Most of the local population pronounces the city name "Luiville", very often this pronunciation reaches "Louville". The name is pronounced at the top of the larynx. The standard English-language pronunciation "Louiville" (traced to King Louis XVI, the English pronunciation "Louis") is used by journalists, politicians, and officials. Despite the difference in pronunciation, the sound "from" is never pronounced. The tradition of pronunciation contradicts the typical practice of using the names of Louisville in speech: Colorado, Georgia, Mississippi, and Tennessee. All of them, despite the same spelling, are pronounced "Louisville."

The differences in local pronunciation have their origins in the geographical location of the city on the border between the northern and southern regions of the United States. The diverse population of the city traditionally includes elements of the northern and southern culture.

The peculiarities of population migration in this region and the homogenization of the dialect from the influence of electronic media can be considered responsible for influences on some of the city's natives who use the standard English pronunciation. Despite this, the pronunciation "Luiville" is the most popular among the city's residents and, with a small exception, is used by news reporters and sports observers.

George Rogers Clark, founder of the city

The first settlement of Europeans in the area of the modern city of Louisville was founded on Corn Island in 1778 by Colonel George Rogers Clark. Nowadays Clark is considered the founder of the city of Louisville, several sights are named after him.

Two years later, in 1780, the General Assembly of Virginia approved the establishment of the Louisville settlement. The city was named after French King Louis XVI, because a number of French volunteers helped Americans in the war for independence. Early settlers lived in fortified forts because of the frequent incursions by Indians, but in the late 1780s they started to settle in open areas. In 1803, researchers Meriwether Lewis and William Clark started a famous two-year expedition around the Ohio River waterfalls across from Louisville.

The development of the city was facilitated by the fact that before the river vessels would reach the waterfalls, they had to be unloaded and transported down the river. By 1828, the population had reached 7,000 and Louisville was officially registered as a city. In subsequent years, the city grew rapidly.

Louisville was one of the major slave-trading centers in the United States before the civil war, and the city's initial growth was caused by this as well. Louisville was a transit point for many black slaves because Kentucky was a border state of the North, but remained slave-owning during the civil war; After crossing the Ohio River, the free North was opened to the slaves.

During the civil war, Louisville was a major stronghold of the Union, leaving the entire Kentucky state firmly in the North. The city served as a planning, support, recruitment, and transportation hub for a large number of combat operations. During the war, the city itself has never been attacked, despite the fact that there have been numerous clashes and battles around it. After 1865, numerous veterans of the South army returned to the city, which gave rise to unfounded rumors about the city's joining the Confederation after the war ended.

Hippodrome Churchill Downs in 1901

The first Kentucky Derby was held on May 17, 1875 at the horseback race of the Joke Club Louisville (later renamed Churchill Downes). Derby was co-organized by Meriwether Lewis Clark, Jr., the grandson of William Clark, by Meriwether Lewis Clark. There were 10 thousand spectators, the race was won by the horse Aristaidis.

On March 27, 1890, the city was devastated and its center practically destroyed after the tornado passed through the city. This tornado was part of a series of tornadoes that took place in March 1890 in the valley of the central Mississippi River. It is estimated that 74 to 120 people died. The city quickly got back on its feet, and almost all traces of tornado damage disappeared within a year.

Louisville helped develop the automotive industry. Following in the footsteps of Stoughton Wagon Company (Stauton, Wisconsin), Ford started using forest materials supplied by the company from Louisville Mengel Company in 1929 and (Mengel Company), for the construction of Model A universal elements.

Louisville during the Great Flood

At the end of January and in February 1937, the month of continuous rainfall brought 19 inches of rain, resulting in the so-called "Great Flood." 70% of the city was inundated, electricity was disrupted, and 175,000 people were evacuated. This event radically changed the prestige of the districts in terms of buying real estate. Today, the city is surrounded by a lot of flood protection. After the flood, the population of the eastern part of the city, located on the highlands, grew rapidly for decades.

Like many other old cities in America, Louisville began to lose value in the 1960’s and 1970’s. Highways built in the 1950s made it easier to reach suburbs, causing the center and the western part of the city to lose economic power. In 1974, another powerful tornado hit the city, part of a "Super Flash" tornado that hit 13 states. The tornado walked through a 34km-long corridor and destroyed several hundred houses near Louisville, but only two people were killed.

From 1974 to 1987, Jefferson County's population declined, but there is a steady population growth of an average of about 1,500 per year. The number of residents within the city's old borders has fallen by almost 100,000 from record levels in 1970, falling from 33rd to 58th in the country, though that number has now stabilized.

