thumb|250px|Russell Neighborhood historic marker on Ninth Street

Russell is a neighborhood immediately west of downtown Louisville, Kentucky, U.S.. It is nicknamed "Louisville's Harlem". It was named for renowned African American educator and Bloomfield, Kentucky native, Harvey Clarence Russell Sr. Its boundaries are West Market Street, 9th Street, West Broadway and I-264.

History

Development began in the 1870s as street car lines were extended to the area. The area was considered one of Louisville's most fashionable in its early years with many affluent white families building elegant mansion homes on Walnut, Chestnut Street, and Jefferson Streets, while working class blacks and whites lived in shotgun houses on adjacent streets. By the 1890s many white families began leaving the area for what would become Old Louisville and the east end, and both middle and working class blacks quickly moved into the area.

By the 1940s Russell had become "Louisville's Harlem" as African American theaters, restaurants, and night clubs lined area streets.

Demographics

As of 2000, the population of Russell was 9,060.

See also

  • Harvey C. Russell Jr.

References

  • Street map of Russell
  • Images of Russell (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections
  • "Russell: With Influential Institutions, Glamorous Homes, the Area Served as Testimony to Heights of Black Achievement" — Article by Betty Winston Baye of The Courier-Journal