Land originally surveyed in 1774, the “Briar Patch” plantation was established in 1814. 1819 construction of the Louisville and Bardstown Turnpike (Bardstown Rd) attracted German immigrant farmers and the area was known as New Hamburg.

After the Civil War the land was subdivided. Horse-drawn streetcar line was extended from the city to Highland Avenue in 1871. Much of the land was subdivided and developed between 1891 and 1896. Houses were constructed after 1860 but primarily from 1884 to 1895. Buildings from before 1884 were located mostly along Breckinridge (formerly Howard), Christy, Baxter and Barret.

The area was called the Highlands because it sits on a ridge between the middle and south forks of Beargrass Creek, above the Ohio River flood plain. Today eight other neighborhoods in the area on the same ridge are also collectively called The Highlands.

The architecture of the neighborhood is a mixture of large, wood framed, and brick Victorian houses and working class shotgun houses, which are often right next to each other. Queen Anne is a common style of architecture.

Baxter Avenue/Bardstown Road and Barret Avenue commercial corridors include galleries, shops, restaurants, bars, and night life.

The Original Highlands’ boundaries are East Broadway on the north, Bardstown Road/Baxter Avenue on the east, Rufer Avenue on the south and Barret Avenue on the west.

www.facebook.com/Original-Highlands

Originally known as Billy Goat Hill, Irish Hill acquired its name because it’s on a ridge above the Ohio River flood plain, and was settled by Irish Catholics in the mid-1800s, although many German Catholics settled there as well.

During the 1937 flood of the water reached the bottom of the hill and a “pontoon bridge” was located at Baxter Ave. at Lexington Road to help people escape downtown for higher ground. 20,000 people passed through the neighborhood and relocated in the Highlands and Crescent Hill.

From the 1850s until it was demolished in 1968, the City Workhouse, which housed criminals convicted of minor crimes, was located at Lexington and Payne Streets, at what is now Breslin Park, which is across from what is now Distillery Commons, which was originally the Old Kentucky Distillery, which was the largest distillery in the world in its day.

The historic St. Aloysius Catholic Church and School (c. 1890-1996), was the cornerstone for many generations of families of Irish Hill, until the Archdiocese closed the school and church, against the objections of the parishioners and neighbors.

Early neighborhood businesses were the Beargrass Slaughter House, Doll Lumber, Roppel’s Grocery, Stottmann’s Cafe, Otte’s Grocery, Leibert Farm and Seitz’s Drugstore.

In addition to the shotgun houses, there are a few larger historic houses in the area, including the Valentine Schneikert house, and the Nicholas Finzer house, built around 1869. Other historic sites are the St. Aloysius church, and the old Rogers Street fire house (c. 1893 – 1977), all on the National Register of Historic Places.

The neighborhood is bounded by Baxter Ave. to the west, Lexington Rd. to the north, the middle fork of Beargrass Creek, and I-64 to the east. Cave Hill Cemetery is directly south.

www.irishhillneighbors.org