Since the 1980s, as a result of the process of reconstructing old houses, Louisville has acquired three new neighborhoods where the "goddess" of the city is settled. These areas are a popular residence for young professionals and graduates of higher education institutions. The largest of these is stretched for three miles, on the streets of Baxter Avenue and Bardstown Road, called The Highlands. The Highlands. . The area has a variety of shops and night clubs. The second-largest area is called Old Louisville, Old Louisville, and a large percentage of its population are young professionals, the average age of the district's lowest in the city. Located on Frankfort Avenue, in the Clifton and Cresent Hill areas, the area has a high number of first-class restaurants and anti-treatments the quarry shops.

The city has made several attempts to break the stalemate and renovate the center and the rest of the districts, including the redesign of the center's infrastructure, the redevelopment of the waterfront in Waterfront Park, the construction of luxury apartments and entertainment venues such as Fort Street Light B!" (Fourth Street Live!).

Louisville is 38°13'44″ p. 85°44'58″. According to the US Census Bureau, the metropolis of Louisville (in the measurement of Jefferson County from 2000) is located on an area of 1,032 km². 997 km² are land, 35 km² (3.38%) are water.

Louisville is in the Bluegrass region, but the city is very prone to the Ohio River, which helped it develop from a remote camp into a large cargo port. Most of the city is located in a very wide and flat floodplain, surrounded by hilly terrain on all sides. Most of the area consisted of swamps that were dried up with the city's growth. In the 1840’s, many streams of small rivers were either diverted away from the city or converted into canals to protect the city from floods and subsequent outbreaks of epidemics.

The area east of the I-65 motorway consists mainly of sloping hills. The southernmost part of Jefferson County is in the beautiful and mostly untouched area of the Knobs, where is the Jefferson Memorial Forest fferson Memorial Forest).

"Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky-Indiana Statistical Area" (KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area), is 4 The second largest in the USA. It includes Jefferson County (Louisville Metropolis), plus twelve adjacent districts, eight in Kentucky and four in southern Indiana. Between the 1990 and 2000 population censuses, the area bypassed the town of Lexington by 149,415 people, and the city of Cincinnati, Ohio, by 23,278 people. Wider statistical area: Louisville-Elizabethtown-Scottsberg, Kentucky-Indiana United Statistical Region, Louisville-Elizabethtown-Scottsburg, KY- IN Combined Statistical Area), includes the statistical areas of Louisville, Elizabethtown, Kentucky, and Scottsberg, Indiana, and is the 39th largest city in the United States in terms of population.

Climate

Louisville is located on the northern edge of the humid subtropical climate. Summer in this region is usually hot and humid, with mild warm evenings. Average annual temperature is 13 °C, average annual snow fall is 41 cm, rain is 113.1 cm. The most humid seasons are spring and summer, although rains are quite constant throughout the year. In winter, especially in January and February, there are usually several snowy days that allow for winter sports. January here is the coldest month with an average high temperature of 5 °C and an average low of -4 °C, July is the warmest with an average high temperature of 31 °C and a low temperature of 21 °C. The highest temperature recorded at Louisville on 14 July 1954 was 41 °C, the lowest was -30 °C and was recorded on 19 January 1994. At any time of the year, the weather can change dramatically every day because of the location of the city on the territory where many temperature fronts meet each other. Very bad weather is not rare in this region; Here are all kinds of non-tropical abrupt fluctuations: tornadoes, heavy storms, snow storms, and extreme heat and cold.

Like the San Fernando Valley in Los Angeles, the Ohio Valley in Louisville is also a place where air pollution is contained. America's Environmental Protection organization ranked the city 38th for air pollution in America. Louisville has a "heat island effect", with temperatures in commercial and production areas located on highways always higher than in populated suburbs, especially in shaded areas, such as Encorage, often below 3°C.

Night landscape of the city

The business center of Louisville is located just south of the Ohio River and southeast of the Ohio Waterfalls. The main streets diverge from the center of the city in all directions. The airport is about 10 km south of the center. The industrial areas are located south and east of the airport, most of the residential areas are located in the south-west, south and east of the city center. The city's landscape is set to change soon because of the construction of the Museum Plaza skyscraper, 62-story high, and a 22,000-seat stadium on the seafront.

Another important business and industrial area is located in the eastern suburb of Hurstbourne Parkway. The development of Louisville in the late 19th and early 20th centuries was accelerated by the construction in 1890 of three industrial districts on the outskirts of the city.

