Louisville's Market Street in 1931

marketst.jpg (21680 bytes) A Foreign City

Younger Louisvillians today have no memory of, and have certainly never seen in their lifetime, a downtown lined with block after block of shops and large stores, theaters, concert halls, dwellings and restaurants that once filled the city center. This is Market Street in 1931, which became the north side of the concrete cube known as the convention center.

The Commonwealth
Convention Center
....which didn't last long either in this manifestation

Introduction	The Thumbnail Images	Acknowledgements
The Old Post Office Demolition 1942-3 The Post Office in the 1920s The demolished interior The interior about 1900 Lincoln Park Site of River City Mall-(4th Street, 1920s)	The 2nd Presbyterian Church In ruins, 1956 2nd and Broadway St. X College The James C Ford Mansion The Ford Mansion in winter Enlargement Inside the Ford Mansion An Empty Lot	The Warren Memorial Church Demolition, 1958 The Warren Memorial in 1923 Norton Hall The Bus Station
The National Theater In ruins, 1952 In better days Show Time	The Masonic Temple In ruins, 1956	The Rialto Demolition, 1969 The Rialto during the 1920s
The Columbia Building Demolition 1966 Columbia Building ca. 1900 Columbia Building ca. 1920	The Washington Building Demolition 1973 In 1907 Cornice Detail	Clear-cutting the city Wholesale demolition, 1974 The Tyler Block, 1974 Tyler Block, 1931 A Foreign City Convention Center
	Conclusion

ALL HOPE IS NOT LOST
After nearly complete destruction in February 1945 at the end of World War II, see what can
be done to rebuild a historic city center.
Click here to see absolutely amazing photos of the ongoing reconstruction of Dresden
(...reconstruction begun in 2002, and what has Louisville done in that time??)

(By the way, although begun as a public project to restore a world heritage site,
the reconstruction of Dresden has now gotten far enough along that the real estate values have skyrocketed.
Remaining un-reconstructed parcels are going for around $6000 per square yard just for the right to rebuild
historically faithful reproductions of former buildings ...including a palace...on the site. check this out)