Louisville's Butchertown
The Butchertown neighborhood is located just east of the Downtown area, bordered by the Ohio River to the north, Interstate 65 to the west, Main Street to the south, and Mellwood Avenue and Beargrass Creek to the east. Butchertown features a variety of historic sites, retail, dining, art galleries and entertainment in a blended working-class & industrial community setting
. Places to go in Butchertown
Pho Ba Lou
Hi-Five Doughnuts
Bistro 1860
Butchertown Grocery
B-town Pie Company
Hall’s Cafetaria
Freddy’s Market and Deli
Sergios World Beers
Downtown Animal Hospital
Copper & Kings
Play Louisville
Work the Metal
J.Gumbos
LVL 1 Hackerspace
Producers Veterinary Supply
Dave Armstrong Extreme Park
Bluefin Seafoods
Thomas Edison House
CrossFit the Ville
Bittners
Barry Wooley Design
Sign 4
The Voice Tribune
GoodWood Brewing Company
Hyland Glass
Pyro Gallery
Black Heart Gallery
Pohl Iron & Wire Works
City Space on Main Storage
RegenEn Solar
Louabull
Foodcraftlvll
Electric Blue Reprographics
Stock Yards Bank
Plumbers Supply
The Point
Workshop, The creative workplace
Cellar Door Chocolates
Bourbon Barrel Foods
Quarter Master Costume Rental
Kentucky Water Alliance
Guest House on Story
Reuff Sign
Willet Lumber
R & B motors
Story Avenue Park
Greg Thornton’s Preowned Cars
The Paw Zone
Apocalypse Brew
Big Al’s Beeritaville
ECO Cell
Louis’ “The Ton”
Linden Hill Bed and Breakfast
The intuitive connection
Hadley Pottery
Hall Reese
Revcore Supply
Liz & Roo
St. Joseph School
Current 360
Butchertown Feature Events
The annual Butchertown Art Fair and Home Tour in the Spring and the well-known Oktoberfest in the Fall are staples of Louisville's event calendar. Butchertown Art Fair
Butchertown Home Tour
Butchertown Oktoberfest
Games on Tap at Louis’ The Ton
Kentucky Shakespeare Productions
Hamcrafted
Annual Holiday Bake Sale at Copper & Kings
Republic Bank First Friday Hop
Wigs on Tap with Gilda’s Club
Namaste Soiree
Fly Over Film Festival
Taste of Butchertown
Umpteenth Annual $20 Art Sale
PorktoberFest
Butchertown Preservation District
It was not until 1830’s that Butchertown began taking on its urban character. Around 1887, Louisville annexed parts of the area and it spurred a broad initiative of development among new Louisvilians in both industrial and local business. Up until this point butchering animals had been banned from the city core, but this did not present a problem in the North eastern area of Downtown because the city’s eastern reaches were more practical for the task, with Beargrass Creek as a location for dumping animal wastes. Many of first waves of German immigrants quickly embraced the opportunity becoming butchers and building a rich close knit community. To accommodate the growing industry, the Bourbon Stock Yards was established in 1834. Other related businesses such as tanneries, cooperage', soap makers, agricultural supply dealers, blacksmiths and of course, breweries and distilleries. soon sprang up. Faced with even further encroachment by industry, a few remaining homeowners finally banded together in the mid-1960s to fight for neighborhood preservation. Their first success came in 1966 when they persuaded the city to switch the neighborhood’s zoning to partial residential. A new corporation, Butchertown, Inc., began buying dilapidated structures to renovate for resale. The result was a more stabilized community that was quieter, yet energetic. Butchertown’s remarkable preservation movement was inspired by the revitalization efforts of Old Louisville, and its success led to further renewal in other areas. Butchertown is a patchwork, a working-class neighborhood co-existing with industrial and commercial buildings that trace their origins almost to the very beginning of Louisville. While that diversity makes it hard to pigeon-hole the place architecturally, there is a quirky cohesion of materials, scale and spatial arrangement that makes Butchertown identifiable and unique. The Butchertown Preservation District suggests that property owners planning to make exterior changes to a historic building should start by identifying the features and materials that give their structure its unique character, as well as its historic and non-historic elements. By taking the time to recognize and understand significant features, you will be much more likely to plan a project that is compatible with the original style of the building. Butchertown’s history can be traced to the year 1796 when Henry Fait established one of Jefferson County’s first gristmills in the area. One of the oldest neighborhoods in Louisville, Butchertown was established in the early 1796 when German and Irish immigrants settled in east Downtown Louisville along the original Beargrass Creek. Many of the residents were metal workers, butchers or somehow worked to support the butchering community. Like much of Downtown Louisville Butchertown experienced many of Louisville’s most memorable historical events including the major flood of 1937 and the "Bloody Monday" riots of August 1855. Once a community that included both residential and industrial aspects, the diverse community is seeing a rebirth as and art and cultural district and is being recognized as a valuable and very a quickly growing segment of the downtown development. It is not unusual to see who blocks of new renovated buildings and in some cased new construction where there was previously neglected spaces. Louisville’s Butchertown is however a preservation district with much effort and energy to maintain the Victorian Brick Brack charm as well as the many grand buildings that date back over 100 years. Shopping, dining, nightlife, and retail have also found a strong foothold in the community. Also, a great deal of literature on Butchertown and it's history can be found in local bookstores including Edna Kabala’s Louisville's Butchertown.
