Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville (/ˈluːivɪl/ (listen) LOO-ee-vil, US: /ˈluːɪvɪl/ (listen) LOO-ə-vəl, locally /ˈlʊvɪl/ (listen) LUUV-əl) is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Kentucky and the 28th most-populous city in the United States.[a][12] Louisville is the historical seat and, since 2003, the nominal seat of Jefferson County, on the Indiana border.

Named after King Louis XVI of France, Louisville was founded in 1778 by George Rogers Clark, making it one of the oldest cities west of the Appalachians.[13] With nearby Falls of the Ohio as the only major obstruction to river traffic between the upper Ohio River and the Gulf of Mexico, the settlement first grew as a portage site. It was the founding city of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad, which grew into a 6,000-mile (9,700 km) system across 13 states.

Today, the city is known as the home of boxer Muhammad Ali, the Kentucky Derby, Kentucky Fried Chicken, the University of Louisville and its Cardinals, Louisville Slugger baseball bats, and three of Kentucky's six Fortune 500 companies: Humana, Kindred Healthcare, and Yum! Brands.[14][15] Muhammad Ali International Airport, Louisville's main commercial airport, hosts UPS's worldwide hub.

Since 2003, Louisville's borders have been the same as those of Jefferson County, after a city-county merger.[16] The official name of this consolidated city-county government is the Louisville/Jefferson County Metro Government,[17] abbreviated to Louisville Metro.[18] Despite the merger and renaming, the term "Jefferson County" continues to be used in some contexts in reference to Louisville Metro, particularly including the incorporated cities outside the "balance" which make up Louisville proper. The city's total consolidated population as of the 2020 census was 782,969.[19] However, the balance total of 633,045[20]excludes other incorporated places and semiautonomous towns within the county and is the population listed in most sources and national rankings.

The Louisville-Jefferson County, KY-IN Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) includes Louisville-Jefferson County and 12 surrounding counties, seven in Kentucky and five in Southern Indiana. As of 2019, the MSA had a population of 1,395,634,[21] ranking 43rd nationally.[b]

The history of Louisville spans hundreds of years, and has been influenced by the area's geography and location along the banks of the Ohio River.

Louisville's founder, George Rogers Clark
View of 2nd Street and Main Street, Louisville, in 1846
Churchill Downs in 1901
Entrance to Fourth Street Live!, featuring marquee of the Hard Rock Cafe
Hilly terrain blankets the southwest part of the city.
Highlands district, specifically the Bonnycastle neighborhood
Werne's Row in Old Louisville
Broadway and 3rd Street downtown
Panorama from Jeffersonville, Indiana, with Second Street Bridge in foreground
Map of racial distribution in Louisville, 2010 U.S. Census. Each dot is 25 people: ⬤ White ⬤ Black⬤ Asian⬤ Hispanic⬤ Other
Cathedral of the Assumption
L&N Building on West Broadway
19th-century bourbon bottle. One-third of all bourbon comes from Louisville.
Left to right, BB&T Building, 400 West Market, National City Tower, and the Humana Building in downtown Louisville
2018 Kentucky Derby Festival Thunder Over Louisville fireworks display, seen from the Indiana side of the Ohio River
A giant baseball bat adorns the Louisville Slugger Museum & Factory.
Facade of the Frazier History Museum
Muhammad Ali Center, alongside I‑64 on Louisville's riverfront
The Belle of Louisville
The Kentucky Center in Downtown Louisville
Louisville Slugger Field, where the Louisville Bats play
The Kentucky Derby in progress at Churchill Downs
David Armstrong Extreme Park
Louisville Waterfront Park exhibits rolling hills, spacious lawns and walking paths in the downtown area.
A section of the Louisville Loop bike and pedestrian trail
Louisville City Hall in downtown, built 1870–1873, is a blend of Italianate styles characteristic of Neo-Renaissance.
Metro Police cruiser
Louisville Metro EMS ambulance
Grawemeyer Hall, modeled after the Roman Pantheon, is the University of Louisville's main administrative building.
Medical Office Plaza on the University of Louisville's downtown Health Sciences Campus
Kennedy Interchange ("Spaghetti Junction"), prior to the Ohio River Bridges Project
Louisville International Airport
Toonerville II Trolleys provided transportation in downtown Louisville until late 2014, before being replaced by LouLift.
Completed in 1860, the Louisville Water Tower is the oldest water tower in the U.S.
Distances to each of Louisville's sister cities on the downtown light post