Highlands is the city's favorite bohemian neighborhood. The banner reads: Save Louisville As Mystery

The architecture of the city is a mixture of new and old traditions and styles. Old Louisville is the largest historical district in the States, and the third in the world to be fully developed in Victorian style. The central part of the city consists of skyscrapers and historical buildings. Buildings on West Main Street are the second largest, after the SoHo district in New York, with a collection of cast iron facades.

Since the mid-20th century, Louisville has been informally divided into three districts: West End, South End, and East End (West, East End). In 2003, University of Louisville Geography Professor Bill Dakan said that part of West End, located west of 7th Street and north of Algonne Algonquin Parkway, a "euphemism for the African American part of the city." However, he conceded that this statement was not entirely correct, since at present the majority of African-Americans do not settle in areas where more than 80% of the population is black. However, he says that belief is still very strong. South End has a reputation as a white, working-class city, and East End as a middle and wealthy neighborhood.

According to the Louisville Realtors Association, the area with the lowest average real estate cost is west of the I-65 Motorway, West End and South End, with medium-value homes between highways I-65 and I-64 in South End Ende and East Ende, the most expensive houses are located north of the I-64 in the East End. South-East Asian immigrants usually settle in South End and Eastern European immigrants in East End.

City Hall.

Fleur de Lis from the coat of arms of the city

The head of the Metropolitan Government, Louisville, is the Mayor of Metro Mayor, and the legislative body is called the Metro Council. The first and current mayor is Jerry E. Abramson), who was also the longest-serving mayor of the city of Louisville (from 1985 to 1998) and is therefore known as the "lifelong mayor."

The Metropolitan Council consists of 26 representatives (one from each of the 26 districts of the city), who are elected by the population of the city and the district. Residents of the semi-autonomous municipalities located within the metropolitan area are allocated to the districts, as are all the residents of the district. Half (13) of all representatives are re-elected every two years. The head of the council is the president, elected by the members of the council every year. This post is now held by Rick Blackwell.

The official emblem of Louisville, which was abolished after the union of the district and city government in 2003, reflects the history of Louisville. Fleur de Lis recalls France's help during the war of independence, thirteen stars are reminiscent of America's first colonies. The new emblem of the united government has only two stars, in honor of the city and the district.

Kentucky's Third Congressional District (constituency in the House of Representatives elections) is roughly the same as Louisville's Metropolis. Some southern districts of the city are in the second district of Congress.

Public security and crime

Louisville is consistently ranked among the country's safest cities, and the city has been ranked among the ten safest major cities by the Morgan Quitno study over the past four years. According to Morgan Kitno's research, in 2005 Louisville ranked seventh among the safest major cities in the US. In the 2006 study, Louisville ranked eighth.

In 2006, the metropolitan area of Louisville recorded 55 homicides, compared to neighboring cities with comparable populations: Cincinnati Hamilton, Indianapolis Marion, and Nashville Davidson, have more than 100 murders a year. The total number of crimes in Louisville was more than half that of most surrounding cities.

The proportion of serious crimes in 2005 in the metropolitan area of Louisville was 412.6 per 100,000, which is half that of Nashville and much lower than in Indianapolis and St. Louis . Elizabethtown, Kentucky, which is part of United Statistical Region Louisville, ranks seventeenth in the same ranking. Kentucky's state of serious crime statistics ranks fifth in the US.

According to the 2000 census, 256,231 people lived in Louisville. For the first time since 1820, the city's population was smaller than the combined population of the district and the city of Lexington (Kentucky) (usually the second largest city in Kentucky), at that time, at 260,512. On November 7, 2000, the city of Louisville and Jefferson district approved a referendum on a single government system called the "Metropolitan Government of Louisville-District Jefferson" (official name) or "Metropolitan of Louisville" ( an official abbreviated name), which took effect on january 1, 2003. Thus, Louisville has once again become the largest city in Kentucky.

US Census Bureau (U.S. Census Bureau) provides two different numbers of the population of Louisville. In the United City of Louisville-Jefferson, according to their data for 2006, the population was 701,500 (the 17th most populous in the country);. According to data called the "balanced statistics" of Louisville District Jefferson, the city's population was 554,496 (27th place). "Balanced Statistics" is a term introduced by the Census Bureau to describe the city's population without including semi-autonomous, separately registered regions of the city (e.g. Anchorage, Middletown), Jeffersontown (Jeffer) sontown)).

