton in 1814, in January 1815 became the first steamboat on the River Thames, much to the amazement of Londoners. She operated a London-to-Gravesend river service until 1816, when she was sold to the French and became the first steamboat to cross the English Channel. When she reached Paris, the new owners renamed her Elise and inaugurated
5676-666: The Southern National Bank building. The buildings of West Main Street in downtown Louisville have the largest collection of cast iron facades of anywhere outside of New York's SoHo neighborhood. Since the mid-20th century, Louisville has in some ways been divided into three sides of town: the West End, the South End, and the East End. In 2003, Bill Dakan, a University of Louisville geography professor, said that
5805-687: The Steamboat Iowa (1838) is incorporated in the Seal of Iowa because it represented speed, power, and progress. At the same time, the expanding steamboat traffic had severe adverse environmental effects, in the Middle Mississippi Valley especially, between St. Louis and the river's confluence with the Ohio . The steamboats consumed much wood for fuel, and the river floodplain and banks became deforested. This led to instability in
5934-596: The incorporated cities outside the " balance " which make up Louisville proper. The city's total consolidated population as of the 2020 census was 782,969. However, the balance total of 633,045 excludes other incorporated places within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings. The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Louisville-Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties , seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana . As of 2023,
6063-412: The steam engine power and provide power for occasions when the steam engine needed repair or maintenance. These steamships typically concentrated on high value cargo, mail and passengers and only had moderate cargo capabilities because of their required loads of coal. The typical paddle wheel steamship was powered by a coal burning engine that required firemen to shovel the coal to the burners. By 1849
6192-436: The 1776 Palmipède . At its first demonstration on 15 July 1783, Pyroscaphe travelled upstream on the river Saône for some fifteen minutes before the engine failed. Presumably this was easily repaired as the boat is said to have made several such journeys. Following this, De Jouffroy attempted to get the government interested in his work, but for political reasons was instructed that he would have to build another version on
6321-468: The 1890s, the steamship technology so improved that steamships became economically viable even on long-distance voyages such as linking Great Britain with its Pacific Asian colonies, such as Singapore and Hong Kong . This resulted in the downfall of sailing. The era of the steamboat in the United States began in Philadelphia in 1787 when John Fitch (1743–1798) made the first successful trial of
6450-707: The 1980s, many of the city's urban neighborhoods have been revitalized into areas popular with young professionals and college students. The greatest change has occurred along the Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue and Frankfort Avenue corridors as well as the Old Louisville neighborhood. In recent years, such change has also occurred in the East Market District (NuLu). Since the late 1990s, Downtown has experienced significant residential, tourist and retail growth, including
6579-531: The 19th century, the flooding of the Mississippi became a more severe problem than when the floodplain was filled with trees and brush. Most steamboats were destroyed by boiler explosions or fires—and many sank in the river, with some of those buried in silt as the river changed course. From 1811 to 1899, 156 steamboats were lost to snags or rocks between St. Louis and the Ohio River. Another 411 were damaged by fire, explosions or ice during that period. One of
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#17327767728076708-403: The 287,012 households, 29.6% had children under the age of 18 living with them, 45.2% were married couples living together, 14.7% had a female householder with no husband present, and 36.2% were not families. About 30.5% of all households were made up of individuals, and 10.3% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.37 and the average family size
6837-515: The Arkansas River on 16 July 1863 demonstrated this. The steamboat was destroyed, the cargo was lost, and the tiny Union escort was run off. The loss did not affect the Union war effort, however. The worst of all steamboat accidents occurred at the end of the Civil War in April 1865, when the steamboat Sultana , carrying an over-capacity load of returning Union soldiers recently freed from
