The West End Opportunity Partnership is a significant economic investment initiative launching in the
West End to overcome challenges stemming from the intergenerational effects of racial prejudice and
segregation, which have hindered progress for African Americans in Louisville.
Starting off as a fashionable area of Louisville in 1870 due to its presence just west of downtown, Russell was a melting pot of races, incomes, homes, and businesses. Like many of the river-facing neighborhoods, however, it encountered difficulties from 1937-1945 when floods from the Ohio River caused many middle-class families to flee to areas of the city that were on higher ground or further away from the river. This left the area open for black business to boom, and Russell was known as “Louisville’s Harlem” and took up residence on the stretch of Muhammad Ali Boulevard between 6th and 13th street. This commercial district featured a variety of businesses like theaters, restaurants, grocers, professional offices, and nightclubs run by the people of Russell.
However, World War II and a failed urban renewal project took a toll on the neighborhood when it leveled many businesses and traditional homes to make room for the Beecher Terrace public housing structure. This super-block housing complex has recently been replaced with a mixed-income housing community via the Vision Russel and Russel Choice Neighborhood Initiative programs, which has been a highly complicated example of the thin line between gentrification and revitalization.
Other programs that support Russell are not all so controversial, though. As the first neighborhood that lies on the “9th Street Divide,” the area lies as a focus for reconnecting the West End to the rest of Louisville and has organizations such as OneWest, the Louisville Urban League, and Russell: A Place of Promise putting development plans into action. Russell: A Place of Promise is a sponsored project that stems from the Community Foundation of Louisville and specializes in economic justice. Much like the Partnership, their focus is on residential and business ownership that offers residents the leadership to drive development.
Russell residents shape the future of the neighborhood today just as they always have; plenty of notable Louisvillians have come out of the area, including Lyman T. Johnson, who filed a successful federal lawsuit to become the first African American to gain admission to the University of Kentucky, and Albert E. Myzeek, an educator and civil rights activist who led the fight to open the first full-service library for African Americans in the country. The Western Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library opened in 1908, and other branches have since spread into other West End neighborhoods because of it.
Otherwise, the Russell Neighborhood is home to several community resources, including the Russell Community Garden, Louisville Central Community Center, Baxter Square Park and Community Center, and the Kentucky Center for African American Heritage. It attracts national attention with several high school sporting events taking place at the new, state-of-the-art indoor track at the Norton Healthcare Sports and Learning Center and provides safe exercise space and community activities at the Chestnut Street YMCA. Living in the Russell community also provides several educational opportunities at 17 different public schools:
Russell’s location presents big opportunities to reconnect the economic and commercial divide that has resulted from infrastructural segregation and disinvestment, and local business owners, as well as the residents themselves, are taking big steps towards reclaiming their presence in the heart of Louisville.
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Suite 200
Louisville, KY 40203
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