The method of population counting uses balanced indicators in comparison of united and ordinary cities, and the same method is used to determine the rating of cities by the number of population, so in official statistics of the Bureau of Population Calculation figures the smaller number of population in the city. Despite this, a large number of the city's population is used as a kind of advertisement by the metropolitan government of Louisville, businessmen, local media, and even on road signs at the city's entrance.

The metropolis of Louisville has 1,222,216 inhabitants, making the metropolis the 42nd most populous city in the country. The metropolis includes four southern districts of the state of Indiana. The combined statistical area of Louisville has a total population of 1,356,798 and is the 39th largest in the United States.

According to the 2000 census, 693,604 people, 287,012 households and 183,113 families lived in the city/district. The population density was 695 people per km². The number of residential buildings was 305,835 with an average density of 307 per km². Race division was 77.38% white, 18.88% African, 0.22% Amerindian, 1.39% Asians, 0.04% Oceania, 0.68% other races, and 1.4 2 % mixed of two or more races. 1.78% of the population was Latin.

Of the 287,012 households, 29.68% had children under 18 years of age, 45.20% were married and lived together, 14.70% had a woman without a husband as head of household and 36.20% were not related. 30.50 per cent of households were one person and 10.30 per cent were one person aged 65 or over. The average household size was 2.37 people, the average family size was 2.97 people.

Building by age was 24.30% under 18 years, 30.40% from 18 to 24 years, 30.40% from 25 to 44 years, 22.80% from 45 to 64, 13.50% 65 years or older. The average age was 37. There were 91.60 men for every 100 women. There were 87.60 men for every 100 women aged 18 and over.

The average household income was $39,457 per year, the average household income was $49,161. Men had an average income of $36,484, women $26,255. The average annual per capita income of the district was $22,352. About 9.50% of households and 12.40% of the population were below the poverty line, of which 18.10% were under 18 years of age and 8.80% were over 65 years of age.

17% of Kentucky's population lives in Jefferson District, and 25% in Louisville Statistics District. Jefferson District had 2.5 times more population than the second largest District of Fayette. 12 of Kentucky's 15 buildings, more than 300 feet (91.44 meters) high, are located in the center of Louisville. More than a third of the State's population growth is in the Statistics area of Louisville.

Religion plays an important role in Louisville, which is home to a large number of different religious organizations. Louisville has 135,421 Catholics and 163 Catholic churches. Cathedral of the Assumption Cathedral is located in the city center and is the center of Louisville diocesis. The abbey of Our Lady of Gethsemani Abbey, whose monk was Catholic writer Thomas Merton, is located in the nearby town of Bardstown, Kentucky, and is also part of diocesis . Our Lady's Rosary Makers, the largest check-making group in the United States with 17,000 members worldwide, is based in Louisville.

A large number of residents are Protestants. One in three residents of the city is a southern Baptist who belongs to one of the 147 local congregations of the southern Baptists. Louisville is home to Southeast Christian Church, the so-called "mega church," one of the largest churches in the United States. Also located here are the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, the Louisville Theological Seminary (Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary) , the headquarters of the Presbyterian Church (USA) and the Seventh-Day Adventist Church on Magazin Street, the oldest African-American Seventh-Day Adventist Church.

The Jewish population consists of approximately 8,500 people who visit five Louisville synagogues. Most Jewish families emigrated from Eastern Europe in the early 20th century; some 800 Jews from the former Soviet Union settled in the city after 1991. The Jewish diaspora established the Jewish Hospital, a hospital that once served as the center of the Jewish district. The Jewish hospital recently teamed up with the Catholic healthcare system CARITAS (Catholic healthcare system).

The only Hindu temple in Kentucky opened in the suburbs of Louisville in 1999, with 125 parishioners and two ministers by 2000. In 2001, the number of Muslims in the city was estimated to be between 4,000 and 10,000; By that time, six mosques had already opened in the city.

Bottle from the burbon, 19th century. One third of the world's bourbon is produced in Louisville

The city's economy developed in the early years thanks to the transport infrastructure. The strategically important position of the Ohio waterfalls and the center of the country (60% of all US cities on the mainland can be reached in a single day) made Louisville an ideal transit point. The Louisville Canal, Portland Canal, and the railway connecting Louisville and Nashville were the most important transport arteries. Now Louisville is an important link in the transport system, as it is home to the UPS World Port hub. Louisville is located at the intersection of three highways of national importance: I-64, I-65, and I-71. In 2003, Louisville was the seventh largest river port in the United States.

