Vintage
Post Card Greetings
from Louisville
"Perry Centennial
Louisville, Ky"
We can't find anything in our references about a Perry Centenniel celebration in Louisville, so if any of you have some information on it, we'd appreciate an email. We think this may be a remembrance of the Battle of Lake Erie (1813) during the War of 1812, when Commodore Oliver Hazard Perry wrote the famous report of victory and said "We have met the enemy and they are ours." If correct, that would date this photo card to 1913.
This is a marvelous photo for the detail it captures of street life in the city a century ago and for the the way it clearly shows how the city elaborately decorated itself for celebrations in its earlier years. Flags, festoons and banners hang from every possible point on the Court House (foreground right), City Hall (just beyond the Court House) and other buildings along Jefferson Street. The columns, topped by sailing ships, are elaborate props, apparently constructed of wood. In the background, behind City Hall, you can see the tower (now gone) of the old main fire station.
Enlargement (134 sec @ 56kbps)
Vintage Postcard Views of Louisville
Old Louisville
Second Street
Third Avenue
Fourth Avenue
St James Court
Central Park
The Confederate Monument
Churches
Hotels
Schools
The 1937 FloodLouisville (the rest of the city)
Churchill Downs and the Kentucky Derby
The Old Court House
City Hall
East to West along Broadway
The Seelbach Hotel
Railroad Stations
Churches
Without extended descriptions:
Fourth Street
The Armory
Hotels
The Old Post Office and Customs House
City Parks
Cemeteries
Miscellaneous
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