6966-648: The East End has been seen as middle and upper class . According to the Greater Louisville Association of Realtors, the area with the lowest median home sales price is west of Interstate 65, in the West and South Ends. The middle range of home sales prices are between Interstates 64 and 65 in the South and East Ends, and the highest median home sales price are north of Interstate 64 in the East End. Immigrants from Southeast Asia tend to settle in
7095-401: The Louisville ordinance made it illegal for him to live there, Warley withheld payment, setting in motion a breach of contract suit by Buchanan. By 1917 the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear the case of Buchanan v. Warley . The court struck down the Louisville residential segregation ordinance, ruling that it violated the Fourteenth Amendment 's due process clause. In 1917, shortly after
7224-412: The MSA had a population of 1,365,557, the 43rd largest in the nation . The correct pronunciation of the name of Louisville is heatedly debated. The three most popular pronunciations are, in order: All three are generally considered acceptable; the Louisville Visitor Center says that only the rare / ˈ l uː ɪ s v ɪ l / LOO -iss-vil is completely unacceptable (though it
7353-449: The Mississippi , river pilot and author Mark Twain described much of the operation of such vessels. By 1849 the shipping industry was in transition from sail-powered boats to steam-powered boats and from wood construction to an ever-increasing metal construction. There were basically three different types of ships being used: standard sailing ships of several different types , clippers , and paddle steamers with paddles mounted on
7482-424: The Newcomen engine required a structurally strong boat, and the reciprocating motion of the engine beam required a complicated mechanism to produce propulsion. James Watt 's design improvements increased the efficiency of the steam engine, improving the power-to-weight ratio, and created an engine capable of rotary motion by using a double-acting cylinder which injected steam at each end of the piston stroke to move
7611-403: The Ohio River crested at a record 57.15 feet (17.42 m), almost 30 feet (9.1 m) above flood stage. These events triggered the "Great Flood of 1937" , which lasted into early February. The flood submerged 60–70 percent of the city, caused complete loss of power for four days, and forced the evacuation of 175,000 or 230,000 residents, depending on sources. Ninety people died as a result of
7740-428: The Ohio River, which spurred Louisville's growth from an isolated camp site into a major shipping port. Much of the city is located on a very wide and flat floodplain surrounded by hill country on all sides. Much of the area was swampland that had to be drained as the city grew. In the 1840s, most creeks were rerouted or placed in canals to prevent flooding and disease outbreaks. Areas generally east of I-65 are above
7869-460: The Panama Railroad was completed the Panama Route was by far the quickest and easiest way to get to or from California from the East Coast of the U.S. or Europe. Most California bound merchandise still used the slower but cheaper Cape Horn sailing ship route. The sinking of the paddle steamer SS Central America (the Ship of Gold ) in a hurricane on 12 September 1857 and the loss of about $ 2 million in California gold indirectly led to
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#17327767728077998-426: The Panama Route much easier, faster and more reliable. Between 1849 and 1869 when the first transcontinental railroad was completed across the United States about 800,000 travelers had used the Panama route. Most of the roughly $ 50,000,000 of gold found each year in California were shipped East via the Panama route on paddle steamers, mule trains and canoes and later the Panama Railroad across Panama. After 1855 when
8127-707: The SS California. The SS California picked up more passengers in Valparaiso , Chile and Panama City , Panama and showed up in San Francisco, loaded with about 400 passengers—twice the passengers it had been designed for—on 28 February 1849. She had left behind about another 400–600 potential passengers still looking for passage from Panama City. The SS California had made the trip from Panama and Mexico after steaming around Cape Horn from New York—see SS California (1848) . The trips by paddle wheel steamship to Panama and Nicaragua from New York, Philadelphia, Boston, via New Orleans and Havana were about 2,600 miles (4,200 km) long and took about two weeks. Trips across
8256-413: The Seine in Paris. De Jouffroy did not have the funds for this, and, following the events of the French revolution, work on the project was discontinued after he left the country. Similar boats were made in 1785 by John Fitch in Philadelphia and William Symington in Dumfries , Scotland. Fitch successfully trialled his boat in 1787, and in 1788, he began operating a regular commercial service along
