100 Block Ormsby Ave Association

100 Block of Ormsby Avenue Association (est. January 2002)

(Ormsby Ave. & S. Second St., ca. 1920. Courtesy of University of Louisville Photo Archives, Ekstrom Library)

Once described as...

a "sylvan glade" in a 19th-century promotional brochure, Ormsby Avenue west of 1st Street in Louisville was developed from woodland belonging to the Ormsbys and later the Morats, land which had been the southern terminus of the Union Army's Taylor Barracks during and after the American Civil War. The 100 block of Ormsby marks where once passed Flat Lick Road across the old city line of incorporation on the city's south boundary, the frontier road itself built on an ancient buffalo trace used by Native American hunters before Europeans arrived at the falls of the Ohio.

[Above] Segment of 1858 map of Louisville 

(See also Bullitt County Historical Museum/Museum Memories: Flat Lick Road.)

By the 1880s...

Ormsby Avenue east of 1st Street, and north of the Crystal Spring Distillery property, appears to have been planned and platted as a fashionable boulevard to be called "Park Place". The only East Ormsby property seen on maps from the early 1880s is a structure on the south side at the location now numbered as 112 E. Ormsby Ave., and judging from the footprint and placement       of the mapped structure it may be largely the same house as is there today.

On West Ormsby, a compound of glass-roofed greenhouses belonging to the Morat family, used for their floral business, covered most of the land north of Ormsby running from Second Street to just past the midpoint of the 100 west block where once stood the large farmhouse of the Morats and where now stands 119 W. Ormsby Ave built in 1912; all the other houses on the north side date to the early 1890s while most structures on the south side date from the 1880s into the 1890s, the exceptions being the gothic church and its neighboring house at 110 W. Ormsby. A 1960s modern apartment buildng stands at 118 W. Ormsby, the original house, now long gone, can be seen peeking out from the right margin of the street scene photo placed at the top of this page. 

These two blocks, east and west...

with roomy lots and front yards, look outward on an open, spacious avenue cooled by many generations of trees; it is busy enough with east-west throughfare of traffic to feel public, urban and dynamic. An unusual "dog leg" in Ormsby Avenue, where it meets a relatively quiet First Street, gives each block the feeling of its being a cul-de-sac. We are fortunate to lack the enclosed, inward orientation of the various courts of Old Louisville, and to be spared the tidal rip and roar of the north/south state highways of nearby Second and Third Streets. The 100 blocks of Ormsby Avenue are something distinct. Just walk these blocks and you will sense this quality.

Email us
ctwhit04@louisville.edu

About our association

November 2008 streetscape

on the 100 Block of Ormsby Avenue with its Maple and Stewartia trees in amber glow.

Our (once and future) Association...

remains somewhat informal and mainly social, and it has also functioned as a blockwatch network. A precursor association did exist in the 1970s but largely disappeared until the year 2002. Naturally, resident homeowners were the first to form a society. Certainly, too, renters on our block share many of the same concerns as homeowners and are welcome to join in the effort and in the fun. At this point, there are no dues. The mission of the 100 Block of Ormsby Avenue Association is to be a voice and forum for the residents of the "100 East" and "100 West" blocks of Ormsby Avenue, to protect the historic character of the same, to foster activities that strengthen its residential community and build bridges to the larger Old Louisville residential and commercial community.

As a "block watch" group, its interests are in property improvement issues as well as crime & safety concerns, but it also enjoys an energetic and high-spirited social life with neighbors gathering frequently for parties and get-togethers, progressive dinners and such, and, most notoriously, as the "porch peeps of Ormsby Avenue" when the weather permits mischief making. Come and be a part of this remarkable historical community of neighbors.

Meet some Ormsby Avenue residents by clicking here: CONTACT INFORMATION.

Return to Association Home Page

Email us at  ctwhit04@louisville.edu