Lately, Louisville has become an important center for health care and scientific medicine. Research in the field of cardiac surgery and cancer treatment is carried out in the scientific institutions of the city. In Louisville, several first transplants of an artificial heart were performed. A new rehabilitation center worth $88,000,000 is located at the Louisville Medical Research Center. The city is home to several large corporations engaged in the healthcare system: Humana, one of the largest health insurance companies in the United States, Kindred Healthcare and Norton Healthcare.

In Louisville are the headquarters of several important companies and non-profit organizations: Brown-Forman (Fortune 1000), Yum! Brands (Fortune 500, owner of KFC, Pizza Hat and Taco Bell), Hillerich & Bradsby (manufacturer of the most famous baseball bits), Papa John’s Pizza, PNC Financial Services, Hilliard Ly ons (financial investments) and the Presbyterian Church of the USA.

For a long time, Louisville was home to Brown & Williamson, a major tobacco producer, before its merger with R. J. Reynolds Tobacco Company in 2004 and the creation of a new company Reynolds American. Brown & Williamson was involved in a series of scandals in the 1990’s that shook the entire US tobacco industry, leading to billions of payments on claims of non-disclosure and increased nicotine addiction. The investigation was based on the film "His Man", filmed in 1999 in Louisville. The city also has two major Ford Motor Company and General Electric household appliances factory.

One-third of all the whisky of the bourbon is produced in Louisville by Brown-Forman. In the city and its surroundings there are a large number of liquor and vodka plants.

In 1926, the cook of the Brown Hotel invented the hot sandwiches "Hot Brown". A few blocks from the Hotel Brown is the Seelbach Hotel, described by writer Francis Scott Fitzgerald in the novel The Great Gatsby. This hotel is also known for its secret room, where Gangster Al Capone regularly met his accomplices during the dry law.

In addition, several films were shot in Louisville. They include Goldfinger, Strips, Own Man, Lawn Dogs and Elizabethtown.

Annual festivals and other events

Thunder Over Louisville is the country's largest annual fireworks show

Kentucky Derby, the city's most famous annual event, is held on the first Saturday of May. He was described by Hunter S. Thompson in "The Kentucky Derby is Decadent and Depraved" (1970, Derby in Kentucky). Before the Derby, the city hosts a two-week Kentucky Derby Festival, which starts with the Thunder Over Louisville festival, literally: Thunder on Louisville), the largest annual fireworks show in the country. During the festival about seventy different events are held: "Pegasus Parade", "Great Race of Steam Ships", "Great Race of Air Balls", marathon and others.

At the end of February or early March, the Humana Festival of New American Plays, the festival of new theatrical performances, is held at the Actors Theater. . The festival lasts about six weeks and is known worldwide as the premiers of new theater plays.

In July, the "Shakespeare Festival of Kentucky" is held annually. It is better known as "Shakespeare in the Park" and is accompanied by free performances of Shakespeare's productions at the "Central Park" of the Old Louisville district. The Kentucky State Fair, which brings together a wide range of traditions from all over the state, is held every August at the Kentucky Exposition Center.

The "Adam Matthews Balloon Festival", the country's fifth largest balloon festival, is held in September. During the festival the races are held in the early morning and in the evening the Mongolians are illuminated. Also in September, in the neighboring town of Bardstown, an annual "Burbon Kentucky Festival" with an exhibition of the best Burbo's samples is held the world. In the suburbs of Jeffersontown, the annual Gaslight Festival is held, with approximately 200,000 visitors per week.

The St. James Court Art Exhibition is held in the Old Louisville area in October. James Court Art Show). Thousands of participants gather in the streets to show and sell their works, an event that is very popular with collectors and art admirers. The exhibition is second only to Kentucky Derby. Every month, the "Gallery Hop" (Gallery Hop) is held. On the first Friday of each month, a special trolley bus delivers art lovers to numerous galleries in the city center.

Museums, galleries, and applied art centers

Huge baseball bat at the entrance of Louisville Slager Muzeum.

In the West Main District, the center of Louisville, there is the so-called Museum Row. One of them is the Frazier International History Museum, which opened in 2004 and has a large exhibition of weapons, armor and other historical finds over the past 1,000 years, with a focus on the United States and the United Kingdom. The building has three floors with exhibits, two arenas for historical productions, 120-seat lectures and a 48-seat cinema. Near the city is the Louisville Scientific Center, the largest applied science center in Kentucky. The center includes applied exhibitions, the IMAX cinema, educational programs and technological networks. The Muhammad Ali Center opened in November 2005 and features exhibits from Mohammed Ali's boxing career and an exhibition on the subject's heart: peace, social responsibility, respect, and individual development.

