Louisville was a major 19th century iron manufacturing center, with over 12 foundries operating by 1880. Cast iron from Louisville’s foundries can still be found in many places including New Orlean’s French Quarter. Louisville’s West Main Street Historic District is a living museum of flamboyantly designed 19th century ornamental ironwork, including window caps, cornices, railings, and entire building fronts.

This extravagance of design extended to one of the most mundane industrial age objects, the round covers fitted over sidewalk coal chute homes. The coal furnaces that made the chutes a necessity have disappeared, but distinctive coalhole covers remain a physical reminder of West Main Street’s past. Most covers were manufactured nearby at major foundries like Snead & Company, Merz Architectural Iron, Grainger & Company, and Louisville Ornamental Ironworks.

Some of the historic coalhole covers displayed in front of 730 W. Main St. date from as far back as 1855. The coalhole cover is only one of many design elements that make West Main Street one of America’s most unique and distinctive historic districts.

West Main Street offers a walking tour opportunity featuring some of the best of Louisville’s architectural heritage.

Starting at 1st and Main Sts. and traveling west, Whiskey Row is a block of mid-1800s whiskey distillers’ warehouses from an era when there were over 3,000 distillers in the U.S.

At 2nd St., the George Rogers Clark Memorial Bridge (c. 1929) was the first bridge to carry automobile traffic across the Ohio River in Louisville is one of only two pedestrian bridges in the area.

The 300 W. Main block features Actors Theater (c. 1837), the columned building is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the city and one of the finest examples of small-scale Greek revival architecture in the U.S.

The 400 block features two International style buildings, the 40-story National City Tower (c. 1972) designed by Harrison & Abromowtz of New York and completed in 1972. On the north side of Main St., the American Life Building (c. 1973), 3 Riverfront Plaza at the Belvedere was designed by Ludwig Mies Van der Rohe, and now has ‘painted’ Cor-Ten steel.

The post-modern Humana Building (c. 1984) designed by Michael Graves at 5th & Main is the city’s best example of infill and is one of our most famous buildings.

West of 6th St. to 9th St. are the last of the historically intact areas of commercial architecture in downtown and the second-largest concentration of cast-iron buildings in the nation, second only to the SoHo District in New York City.

The former St. Charles Hotel 634 W. Main (c. 1832) is the oldest building on Main. The Hart Block Building at 730 W. Main is the best example of a cast-iron facade in Louisville. The Fort Nelson building at 801 W. Main is one of the more unique historic buildings on Main.

The Main Street Visitors Center at 627 W. Main St. and is operated by Louisville Tourism. Hours are seasonal. Monday through Friday, 11 am to 3 pm, weather permitting. Closed holidays.

Louisville Visitors Center
Louisville Downtown Partnership
Main Street Association

One of Indiana’s leading citizens & philanthropists built this Second Empire mansion at 916 E. Main St. in New Albany, Indiana in 1869.

The lot originally cost $5000, and the house cost $120,000 to build. After Culbertson’s death, he willed the home to his third wife, who auctioned off the house and contents in 1899 for $7,100.

The three-story, Second-Empire mansion encompasses more than 20,000 square feet and contains 25 rooms. The facade, east elevation and west elevation all feature semi-circular bays, allowing plenty of light into the rooms.

In 1964 the mansion was in danger of being torn down, to be replaced by a gas station. Instead, a local historic group called Historic New Albany purchased the mansion for $24,000. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974 and became a part of the Indiana State Museum and Historic Sites in 1976.

904 E. Main St. was completed in 1887 as a home for Culbertson’s son.

704 E. Main St. was completed by Culbertson as the ‘Old Ladies Home’ to house indigent widows.

The Samuel Culbertson Mansion in Old Louisville was built as a home for Culbertson’s son in 1897. It operates as a bed & breakfast in today.

www.indianamuseum.org