Named for the hilly location on the Ohio River valley escarpment. The Louisville and Shelbyville Turnpike (c. 1818) was built upon a high ridge, on a trail originally formed by migrating buffalo, it followed the path of what is now Frankfort Ave. By the 1830s, Clifton was mostly farmland. In the late 1840s, construction of the Louisville and Frankfort Railroad converged at what became the heart of Clifton and followed a path parallel to the toll road east. Both of these events shaped the historic and architectural continuum in Louisville’s development eastward.

The earliest residences were farmhouses or rural retreats for the wealthy and pre-date any formal grid street pattern. Most of the houses were constructed from 1870 to 1930 and share consistent lot size and styles with adjacent houses.

Clifton’s earliest building is the Three Mile Tollhouse (c. 1830), where the tollgate keeper lived. In the early 1900s, it served as a police substation/jail, and has housed restaurants since 1933.

The Rastetter House (c. 1845) is the earliest surviving farmhouse in the area. Unfortunately, all traces which reflect antebellum farmhouse styles were compromised by extensive alterations. The main entrance was re-oriented away from the old turnpike and now faces Payne St.

Adding to the patina of the Clifton neighborhood are a variety of textures that include brick streets and sidewalks, limestone curbs, iron fences, stone walls, and the Chicken Steps. There were several quarries in the area that were active in the late 1800s until the early 1900s, none are used for their original purpose, but the quarry walls are still visible.

Commercial buildings in the neighborhood run the spectrum of architectural styles popular between the years 1830 to the 1950s, but beginning in the 1920s buildings no longer had a “zero-setback” from the sidewalk, and instead were set back to allow for “front yard parking”. In addition, business owners often demolished adjacent buildings to accommodate more automobile parking, it is the evidence of the evolution of the Frankfort Ave. corridor from a pedestrian-oriented street to the automobile-oriented corridor that it is today.

The area has been revitalized since the 1990s, as restaurants, boutiques, and small shops have opened along the Frankfort Ave corridor.

Clifton is bounded by Brownsboro Rd. on the north, N. Ewing Ave. on the east, I-64 on the south, and Mellwood Ave. on the west.

Noteworthy sites:
Kentucky School for the Blind & the American Printing House for the Blind 1867 Frankfort Ave.
Albert A. Stoll Firehouse (The Silver Dollar), 1761 Frankfort Ave.
Spect’s Saloon (Bourbons Bistro), Italianate, c. 1887, 2255 Frankfort Ave.
Widman’s Saloon & Grocery (Irish Rover Pub) Italianate, c. 1858, 2319 Frankfort Ave.
Three Mile Tollhouse (Ray Parella’s) Federal vernacular, c. 1830,  2311 Frankfort Ave.
St. Frances of Rome School (Clifton Center), 2117 Payne St.
Rastetter House (private residence), c. 1845, 2213 Payne St.

www.cliftonlouisville.org

Louisville Historic Preservation & Urban Design

The Highlands was the last area near downtown to be urbanized, since the 60 foot incline above the flood plain made travel difficult, the area had no sign of urban development until just before the Civil War. Notable families owned plantations in the area, spurred by the Louisville and Bardstown Turnpike.

The neighborhood became an early streetcar suburb in the 1880s, which was extended down Bardstown Road after early residents of Cherokee Rd. protested the trolley line. Businesses formed along the old turnpike, surrounded by residential development. The growth would creep down Bardstown Rd. as the streetcar lines were extended. By the 1930s, the entire area we call the Highlands had been developed. Streetcars last ran down Bardstown Rd. in 1947.

Much of Cherokee Triangle was originally part of a city called Enterprise, which had incorporated in 1884 for tax reasons, and to keep liquor sales out of the community. The city was annexed by Louisville in 1896.

Many wealthy residents left for new suburbs after World War II, and as was typical of older affluent neighborhoods such as Old Louisville, large multi-story buildings were split up into apartments. The Cherokee Triangle Association formed in 1962, and new rules and down-zoning slowed the trend with suburban-style zoning restrictions, partially to prevent developments such as new apartment complexes that were seen as out of place.

The preservation district designation came in 1975 after “incompatible intrusion” by developers. Largely as a result of the preservation district status, the neighborhood has undergone a period of sustained gentrification, and has had the greatest appreciation of property values in the city.

The neighborhood is known for Cave Hill Cemetery (1848), Cherokee Park (1891), and its annual art fair, held the weekend before the Kentucky Derby. A local landmark was the statue of General John Breckinridge Castleman, removed in 2020 after protests.

The historic district is bounded by Cave Hill Cemetery on the north, Cherokee Park on the east, Eastern Pkwy. on the south, and Bardstown Rd. on the west.

www.cherokeetriangle.com
Louisville Historic Preservation & Urban Design

When Louisville extended the city grid to south of Broadway the area became Louisville’s first suburb, named the Southern Extension, it was initially only a few country residences, north-south avenues were developed by 1850.

Development pace quickened rapidly after the Civil War as Louisville grew as a manufacturing center, the next twenty years brought substantial two and three-story stone and brick houses between Broadway and Ormsby Avenue.

In 1868, the city boundaries expanded outward again to include rural land that is now University of Louisville campus. But the Southern Exposition (1883-1887) located on a 45-acre site that today is Central Park and St. James Court inspired the real growth in the area. One million people visited the industrial and mercantile show that featured Thomas Edison’s light bulb, and brought the city international attention.

The following two decades the area became the fashionable place to live, mainly along Third and Fourth Streets. Revival architectural styles popular during England’s Victorian era were built as other subdivisions were added to the area.

The decline of the popularity of Old Louisville had begun by the beginning of World War I as families became enamored with the suburbs developing east and west of the city. The newer electric streetcar, followed by automobiles, made these newer suburbs accessible. Improved electric, plumbing, and heating technologies made the newer homes more attractive.

As families moved out, businesses moved in and from the 1920s through the 1950s, commercial development pressure dramatically altered the character of Old Louisville. Automobile dealerships took most of the homes from Broadway to Oak St. Other businesses also destroyed homes to make room for growing parking needs. Between 1950 and 1970, the neighborhood had the biggest lost of homeowners to the expanding suburbs.

Deeply troubled by the changes that had swept through the neighborhood, residents took action. In 1961, Restoration, Inc. was created to buy and renovate historic homes in Old Louisville, started with eleven homes on Belgravia Court, they inspired others to do the same.

By 1968, homeowners, tenants, and community leaders worked together as activists to get the area rezoned, prohibiting commercial use in residential neighborhoods, and to renovate houses. To support the efforts, the city gave Old Louisville official status and protection by designating it as a Preservation District in 1974.

Old Louisville Neighborhood Council
Louisville Historic Preservation & Urban Design