Neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky facts for kids

The fountain at St. James Court in Old Louisville

This is a list of official neighborhoods in Louisville, Kentucky. Like many older American cities, Louisville has well-defined neighborhoods, many with well over a century of history as a neighborhood.

The oldest neighborhoods are the riverside areas of Downtown and Portland (initially a separate settlement), representing the early role of the river as the most important form of commerce and transportation. As the city expanded, peripheral neighborhoods like Butchertown, Phoenix Hill, Russell, Shelby Park, Smoketown and others were developed to house and employ the growing population.

The arrival of the streetcar allowed suburbs to be built further out, such as Beechmont, Belknap, Old Louisville, Shawnee and the Highlands. An interurban rail line in the early 1900s led to communities east of Louisville such as Anchorage and Glenview becoming year-round homes for the rich. Some of Louisville's very rich also moved to mansions along Alta Vista road, in today's Cherokee-Seneca neighborhood.

Pre-merger

Percentage of housing units built before 1940. Dark green represents a 53% to 83% concentration, and is seen in the Old Louisville, Highlands, Crescent Hill, Portland and Butchertown neighborhoods. A 30% to 52% concentration (pea green) can be found throughout many other areas inside I-264.

Unincorporated places

After merger, unincorporated census designated places in Jefferson County were considered by many (local media for example) to have become neighborhoods of Louisville.

Select unincorporated places, most of which were previously considered CDPs (census-designated places), are:

Other unincorporated places include:

Incorporated places

After merger, incorporated places in Jefferson County became a part of Louisville while retaining their respective small city governments. Most of these small cities are considered neighborhoods of Louisville although the neighborhood boundaries are not necessarily contiguous with the boundaries of the small cities. Listed under St. Matthews are former cities it annexed and thus are now included as its neighborhoods.

Designated as neighborhoods

Some attractions and areas in Louisville are officially designated as neighborhoods.

• Bowman Field
• Fairgrounds
• University of Louisville (Belknap Campus)

Historic neighborhoods

• Standiford: Bordered Interstate 65 to the east and the Louisville International Airport to the north, west and south. It was displaced by the expansion of the airport, and it is currently the site for Louisville Air National Guard Base, which was relocated to make room for an expansion of the UPS WorldPort.

See also

• Cityscape of Louisville, Kentucky
• Geography of Louisville, Kentucky
• List of parks in the Louisville metropolitan area