Louisville Scientific Center

"James Spid Museum of Art" opened in 1927 and is the oldest and largest art museum in Kentucky. Coming close to the University of Louisville, the museum has more than 12,000 exhibits in its permanent collection and regularly organizes temporary exhibitions. In addition, the city has a large number of art galleries, the vast majority of which are located in the area of the East Market Street in the central part of Louisville. Here is the monthly gallery event - "Gallery-hop".

The city also has several local historical museums. The most significant of these is the Filson Historical Society, founded in 1884 and named after the historian John Philson. It has more than 1.5 million archival documents and 50,000 volumes in the library. Philson's collection comes from Kentucky, the northern part of the southern US region, and the Ohio River Valley. The museum has a large collection of portraits and more than ten thousand exhibits. Local museums also include: Portland Museum, Historic Locust Grove, Falls of Oga Park Application Center "Falls of the Ohio State Park" (Clarksville, Indiana), "Howard Steamboat Museum" (Jeffersonville) and the Carnegie Center for Art and History (New Albani, Indiana). The Falls of the Ohio Application Center is part of the Falls of the Ohio National Wildlife Conservation Area, and He acts as a museum of natural science, presenting exhibits from the local excavations of the Devon period fossils.

In Louisville there are some interesting historical buildings. For example, Belle of Louisville is the oldest Mississippi-style steamer in the United States. The United States Marine Hospital of Louisville is considered the most preserved hospital built before the civil war. Its architect is Mills, Robert Mills, best known for his monument to Washington. Fort Knox is located in Bullitt, Hardin and Miid districts (two of the districts are part of the Louisville Metropolis), with a US gold reserve and the Cavalry Museum and the Patton Museum of Armor Cavalry and Armor). Locust Grove, the house-museum of the founder of the city George Rogers Clarke, possesses the exhibits of life in the early days of settlement in the area of Louisville. The list of historical objects also includes: Farmington Historic Home, Riverside, The Farn sley-Moremen Landing), and the renovated Union Station, built in 1891. Louisville is home to the Waverly Hill, a former tuberculosis hospital that is thought to be home to ghosts and spirits.

Media

The official newspaper of the city is "The Courier-Journal", the alternative publication is progressive weekly "Louisville Essentik Observer" (Louisville Eccentric Observer). The last basis is the representative from the 3rd district of Congress John Yarmut. The most famous television station is WAVE3, a branch of NBC, the very first television station in Kentucky. Another television station is WHAS11, formerly owned by the Bingham family (also owned by the Curier-Jornal), the station hosts the annual Cruise Forwardt telethon "Crusade for Children". WDRB-FOX41/WMYO is the only independent TV station in the city. The most popular radio station is the 84 WHAS. This station was also owned by the Binghams, where local sports broadcasts take place.

Parks and places of rest

The metropolis of Louisville has 122 urban parks with a total area of more than 57 km². Several of them were developed by designer Frederick Law Olmsted, architect of New York Central Park and other parks, boulevards, university campuses and public places in the United States. Waterfront Park is located on the banks of the Ohio River, close to the city center. It has significant open spaces where concerts and festivals are often held. Cherokee Park is one of the country's most visited parks, with 4.2 km of circular roads and many attractions. Other major parks are Iroka Park, Shouni Park and Central Park.

Colonel Sanders' grave

Near the city center, 24.52 km², is Jefferson Memorial Forest, the largest municipal urban forest in the United States. The forest is a protected forest with more than 50 km of hiking trails.

Otter Creek Park is another large park, although it is located in Brandenburg, Kentucky, the park is the property of the Louisville Metropolis. The Otter Creek River flows through the eastern part of the park, which gave the park its name. From the northern part of the park you can see the picturesque radiation from the Ohio River, which separates Kentucky and Indiana. The park is very popular among mountain cycling lovers, with a large number of cycle paths.

Other attractions

Other attractions are: Cave Hill cemetery, where Colonel Sanders is buried, the national cemetery of Zachary Taylor, the burial site of US President Zachary Taylor, the Louisville Zoo, the Six-Park funnel park Kentucky King's flags and Falls of Ohio conservation area.