8385-505: The South End, while immigrants from Eastern Europe settle in the East End. Louisville has a humid subtropical climate ( Köppen Cfa ), typical of the Upper South , and is located in USDA plant hardiness zones 6b and 7a. Springlike conditions typically begin in mid-to-late March, summer from mid-to-late-May to late September, with fall in the October–November period. Seasonal extremes in both temperature and precipitation are not uncommon during early spring and late fall; severe weather
8514-449: The Thursday before Derby. NBC Today Show weatherman Willard Scott was the host of WAVE TV's broadcast coverage of the Pegasus Parade from 1982 through 2005. Various sport competitions are held as part of the Festival, including the Derby Festival Volleyball Classic. From 1973 to 2017, the Festival hosted the Derby Festival Basketball Classic . Since 1974, a pro-am golf tournament has been held. A number of races take place in
8643-429: The United States' entry into World War I , Louisville was selected as the site of Camp Zachary Taylor. Camp Taylor was one of the country's largest World War I training camps. It was home of the 84th Infantry Division and trained over 150,000 men by the end of war, including F. Scott Fitzgerald . The camp was closed in 1921. Many of the buildings and infrastructure in the Camp Taylor neighborhood of Louisville are there as
8772-508: The West Coast to American steamboat traffic. Starting in 1848 Congress subsidized the Pacific Mail Steamship Company with $ 199,999 to set up regular packet ship , mail, passenger, and cargo routes in the Pacific Ocean. This regular scheduled route went from Panama City , Nicaragua and Mexico to and from San Francisco and Oregon . Panama City was the Pacific terminus of the Isthmus of Panama trail across Panama. The Atlantic Ocean mail contract from East Coast cities and New Orleans to and from
8901-421: The West End, west of 7th Street and north of Algonquin Parkway, is "a euphemism for the African American part of town" although he points out that this belief is not entirely true, and most African Americans no longer live in areas where more than 80% of residents are black. Nevertheless, he says the perception is still strong. The South End has long had a reputation as a white, working-class part of town, while
9030-429: The West was fought to control major rivers, especially the Mississippi and Tennessee Rivers using paddlewheelers. Only the Union had them (the Confederacy captured a few, but were unable to use them.) The Battle of Vicksburg involved monitors and ironclad riverboats. The USS Cairo is a survivor of the Vicksburg battle. Trade on the river was suspended for two years because of a Confederate's Mississippi blockade before
9159-493: The addition of major sports complexes KFC Yum! Center , Lynn Family Stadium and Louisville Slugger Field , conversion of waterfront industrial sites into Waterfront Park , openings of varied museums (see Museums, galleries and interpretive centers below), and the refurbishing of the former Galleria into the bustling entertainment complex Fourth Street Live! , which opened in 2004. On March 13, 2020, four plainclothed officers from Louisville Metro Police Department executed
9288-425: The annual bed races, businesses create themed mobile beds that are paraded before being race on an indoor track with costumed employees. The Great Steamboat Race usually takes place in the week before Derby, where the Belle of Louisville typically takes on at least one challenger. Since 1997, a spelling bee has been held for the festival. Since 1973, KDF has sold a plastic pin for the Kentucky Derby featuring
9417-412: The banks, addition of silt to the water, making the river both shallower and hence wider and causing unpredictable, lateral movement of the river channel across the wide, ten-mile floodplain, endangering navigation. Boats designated as snagpullers to keep the channels free had crews that sometimes cut remaining large trees 100–200 feet (30–61 m) or more back from the banks, exacerbating the problems. In
9546-495: The city Jim Crow practices were not maintained by law so much as by custom. Similar to many other older American cities, Louisville began to experience a movement of people and businesses to the suburbs in the 1960s and 1970s. Middle class residents used newly built freeways and interstate highways to commute to work, moving into more distant but newer housing. Because of tax laws, businesses found it cheaper to build new rather than renovate older buildings. Economic changes included
9675-490: The city $ 2.5 million (equivalent to $ 69 million in 2019). Established in 1896, Neighborhood House Louisville was the first settlement movement house in the state. Following the Civil War and the Emancipation Proclamation, freed slaves settled in a neighborhood of Louisville called Little Africa, nicknamed "the gateway to the South," near the present neighborhood of Park DuValle . The neighborhood
