LOUISVILLE, loo'ls vil or loo-I-vll, Ky., the capital of the county of Jefferson, and the principal city of the State of Kentucky, is situated opposite to the falls of the Ohio River, on the southern shore of the river, on the Louisville and Nashville, the Southern, the Chesapeake and Ohio, the Baltimore and Ohio Southwestern, the Pennsylvania and other rail roads, 110 miles south of Cincinnati.
Falls of the Ohio.— The falls of the Ohio River are caused by a ledge of Devonian rocks, rich in corals and other fossils, which were lifted from the bottom of the Silurian Sea, in which they were formed, and left here thou sands of feet above their place of formation. In ancient geological times this wall of rock, in the form of an anticlinal axis, dammed up the water 25 feet and formed a lake a mile wide and several miles in length, above the dam, while the water below rushed down the other side of the axis, at the rate of a dozen miles an hour, until it was lost in a seething whirlpool below. When the river was low, it was dangerous to attempt to conduct a boat over these falls, but when it was high, on ac count of the narrowness of the stream below and its width in the lake above, the excess of water filled the narrower stream below to a level with the wider one above and vessels passed over the falls as if they had not been there. In 1830 a canal two miles long was fin ished around the falls, on the Kentucky side, and on the 5th day of December the steam boat Uncas passed through it. The canal has since been enlarged and improved so as to meet the wants of the largest boats and is always used in going over the falls in low water.
Plan of Louisville.— The plan of Louis ville as originally laid out by John Corbly, in the spring of 1779, consisted of one range of streets parallel with the river and another range cutting them at right angles. The streets parallel with the river and running east and west bore names such as Water, Main, Market and Jefferson, while the cross streets were known by numbers, such as One, Two, Three, etc. This plan was adhered to until additions to the original boundary made it necessary or gave an excuse for laying out new streets differently. In some of the additions the streets now run in all directions. Broadway as orig inally laid out is 120 feet wide; Main, Market and Jefferson each 90 feet, and the other streets with a few unimportant exceptions 60 feet in width. In 1813 the paving of streets began. Previous. to this time they were mud holes in winter and dirt-piles in summer. That part of Main street from Third to Sixth was paved after the McAdam style. There are now in the city about 200 miles of streets and as many miles of alleys paved with vitrified brick, asphalt, granite or boulders, and a few with broken stone after the McAdam fashion.
Original Area of The original tract of land given to Louisville for a site by the legislature of Virginia contained 1,000 acres. The land cost the State of Virginia nothing because it was confiscated from Dr. John Con nolly, an adherent of the British during the War of Independence. The legislature simply took the land from Connolly and gave it to Louisville. The city has since added many
other tracts of land to the original until its external boundary now embraces 27 square miles.
first dwelling-houses built in Louisville were 16 by 20 log cabins with board roof and puncheon floor where there was any floor at all, but in many in stances the native earth was the floor. Louis ville is to-day distinguished for no one thing more than for the handsome and comfortable dwelling-houses of her citizens.
Business The few rude dwellings were promptly followed by business houses equally rude if indeed the cabin used for a dwelling was not at the same•time used for a shop or 'manufactory. Michael Hiimble so soon as the town was laid out erected a cabin near the fort at Main and Twelfth streets in which he made and mended guns and wrought out of metal the few things that were used. Joseph Cyrus had next to him a shop in which he made spinning-wheels and looms and every thing that was 'carved out of wood. George Vensonier followed next with a tailor's shop and Henry Duncan with a hat-shop. A little further up town, between Fifth and Sixth streets, Daniel Brodhead had a store in which every kind of article used in the community was sold over the same board counter. These were humble beginnings at manufacturing, but they continued to increase until now, accord ing to the census, we have in Louisville 800 manufacturing establishments which turn out manufactured articles valued at $101,000,000 annually. Our pioneers who were used to log cabins for all purposes could not conceive of the necessity of the modern establishments if they were to behold them now in use, built of stone or brick, some covering whole squares and others ribbed with steel ascending into the clouds. The public buildings of the city have proportionately increased in dimension and style until they have become real orna ments. The courthouse with its severe classic features, the city hall in its Gothic outlines, the custom-house in its blended styles of archi tecture, the sky-scrapers at the corner of Fourth and Main, and Main and Market, some of the great tobacco warehouses on Main street and many of the manufacturing estab lishments and stores in different parts of the city are fine specimens of architecture adapted to the wants of business. The Galt House on the corner of Main and First is one of the finest hotels in the country and a new hostelry has just been erected on Fourth street which ascends high into the air and meets every want of the guest. A new jail has been erected on the site of one of the early churches which will not only rob the prison of some of its horrors, but will be an ornament to the city. The great department stores by furnishing the purchasers with every want have revived the fashion of pioneer times when every article which was for sale was sold under the same roof and made shopping a delight rather than a burden. The building of the American Na tional Bank on the corner of Third and Main and that of the Louisville Trust Company at Fifth and Market are palatial business houses, well suited to the purposes for which they were erected as well as ornaments to the city.