At the moment, a system of parks "City-of-Parks" is being developed, the purpose of which is to build continuous walking and cycling paths around the metropolis of Louisville, as well as to increase the total area of city parks. The current project is supposed to turn the Floids Fork flood plain, 6 km² in one large park, which will include the Jefferson Memorial Forest portion, the river coast and the shipyard near Riverside-Trail and Levi roads i-Trail."

Big Fort Railway Bridge 770 meters across the Ohio River, connecting Louisville and Jeffersonville Indiana. Opened in 1895 and used as intended until 1969. Immediately after the closure, two extreme spills, one on each side, were dismantled and sold for scrap. In 2014, the bridge reopened, now for pedestrians and cyclists only. Due to the unfinished construction, from 1969 to 2014 he was nicknamed "bridge to nowhere".

Theater and visual arts

Built in 1983, Kentucky Center is located near hotels and entertainment centers in the central part of the city. Kentucky Center regularly hosts concerts and theater performances. There is also the Louisville Ballet, the Louisville Orchestra and Kentucky Opera (the twelfth most senior opera in the USA).

Louisville Theater (Actors Theatre) is one of the city's cultural centers. The theater affects the economic development of almost the entire city center. Theater is well known, not only because of the program of performances, but also because of the enterprise. The Actors Theater hosts the Humana Festival of New American Plays every spring. Every year, the theater hosts about 600 performances and about 30 theater productions consisting of various modern and classical works.

Louisville Palace is the venue of the Louisville Orchestra, an elegant, beautiful theater in the center of Louisville in the so-called theater district. In addition to the actual performances of the orchestra, the theater shows cinemas, both new and classical, and various performances are held.

Iroquois Amphitheater, the semi-open amphitheater of Iroquois Amphitheater, where performances of the theater "Music-Theater Louis" take place Music Theatre Louisville and music concerts.

The Louisville Slagger Field baseball stadium, where the Louisville Bates team plays.

"University sports" have always been popular in Louisville. The University of Louisville Basketball team has twice won the US Championship under the leadership of coach Denny Crum, and is the most profitable university basketball team in the country. In 2001, Kram retired, replaced by Rick Pitino, former Boston Celtics and Kentucky Wildcats coach ). Pitino became a key factor in the competition between university teams in the cities of Lexington and Louisville, which resumed in 1983 and is considered one of the most brutal in university basketball.

The U.S. football team at the University of Louisville has raised a number of well-known professional players, such as Johnny Unitas, Dayon Branch, Deion Branch, and Sam Madison David Akers and Ray Buchanan, David Akers, and Ray Buchanan. In addition, in the 1990s the team won national respect after defeating Alabama's team in the Fiesta Bowl Cup. In 2007, they also won the Orange Bowl Cup. Then the team was headed by the trainer Bobby Petrino (Bobby Petrino). The university's baseball team reached the final in 2007 in the World Series of University baseball, traditionally held in Omaha.

A very popular entertainment in the city are the races of pure-bred horseback horses. Kentucky Derby is held at the Churchill Downes Hippodrome and is the largest sporting event in the entire state. Kentucky Oaks and Kentucky Derby are the main events of the two-week Kentucky Derby Festival. Churchill Downs also had six races of the Breeders-Cap Cup, the last one in 2006.

Louisville Extrim Park, air view.

In addition to the races, the city hosts a world exhibition of horse champions. This exhibition is held during the Kentucky State fair.

The Valhalla Golf Club is located in Louisville, where an international golf tournament was held in 1996 and 2000. The city also has one of the well-known ski parks of Louisville Emergency Park.

In addition, two more professional and semi-professional sports teams are based in Louisville. "Louisville Bats" ("Bats") are the baseball team of the lower league, joined the Cincinnati Reds team; Louisville Fayer (Fire) is the lower league team of American football in the hall.

In recent years, Louisville has made several failed attempts to get a professional basketball team. The most famous were Memphis Grizzlis and New Orleans Hornets.

Professional teams in the city

Education

There are several higher education institutions in Louisville: University of Louisville, Bellarmin University, University of Polding, University of Sullivan and others. The South-Eastern University of Indiana is located on the other side of the Ohio River in New Albany, Indiana.

According to the U.S. census, 21.3% of Louisville's population is over 25 years of age (24% of the country's average) and has four or more years of higher education, while 76.1% (80% of the country's average) have high school degrees.

The Jefferson district secondary education system covers 90,000 pupils and 90 preparatory schools, 24 secondary and 21 high schools, and 20 other educational institutions. The city also has 27 Catholic schools and Kentucky School for the Blind.