9804-747: The city's dockyards, and in 1805 Evans convinced them to contract with him for a steam-powered dredge, which he called the Oruktor Amphibolos . It was built but was only marginally successful. Evans's high-pressure steam engine had a much higher power-to-weight ratio , making it practical to apply it in locomotives and steamboats. Evans became so depressed with the poor protection that the US patent law gave inventors that he eventually took all his engineering drawings and invention ideas and destroyed them to prevent his children wasting their time in court fighting patent infringements. Robert Fulton constructed
9933-579: The city's main commercial airport, hosts UPS's worldwide hub. Since 2003, Louisville's borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County, after a city-county merger . The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson ;County Metro Government, abbreviated to Louisville Metro. Despite the merger and renaming, the term "Jefferson County" continues to be used in some contexts in reference to Louisville Metro, particularly including
10062-507: The design of boilers and engine components so that they could withstand internal pressure, although boiler explosions were common due to lack of instrumentation like pressure gauges. Attempts at making high-pressure engines had to wait until the expiration of the Boulton and Watt patent in 1800. Shortly thereafter high-pressure engines by Richard Trevithick and Oliver Evans were introduced. The compound steam engine became widespread in
10191-477: The entire Louisville Metro area was 74.8% White (71.7% non-Hispanic), 22.2% African American, 0.6% Native American, 2.0% Asian, 0.1% Hawaiian or Pacific islander, 1.4% other, and 1.6% multiracial. About 2.9% of the total population was identified as Hispanic of any race. During the same year, the area of premerger Louisville consisted 60.1% White, 35.2% African American, 1.9% Asian, 0.2% Native American, and 3.0% other, with 2.4% identified as Hispanic of any race. Of
10320-430: The falls. By 1828, the population had grown to 7,000 and Louisville became an incorporated city. Early Louisville was a major shipping port and enslaved African Americans worked in a variety of associated trades. The city was often a point of escape for fugitive slaves to the north, as Indiana was a free state. During this point in the 1850s, the city was growing and vibrant, but that also came with negativity. It
10449-708: The festival. The Kentucky Derby Festival miniMarathon and Marathon occur the Saturday before the Kentucky Derby. The mini has been held since 1974. That same Saturday is typically also when the Great Balloon Race is held, the culmination of the hot air balloon-themed BalloonFest. Recognition is given to Louisville's restaurant employees with the Run for the Rosé , where waiters and waitresses run an obstacle course while carrying trays of glasses filled with wine. For
10578-698: The first in a continuous (still in commercial passenger operation as of 2007 ) line of river steamboats left the dock at Pittsburgh to steam down the Ohio River to the Mississippi and on to New Orleans. In 1817 a consortium in Sackets Harbor, New York , funded the construction of the first US steamboat, Ontario , to run on Lake Ontario and the Great Lakes, beginning the growth of lake commercial and passenger traffic . In his book Life on
10707-463: The first one was "correct". LUUV -əl is a less common, particularly rural way of saying the name. While it is considered acceptable, it is not as widely heard as the others. The history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's geography and proximity to the Falls of the Ohio River . Since the Falls created a barrier to river travel, settlements grew at this portage point. The first European settlement in
10836-456: The first use of marine steam propulsion in scheduled regular passenger transport service. Oliver Evans (1755–1819) was a Philadelphian inventor born in Newport, Delaware , to a family of Welsh settlers. He designed an improved high-pressure steam engine in 1801 but did not build it (patented 1804). The Philadelphia Board of Health was concerned with the problem of dredging and cleaning
10965-506: The flood plain, and are composed of gently rolling hills. The southernmost parts of Jefferson County are in the scenic and largely undeveloped Knobs region , which is home to Jefferson Memorial Forest . The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA), the 43rd largest in the United States, includes the Kentucky county of Jefferson ( coterminous with Louisville Metro), plus twelve outlying counties—seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana . Louisville's MSA
