Located just east of downtown Louisville, Butchertown is a fascinating mix of architectural styles, businesses, and history. The neighborhood is named for the early Louisville butchers who found the area's strategic location on Beargrass Creek and its proximity to the Frankfort and Shelbyville turnpikes ideal for their operations. The link to butchers was further solidified when the Bourbon House, later called the Bourbon Stock Yard, was established in 1834, anchoring Butchertown as Louisville's meatpacking neighborhood. Many points of interest can be found amid the predominantly brick historic homes, including the Last Chance Saloon, the Oertel Brewery, and the Thomas Edison House Museum. Discover Vernon Lanes, one of the four oldest bowling alleys in the country, which has been in operation since 1886 on Story Avenue. Some photographs illustrate the immense damage done by floodwaters in 1937 and 1945. Also pictured are a floodwall built as a result of the 1937 flood and interstate construction during the 1960s, both of which greatly altered the character of the neighborhood.

Why do America’s cities look the way they do? If we want to know the answer, we should start by looking at our relationship with animals. Americans once lived alongside animals. They raised them, worked them, ate them, and lived off their products. This was true not just in rural areas but also in cities, which were crowded with livestock and beasts of burden. But as urban areas grew in the nineteenth century, these relationships changed. Slaughterhouses, dairies, and hog ranches receded into suburbs and hinterlands. Milk and meat increasingly came from stores, while the family cow and pig gave way to the household pet. This great shift, Andrew Robichaud reveals, transformed people’s relationships with animals and nature and radically altered ideas about what it means to be human. As Animal City illustrates, these transformations in human and animal lives were not inevitable results of population growth but rather followed decades of social and political struggles. City officials sought to control urban animal populations and developed sweeping regulatory powers that ushered in new forms of urban life. Societies for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals worked to enhance certain animals’ moral standing in law and culture, in turn inspiring new child welfare laws and spurring other wide-ranging reforms. The animal city is still with us today. The urban landscapes we inhabit are products of the transformations of the nineteenth century. From urban development to environmental inequality, our cities still bear the scars of the domestication of urban America.

Discover the German influence on the Derby City in this collection of historical essays. The first German immigrants arrived in Louisville nearly two hundred years ago. By 1850, they represented nearly twenty percent of the population, and they influenced every aspect of daily life, from politics to fine art. In 1861, Moses Levy opened the famed Levy Brothers department store. Kunz’s “The Dutchman” Restaurant was established as a wholesale liquor establishment in 1892 and then became a delicatessen and, finally, a restaurant in 1941. Carl Christian Brenner, an emigrant from Lauterecken, Bavaria, gained notoriety as the most important Kentucky landscape artist of the nineteenth century. C. Robert and Victoria A. Ullrich edit a collection of historical essays about German immigrants and their fascinating past in the Derby City.

"Louisville is one of the overlooked gems of American architecture, a city of southern charm and grace with a catalog of buildings by such masters as D. H. Burnham, Carrere and Hastings, Bruce Goff, Mies van der Rohe, Mockbee Coker, and Michael Graves." "This guide captures Louisville's abundant architecture, showcasing the city's very best offerings from its founding to the recent rehabilitation of its riverfront. Tours of historic homes, Olmsted parks, Carnegie libraries, museums, university campuses, and modern homes are all illustrated with clear and easy-to-follow maps. In addition, over 200 buildings have comprehensive descriptions accompanied by black-and-white photographs. This book includes everything you need to know about Louisville's rich architectural heritage."--BOOK JACKET.

With more than 1,800 entries, The Encyclopedia of Louisville is the ultimate reference for Kentucky's largest city. For more than 125 years, the world's attention has turned to Louisville for the annual running of the Kentucky Derby on the first Saturday in May. Louisville Slugger bats still reign supreme in major league baseball. The city was also the birthplace of the famed Hot Brown and Benedictine spread, and the cheeseburger made its debut at Kaelin's Restaurant on Newburg Road in 1934. The "Happy Birthday" had its origins in the Louisville kindergarten class of sisters Mildred Jane Hill and Patty Smith Hill. Named for King Louis XVI of France in appreciation for his assistance during the Revolutionary War, Louisville was founded by George Rogers Clark in 1778. The city has been home to a number of men and women who changed the face of American history. President Zachary Taylor was reared in surrounding Jefferson County, and two U.S. Supreme Court Justices were from the city proper. Second Lt. F. Scott Fitzgerald, stationed at Camp Zachary Taylor during World War I, frequented the bar in the famous Seelbach Hotel, immortalized in The Great Gatsby. Muhammad Ali was born in Louisville and won six Golden Gloves tournaments in Kentucky.