Transport

Stylized tram buses connect the city center to the trendy Bardstown Road.

In the central part of the city is the Louisville International Airport (IATA code is SDF). The airport has a cargo terminal owned by UPS WorldPort. UPS has the largest sorting station in the airport and also bases its airplanes there. The annual turnover of Louisville Airport is 3.5 million passengers and 1,400,000 tons of cargo, making it the 4th largest cargo turnover in the United States and the 11th worldwide. Another city airport, Bowman Field, is used for local and private flights.

The McAlpine dam is located on the Ohio River near the city center. The gateways were built to pass through the Falls-of-Ohio Nature Reserve. In 2001, more than 55 million tons of cargo passed through these locks. A new gateway is under construction to replace the two auxiliary locks, with an approximate completion date of 2008.

Public transport is mainly made up of municipal buses. The bus routes cover the central part of the city, Jefferson District, and the suburbs in the districts of Aldham, Bullit, and the cities in the state of Indiana, Jeffersonville, Clarksville, and New Albani. Some buses are styled under old trams (a common practice in the US, see en:tourist trolley), and these buses are called trolley (as in the US in the early 20th century called trams). Light rail was seen as a transport alternative, but in 2007 there were no plans to build its lines.

A bird's-eye view of the Kennedy freeway, also known as Spaghetti-Perekrestaurant.

Louisville has two county highways: "I-264" is internal and "I-265" is external. Two national highways pass through the city: "I-64", "I-65". In addition, the I-71 motorway ends in Louisville. These three motorways connect in one point near the city center, this place is called "Spaghetti-Perekrek". Two bridges carry I-64 and I-65 across the Ohio River, and another bridge is used for local vehicles. Two more bridges connecting the city with Indiana are planned at two additional points. One of them will be in the city center for expansion of "I-65", the second will continue the circular route "I-265" towards the state of Indiana.

Historically, Louisville is a major railway hub. Louisville and Nashville Railroad was previously based in the city, and was then purchased by CSX Transportation. Now the city is serviced by two campaigns — "CSX Transportation" containing a sorting station in the city, and "Norfolk Southern Railway". Louisville also serves two local railway companies. Passenger rail services were cut off in 2003, and Louisville became the fifth largest city in the United States without passenger rail.

Utilities

Built in 1860, the Louisville Water Tower was the first modern water-pressure tower in the world.

Electricity is supplied to LG&E, a subsidiary of E.ON. Her story begins in 1838 with the founding of Louisville Gas. In 1913, Louisville Gas, Louisville Lighting (founded in 1903) and Kentucky Heating formed Louisville Gas and Electric. In 1998, LG&E merged with Kentucky Utilities (KU) and established LG&E Energy. In 2000, LG&E Energy was purchased by the British company Powergen. In 2002 "Powergen" was purchased by the German company "E.ON" and on 1 December 2005 "LG&E Energy" was renamed "E.ON U.S". Today, the company supplies electricity to 350,000 customers and natural gas to more than 300,000 customers, covering an area of 1,800 km². The total power generation capacity is 3.514 megawatts.

The city's power stations include three coal-fired power plants (Trimble County, Mill Creek, Cain Ran), one gas-fuel-oil turbine, one hydroelectric plant, and two gas stations (Moldro) and Magnolia).

Water to the city is supplied by Louisville Water Company, which provides water to more than 800,000 people in the Louisville area and parts of the districts of Aldham and Bullitt. The company also provides water supply services to Shelby, Spencer and Nelson districts.

The water intake is from the Ohio River. Two pumping stations provide drinking water to the city, one on the roads of Zorn and River, and the other on the northeastern side of the Harrods Creek stream. The city has two water treatment plants, Kresent Hill and B.I. Payne.

On 13 February 1981, a series of sewerage explosions took place in Louisville, injuring 4 people and destroying 21 kilometers of sewerage lines and streets in the city center. US President Ronald Reagan declared the affected areas of the city a disaster zone. Approximately 2,000 people were evacuated, and some 23,000 people remained without water and sanitation. The consequences of the accident were not resolved until two years later. The company Ralston-Purina, whose factory became the culprit of the incident, paid millions of compensation to the city and its residents.

Direction and distance to twin cities

Louisville has nine sister cities:

Leeds (UK) is considered a city-friend. The two cities participated in many cultural exchange programs, especially in the fields of medicine and law, and in several private commercial activities, including the Fraser International Historical Museum.

• Official site of the city
• Louisville Convention and Visitors Bureau