11094-575: The flood. It led to dramatic changes in where residents lived. Today, the city is protected by numerous flood walls . After the flood, the areas of high elevation in the eastern part of the city had decades of residential growth. Louisville was a center for factory war production during World War II. In May 1942, the U.S. government assigned the Curtiss-Wright Aircraft Company, a war plant located at Louisville's air field, for wartime aircraft production. The factory produced
11223-430: The floods of 1937, the festival was discontinued and it was not until 1956 when the modern-day Kentucky Derby Festival was reborn. In 2020, the festival was cancelled due to COVID-19, the first such cancellation since 1938. In 1962 Tom "Cactus" Brooks received the first Kentucky Derby Festival Silver Horseshoe Award, "given to a person who had made a difference in the community and in youth development". The Royal Court
11352-700: The gold fields. Steam-powered tugboats and towboats started working in the San Francisco Bay soon after this to expedite shipping in and out of the bay. As the passenger, mail and high value freight business to and from California boomed more and more paddle steamers were brought into service—eleven by the Pacific Mail Steamship Company alone. The trip to and from California via Panama and paddle wheeled steamers could be done, if there were no waits for shipping, in about 40 days—over 100 days less than by wagon or 160 days less than
11481-465: The largest fireworks displays in North America. During the festival, much of Waterfront Park is billed as "Fest-A-Ville". It hosts a number of events, including the Chow Wagon, rides, and concerts. Each year, an official Derby Festival poster is unveiled and prints are sold to help finance festival events. The first event held by KDF was the 1956 Pegasus Parade. The parade is held annually on
11610-418: The late 19th century. Compounding uses exhaust steam from a high pressure cylinder to a lower pressure cylinder and greatly improves efficiency. With compound engines it was possible for trans ocean steamers to carry less coal than freight. Compound steam engine powered ships enabled a great increase in international trade. The most efficient steam engine used for marine propulsion is the steam turbine . It
11739-474: The legitimacy of Broadway cruising as a free alternative to other festivities. In 2007, police announced similar plans, although slightly more of Broadway was to remain open, including access to Shawnee Park . The 2007 plan sparked a lawsuit by business owners and a civil rights foundation, claiming the shutdown of Broadway during Derby week violated their constitutional rights and cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars in business. A federal judge allowed
11868-535: The loads and strains imposed by the paddle wheels when they encountered rough water. The first paddle-steamer to make a long ocean voyage was the 320-ton 98-foot-long (30 m) SS Savannah , built in 1819 expressly for packet ship mail and passenger service to and from Liverpool , England. On 22 May 1819, the watch on the Savannah sighted Ireland after 23 days at sea. The Allaire Iron Works of New York supplied Savannah's 's engine cylinder , while
11997-406: The local indigenous population, but they moved out by the late 1780s. In 1803, explorers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark organized their expedition across America in the town of Clarksville, Indiana at the present-day Falls of the Ohio opposite Louisville, Kentucky. The city's early growth was influenced by the fact that river boats had to be unloaded and moved downriver before reaching
12126-547: The major rivers. Their success led to penetration deep into the continent, where Anson Northup in 1859 became first steamer to cross the Canada–US border on the Red River . They would also be involved in major political events, as when Louis Riel seized International at Fort Garry , or Gabriel Dumont was engaged by Northcote at Batoche . Steamboats were held in such high esteem that they could become state symbols;
12255-399: The most fair way to select from their court and the tradition continues today. Each member of the court is awarded a $ 2000 scholarship, an entire wardrobe for the festival, VIP access to all events and a chauffeur for the entire two weeks of the official Kentucky Derby Festival. The festival's first major event is Thunder Over Louisville . Thunder kicks off with a day-long air show and one of
12384-528: The name of the city. LOO -ee-vil , while respecting the proper pronunciation of the name of the French king who gave Louisville its name, is significantly less common among locals. It is, however, frequently used by those not from the area. In 2001, local journalist and historian George H. Yater noted that older natives tended toward the second pronunciation, and that both the first and second pronunciations were used equally in local radio and television broadcasting; however, new personalities were taught that
