LOUISVILLE the largest city of Kentucky, U.S.A., on the Ohio river, 90 m. in a bee-line S.W. of Cincin nati; a port of entry and the county seat of Jefferson county. It is on Federal highways 31, 6o and 150; has an airport ; and is served by the Baltimore and Ohio, the Big Four, the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Chicago, Indianapolis and Louisville, the Illinois Central, the Kentucky and Indiana Terminal, the Louisville and Nashville, the Louisville, Henderson and St. Louis, the Southern, and the Pennsylvania railways, by river packets, inter-urban trol leys, and numerous motor-bus lines. The population in 1930 was 307,745 (of whom 47,354 were negroes), and in 1936 it was esti mated at 373,240. In 1850, it had been The city occupies 36 sq.m. of a level plain, nearly enclosed by hills. It has 8 m. of waterfront, around a wide curve of the river, which here falls 26 ft. in 2 miles. Canalization of the Ohio was completed from Pittsburgh to Louisville in 1925, and by 1928 the project (which contemplates a 9ft. stage all the way to Cairo) had been carried beyond Evansville. Highway bridges, one of which is owned by the municipality, lead to New Albany and Jeffersonville, Indiana, on the north bank of the river. One of these carries railway traffic and there are also two other railway bridges. Hydro-electric development of the Falls of the Ohio (begun in 1925) has an initial capacity of 108,000 H.P.
Since the World War a new sewerage system has been con structed at an outlay of $8,600,000; the municipally owned water company has spent $5,000,000 in expansion and improvements; and the elimination of grade crossings within the city limits (to cost $21,000,000) has been undertaken. The valuation of property for city taxation was $403,353,251 in 1936. The wholesale district of the city, with its great tobacco warehouses, is near the river. The business section has been largely transformed since the World War by the erection of tall modern structures in place of the char acteristic low buildings of earlier years, but many of the stately mansions built by the early settlers from Virginia still stand. The
3o parks and playgrounds cover 2,41 oac. with 3 golf courses, 2 recreation buildings, 33 baseball diamonds and 66 tennis courts. The University of Louisville, the oldest municipal university in the country (founded 1837), occupies a beautiful campus of 55ac. on the outskirts of the city, to which it moved in 1925. The Southern Baptist Theological seminary (established 1859) also moved from its old quarters in the heart of the city to a fine new building in the suburbs in 1926. The Presbyterian Theological seminary of Ken tucky (formed in 1901 by the consolidation of two older insti tutions, dating from 1853 and 1893) has a beautiful quadrangle, designed after Balliol college, Oxford. Among the other educa tional institutions are Simmons university for negroes (Baptist), the Jefferson School of Law, the Louisville College of Pharmacy, and the State school for the blind. The public school system (under a non-partisan board of control since 1910) includes 134 schools (1934), with 1,363 teachers and an enrolment of 48,628 pupils. There are 59 parochial schools, and some 4o other pri vate educational institutions of various types, including 7 busi ness colleges. The public library contains 323,267 volumes and maintains 23 branches. There are four daily newspapers, one of them in German (the Anzeiger, established 1849). The Courier Journal (formed in 1868 by the consolidation of three papers and edited from 1868 to 1918 by Henry Watterson) has long been influential. Several periodicals are devoted to tobacco.
The United States government maintains at Louisville a marine hospital, a fish hatchery and (at the falls) a Coast Guard station, the only one in the interior of the country. Bowman Field, an Air Corps flying field, is 2-1-m. east of the city, and Camp Knox is 31m. south-west. The Kentucky State Fair has its grounds here, and drew an attendance of 133,000 in 1936. There are several fine racetracks. At the famous old Churchill Downs, which has 3o days of racing every year, the Kentucky Derby is run in May. It paid $62,575 to winners and attracted 6o,000 visitors in 1937.