Post Card Greetings
from Old Louisville
(Vintage Post Cards from Old Louisville)
Central Park
The 17 acre estate with its 1869-70 mansion originally belonged to the prominent flamboyant Presbyterian Reverend Stuart Robinson. In the autumn of 1871, he sold it to Alfred Victor DuPont, a bachelor who never moved in. Instead, Alfred's brother, Bidermann DuPont, took residence with his wife and his large family.
Long before the city purchased the estate in 1904 and commissioned the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, the designer of New York's Central Park, the U.S. Capitol grounds in Washington, D.C. and the Biltmore Estate, to lay out the new park design, the DuPonts opened the estate as a park (a money-making venture), and lived among all the activity, which included balloon ascensions, fireworks and concerts. Indeed, during the Southern Exposition of 1883-1887, the entire grounds were open to the public. Thomas Edison himself threw the switch for the electric lighting (4600 lights, more than existed at that time in New York City) as well as the premier of the electric trolley, which circled the park and even passed through an artificial lighted tunnel during the four year exhibit.
The DuPonts also owned (purchased) the Central Passenger Railroad which ran the trolley system on 4th Avenue, and extended the lines from Oak south to Magnolia in order to bring people to the lucrative park lands. (And thus even the name of the park, after the Central rail line, not it's central location.)
The DuPont residence was demolished soon after the Louisville Parks Board purchased Central Park. In its place, a pavilion and colonnade were constructed.
When looking at these pictures, it is interesting to see the young park with its original lighting and walks and manicured lawns. Yet it is the people that really make them interesting. The dress of the day make them truly delightful to look at. Unlike our casual-comfortable era, where people almost detract from the scenery, in Victorian Old Louisville, the people are as pretty as flowers in a garden. You'll see this especially in the photo enlargements, if you have the patience to wait for the downloads.
| Three similar views: | ||
 Roadway in Central Park. Louisville KY" ca 1905 |
 "Broadway, Central Park Louisville KY" Post card mailed 1911 |
 "Central Park, Louisville KY" Post card mailed 1917 |
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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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