12513-452: The next year. Miller then abandoned the project. The failed project of Patrick Miller caught the attention of Lord Dundas , Governor of the Forth and Clyde Canal Company, and at a meeting with the canal company's directors on 5 June 1800, they approved his proposals for the use of "a model of a boat by Captain Schank to be worked by a steam engine by Mr Symington" on the canal. The boat
12642-462: The piston back and forth. The rotary steam engine simplified the mechanism required to turn a paddle wheel to propel a boat. Despite the improved efficiency and rotary motion, the power-to-weight ratio of Boulton and Watt steam engine was still low. The high-pressure steam engine was the development that made the steamboat practical. It had a high power-to-weight ratio and was fuel efficient. High pressure engines were made possible by improvements in
12771-415: The plans to proceed, citing concerns about "public safety and the free flow of traffic". In 2008, police again banned cruising, but with a new plan allowing traffic to flow but to have a high number of officers on hand to enforce the city's noise and cruising ordinances, the latter of which prevents vehicles from blocking a roadway. Police reported that arrests were down from 2007, although they did shut down
12900-553: The pool is then reduced to five young women who make up the court. Criteria for the selection of the court members includes knowledge of the Derby Festival, poise, intelligence, personality, academic excellence and campus/community involvement. The court attends nearly 70 events during the two-week period leading up to the Kentucky Derby. The queen is selected by a spin of the wheel at the Annual Fillies Derby Ball. The festival saw this method of queen selections as
13029-540: The rest of the engine components and running gear were manufactured by the Speedwell Ironworks of New Jersey . The 90-horsepower (67 kW) low-pressure engine was of the inclined direct-acting type, with a single 40-inch-diameter (100 cm) cylinder and a 5-foot (1.5 m) stroke. Savannah 's engine and machinery were unusually large for their time. The ship's wrought-iron paddlewheels were 16 feet in diameter with eight buckets per wheel. For fuel,
13158-578: The same quantity of fuel and longer distances could be traveled. A steamship built in 1855 required about 40% of its available cargo space to store enough coal to cross the Atlantic, but by the 1860s, transatlantic steamship services became cost-effective and steamships began to dominate these routes. By the 1870s, particularly in conjunction with the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869, South Asia became economically accessible for steamships from Europe. By
13287-467: The screw propeller had been invented and was slowly being introduced as iron increasingly was used in ship construction and the stress introduced by propellers could be compensated for. As the 1800s progressed the timber and lumber needed to make wooden ships got ever more expensive, and the iron plate needed for iron ship construction got much cheaper as the massive iron works at Merthyr Tydfil , Wales, for example, got ever more efficient. The propeller put
13416-532: The settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad , which grew into a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) system across 13 states. Today, the city is known as the home of boxer Muhammad Ali , the Kentucky Derby , Kentucky Fried Chicken , the University of Louisville and its Cardinals , Louisville Slugger baseball bats, and Fortune 500 company Humana . Louisville Muhammad Ali International Airport ,
13545-451: The side or rear. River steamboats typically used rear-mounted paddles and had flat bottoms and shallow hulls designed to carry large loads on generally smooth and occasionally shallow rivers. Ocean-going paddle steamers typically used side-wheeled paddles and used narrower, deeper hulls designed to travel in the often stormy weather encountered at sea. The ship hull design was often based on the clipper ship design with extra bracing to support
13674-402: The sidewalks, and several blocks closed for a festival with rides and street vendors. The gridlock associated with cruising made it difficult for police to respond to instances of violence during 2005 Derby cruising. In 2006, police made an effort to stop cruising, shutting down Broadway except to emergency vehicles , which resulted in suggestions of racial profiling and much public debate about
13803-484: The south and west of the airport, while most of the residential areas of the city are to the southwest, south, and east of downtown. In 2010, the 22,000-seat KFC Yum! Center was completed. Twelve of the 15 buildings in Kentucky over 300 feet (91 m) are located in downtown Louisville. Another primary business and industrial district is located in the suburban area east of the city on Hurstbourne Parkway. Louisville's late 19th- and early 20th-century development
