THE HISTORY OF LOUISVILLE, FROM ITS EARLIEST SETTLEMENT TILL THE YEAR 1852. BY BEN CASSEDAY LOUISVILLE, KY. HULL AND BROTHER. 1852. Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1852, By BEN. CASSEDAY, In the Clerk’s office of the District Court of the United States for the District of Kentucky. HULL & BROTHER, PRINTERS AND BINDERS. 83 & 85 Fourth St., Louisville, Ky. To My Father, At whose Instance it was Undertaken. AND By whose Assistance it was Completed, This Book Is A

Very little need be said by way of Preface to the present volume. Cities, like individuals, have ever found the utility of giving publicity to the advantages they possess. The respective claims to public consideration of almost all the larger American cities have already been set forth, and no inconsiderable sagacity has been displayed in the preparation and issue of these advertisements. It cannot be denied that Louisville has equal claim upon the community for a fair hearing with many of these

The utility and profit of the local history of cities is no longer a matter of doubt. Whether considered solely as objects of interest or amusement, or as having the still wider utility of making known abroad the individuality of the places they describe, these records are worthy of high consideration. And although in a country like ours this department of history can claim to chronicle no great events, nor to relate any of those local traditions that make many of the cities of the Old World so

1780—During the same year in which the town was established Kentucky received many valuable additions to its inhabitants; among these several persons of wealth or of talent came from the Atlantic States to settle among the “wild countries of the West,” and they were accompanied by many others without either of these requisites, ready at once to seek any and every means of existence. Col. George Slaughter accompanied by 150 State troops descended to the falls and took up his quarters there during

Having passed over these pleasant and exciting histories of personal adventure, the reader now returns to the soberer chronicles of general history. In the spring of 1783 it became known in Kentucky that peace had been declared, and this joyous news could not have arrived at a more opportune time. The people had been harrassed by war until they were sick and disheartened, and although the news of peace did not drive off all fear of attack from the Indians, yet the consciousness that the posts fo

The opening of a new century found Louisville with a population of 800 souls, with power to elect her own Trustees, with a revenue arising from her own taxes, and in the enjoyment of all the social and political privileges which were possessed by any of the towns within the Western country. Early in the next year the Legislature of the State, after granting power to the Trustees of Louisville to make deeds and conveyances of the town lots and providing abundantly for the levying and collecting o

The series of details, mostly of an uninteresting and dry nature, which were so hastily passed over in the last chapter seem to have been but the precursors to events of a character far more important to the interests of the city and far more agreeable to the reader. Before we approach, however, the one great event which opened a new theater of action to the city, and developed resources before undreamed of—the steam navigation of the Ohio. It will be necessary, to preserve the order in which th

The next ten years of this history do not promise to be as rich in incident for the historian, or as full of practical value to the city, as were the few years just chronicled. A number of causes were operating at this time to retard the prosperity of the town, and but for the vigor with which it was endued, it must have sunk under the misfortunes which surrounded it. Evil reports, prejudicial to its health; garbled accounts from rival cities of the mortality here; a lamentably disordered state

The opening of the next year—1830—found the young city in a highly prosperous and thriving position. The security and permanence given to enterprise by the charter had its effect on all departments of business. Arrangements were made at the beginning of the season for the erection of not less than five hundred substantial brick houses, and, according to the report of a prominent resident of a sister city, there was not another place in the United States which was improving and increasing in popu

This history now approaches a period so recent, that it will hardly be necessary to chronicle the events of the next decade with as much minuteness as has heretofore been attempted. The reader will doubtless long ago have perceived the difficulty of stringing together incidents, interesting in themselves, yet having so little bearing upon each other, as frequently to present more the dryness of a chronological table of events, than to offer the interest of a consecutive history. It is believed h

In concluding this history it will be well to look back and examine the ratio of its progress for the last half century, as well in population as in pecuniary value. This may be done: first, in the following table showing the increase in numbers of every ten years; and second, in a tabular view of the assessment of real estate at the end of each similar term of years. The population of Louisville then, commencing with the year 1800, may be stated as follows: It will be seen from this table that