California Neighborhood Establishment---Circa 1849

A Brief History

As Louisville's African American population soared, reaching 18,000 by 1870 compared to 6,820 in 1860, African American Neighborhoods began to develop. Though many of the former slaves continued to live in quarters provided by their former owners, new African Americans had no option but to settle on land shared by low income Caucasians.

The California Neighborhood was once established by German immigrants around the time of the 1849 Gold Rush. Oral tradition holds that the California land, in Louisville, was the "Far West" of the city. Many African Americans started to settle here after the Civil War. As early as 1866, freed slaves began leasing land from Caucasian owners that contained framed shotgum houses, and ultimately, purchasing it. The houses were not the finest, but presented a neat appearance. With free African Americans migrating to the neighborhood in record numbers, the California Colored School and the local branch of the Freedmen's Bureau were established.

By the 1870s, the California Neighborhood was a working class community with a mixed population of both African Americans and Caucasians. Many Caucasian families began leaving the area for surburbia around the turn of the century through the 1960s. Today, however, the California Neighborhood is rebuilding, revitalizing, and reestablishing itself to become the best it can be.

Avenues and Streets That Encompass California Neighborhood

Ninth Street to 26th Street
Broadway (South Side)
Anderson Street
Breckinridge Street
Date Street
Dixie Highway
Dumesnil Street
Gallagher Street
Garland Avenue
Greenwood Avenue
Grand Avenue
Hale Avenue
Howard Street
Kentucky Street
Maple Street
Osage Avenue
Oak Street
Ormsby Avenue
Osage Avenue
Prentice Street
St. Catherine Street
St. Louis Avenue
Wilson Avenue