13932-803: The summer of 1818 she was the first steamboat to travel round the North of Scotland to the East Coast. By 1826, steamboats were employed on a large number of inland and coastal shipping lines in the United Kingdom. Some of the latter crossed the Irish Sea , others crossed the English Channel to Calais or Boulogne-sur-Mer , or crossed the North Sea to Rotterdam. At the time, the General Steam Navigation Company
14061-546: The temperature rising up to 106 °F (41 °C) in July and the June all-time monthly record high temperature being broken on two consecutive days. As the city exemplifies the urban heat island effect, temperatures in commercial areas and in the industrialized areas along interstates are often higher than in the suburbs, often as much as 5 °F (2.8 °C). Between 1970 and 2000, Louisville lost population each decade. As of
14190-551: The union victory at Vicksburg reopened the river on 4 July 1863. The triumph of Eads ironclads, and Farragut's seizure of New Orleans, secured the river for the Union North. Although Union forces gained control of Mississippi River tributaries, travel there was still subject to interdiction by the Confederates. The Ambush of the steamboat J. R. Williams , which was carrying supplies from Fort Smith to Fort Gibson along
14319-414: The vessel carried 75 short tons (68 t) of coal and 25 cords (91 m ) of wood. The SS Savannah was too small to carry much fuel, and the engine was intended only for use in calm weather and to get in and out of harbors. Under favorable winds the sails alone were able to provide a speed of at least four knots. The Savannah was judged not a commercial success, and its engine was removed and it
14448-638: The vicinity of modern-day Louisville was on Corn Island in 1778 by Col. George Rogers Clark, credited as the founder of Louisville. Several landmarks in the community are named after him. Two years later, in 1780, the Virginia General Assembly approved the town charter of Louisville. The city was named in honor of King Louis XVI of France, whose soldiers were then aiding Americans in the Revolutionary War . Early residents lived in forts to protect themselves from raids from
14577-554: The war was over. The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875, at the Louisville Jockey Club track (later renamed Churchill Downs ). The Derby was originally shepherded by Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. , the grandson of William Clark of the Lewis and Clark Expedition, and grandnephew of the city's founder George Rogers Clark. Horse racing had a strong tradition in Kentucky, whose Inner Bluegrass Region had been
14706-471: Was 2.97. The age distribution is 24.3% under the age of 18, 8.9% from 18 to 24, 30.4% from 25 to 44, 22.8% from 45 to 64, and 13.5% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 37 years. For every 100 females, there were 91.60 males. For every 100 females age 18 and over, there were 87.60 males. Steamboat A steamboat is a boat that is propelled primarily by steam power , typically driving propellers or paddlewheels . The term steamboat
14835-481: Was a major stronghold of Union forces , which kept Kentucky firmly in the Union. By the end of the war, the city of Louisville itself had not been attacked, although skirmishes and battles, including the battles of Perryville and Corydon , took place nearby. After the war, returning Confederate veterans largely took political control of the city, leading to the jibe that Louisville joined the Confederacy after
14964-526: Was built by Alexander Hart at Grangemouth to Symington's design with a vertical cylinder engine and crosshead transmitting power to a crank driving the paddlewheels. Trials on the River Carron in June 1801 were successful and included towing sloops from the river Forth up the Carron and thence along the Forth and Clyde Canal . In 1801, Symington patented a horizontal steam engine directly linked to
15093-465: Was built in 1807, North River Steamboat (later known as Clermont ), which carried passengers between New York City and Albany, New York . Clermont was able to make the 150-mile (240 km) trip in 32 hours. The steamboat was powered by a Boulton and Watt engine and was capable of long-distance travel. It was the first commercially successful steamboat, transporting passengers along the Hudson River . In 1807 Robert L. Stevens began operation of
15222-550: Was converted back to a regular sailing ship. By 1848 steamboats built by both United States and British shipbuilders were already in use for mail and passenger service across the Atlantic Ocean—a 3,000 miles (4,800 km) journey. Since paddle steamers typically required from 5 to 16 short tons (4.5 to 14.5 t) of coal per day to keep their engines running, they were more expensive to run. Initially, nearly all seagoing steamboats were equipped with mast and sails to supplement
15351-461: Was described as a "thriving community" by the 1920s, and declined between the 1940s and 1950s. In 1914, the city of Louisville passed a racially based residential zoning code, following Baltimore, Atlanta, and a handful of cities in the Carolinas. The NAACP challenged the ordinance in two cases. Two weeks after the ordinance enacted, an African-American named Arthur Harris moved into a house on
15480-464: Was developed near the end of the 19th century and was used throughout the 20th century. An apocryphal story from 1851 attributes the earliest steamboat to Denis Papin for a boat he built in 1705. Papin was an early innovator in steam power and the inventor of the steam digester , the first pressure cooker , which played an important role in James Watt 's steam experiments. However, Papin's boat
15609-484: Was engineered as a twin-screw-driven steamboat in juxtaposition to Clermont ' s Boulton and Watt engine. The design was a modification of Stevens' prior paddle steamer Phoenix , the first steamship to successfully navigate the open ocean in its route from Hoboken to Philadelphia. In 1812, Henry Bell's PS Comet was inaugurated. The steamboat was the first commercial passenger service in Europe and sailed along
15738-837: Was fought over two days with steam-powered ironclad warships , 8–9 March 1862. The battle occurred in Hampton Roads , a roadstead in Virginia where the Elizabeth and Nansemond Rivers meet the James River just before it enters Chesapeake Bay adjacent to the city of Norfolk . The battle was a part of the effort of the Confederate States of America to break the Union Naval blockade, which had cut off Virginia from all international trade. The Civil War in
15867-445: Was livestreaming the rampage, was killed by the police after exchanging fire with them. Louisville and Jefferson County have a combined area of 397.68 square miles (1,030.0 km ), of which 380.46 square miles (985.4 km ) is land and 17.23 square miles (44.6 km ) (4.33%) is covered by water. Louisville is southeasterly situated along the border between Kentucky and Indiana , the Ohio River , in north-central Kentucky at
15996-631: Was not before 1850 that enough paddle wheel steamers were available in the Atlantic and Pacific routes to establish regularly scheduled journeys. Other steamships soon followed, and by late 1849, paddle wheel steamships like the SS McKim (1848) were carrying miners and their supplies the 125 miles (201 km) trip from San Francisco up the extensive Sacramento–San Joaquin River Delta to Stockton, California , Marysville, California , Sacramento , etc. to get about 125 miles (201 km) closer to
16125-556: Was not steam-powered but powered by hand-cranked paddles. A steamboat was described and patented by English physician John Allen in 1729. In 1736, Jonathan Hulls was granted a patent in England for a Newcomen engine-powered steamboat (using a pulley instead of a beam, and a pawl and ratchet to obtain rotary motion), but it was the improvement in steam engines by James Watt that made the concept feasible. William Henry of Lancaster, Pennsylvania , having learned of Watt's engine on
16254-488: Was one of the biggest companies that operated steamboats in short-sea shipping . The Talbot operated by GSNC on the London - Calais line had a tonnage of 156 and 60 hp. Steamships required carrying fuel (coal) at the expense of the regular payload. For this reason for some time sailships remained more economically viable for long voyages. However, as the steam engine technology improved, more power could be generated by
16383-578: Was present at the trials of the Charlotte Dundas and was intrigued by the potential of the steamboat. While working in France, he corresponded with and was helped by the Scottish engineer Henry Bell , who may have given him the first model of his working steamboat. Fulton designed his own steamboat, which sailed along the River Seine in 1803. Fulton later obtained a Boulton and Watt steam engine, shipped to America, where his first proper steamship
16512-493: Was spurred by three large suburban parks built at the edges of the city in 1890. The city's architecture contains a blend of old and new. The Old Louisville neighborhood is the largest historic preservation district solely featuring Victorian homes and buildings in the United States; it is also the third-largest district containing such architectural distinctions in the United States. Many modern skyscrapers are located downtown, as well as older preserved structures, such as
16641-483: Was the center of planning, supplies, recruiting, and transportation for numerous campaigns, especially in the Western Theater . Ethnic tensions rose, and on August 6, 1855, known as " Bloody Monday ", Protestant mobs attacked German and Irish Catholic neighborhoods on election day, resulting in 22 deaths and widespread property damage. Then by 1861, the civil war had broken out. During the Civil War , Louisville
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