Allen J. Share - Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky

Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky — read online for free the complete book (whole text) full work

Below is the text of the book, divided by pages. System saving the place of the last page read, allows you to conveniently read the book "Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky" online for free, without having to search again every time where you left off. Put a bookmark, and you can go to the page where you finished reading at any time.

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

1234567...41

The Kentucky Bicentennial Bookshelf

Sponsored by

KENTUCKY HISTORICAL EVENTS CELEBRATION COMMISSION

KENTUCKY FEDERATION OF WOMENS CLUBS

and Contributing Sponsors

AMERICAN FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION

ARMCO STEEL CORPORATION, ASHLAND WORKS

A. ARNOLD & SON TRANSFER & STORAGE CO., INC./ASHLAND OIL, INC.

BAILEY MINING COMPANY, BYPRO, KENTUCKY/BEGLEY DRUG COMPANY

J. WINSTON COLEMAN, JR./CONVENIENT INDUSTRIES OF AMERICA, INC.

IN MEMORY OF MR. AND MRS. J. SHERMAN COOPER BY THEIR CHILDREN

CORNING GLASS WORKS FOUNDATION/MRS. CLORA CORRELL

THE COURIER-JOURNAL AND THE LOUISVILLE TIMES

COVINGTON TRUST & BANKING COMPANY

MR. AND MRS. GEORGE P. CROUNSE/GEORGE E. EVANS, JR.

FARMERS BANK & CAPITAL TRUST COMPANY/FISHER-PRICE TOYS, MURRAY

MARY PAULINE FOX, M.D., IN HONOR OF CHLOE GIFFORD

MARY A. HALL, M.D., IN HONOR OF PAT LEE,

JANICE HALL & MARY ANN FAULKNER

OSCAR HORNSBY INC./OFFICE PRODUCTS DIVISION IBM CORPORATION

JERRYS RESTAURANTS/ROBERT B. JEWELL

LEE S. JONES/KENTUCKIANA GIRL SCOUT COUNCIL

KENTUCKY BANKERS ASSOCIATION/KENTUCKY COAL ASSOCIATION, INC.

THE KENTUCKY JOCKEY CLUB, INC./THE LEXINGTON WOMANS CLUB

LINCOLN INCOME LIFE INSURANCE COMPANY

LORILLARD A DIVISION OF LOEWS THEATRES, INC.

METROPOLITAN WOMANS CLUB OF LEXINGTON/BETTY HAGGIN MOLLOY

MUTUAL FEDERAL SAVINGS & LOAN ASSOCIATION

NATIONAL INDUSTRIES, INC./RAND MCNALLY & COMPANY

PHILIP MORRIS, INCORPORATED/MRS. VICTOR SAMS

SHELL OIL COMPANY, LOUISVILLE

SOUTH CENTRAL BELL TELEPHONE COMPANY

SOUTHERN BELLE DAIRY CO. INC.

STANDARD OIL COMPANY (KENTUCKY)

STANDARD PRINTING CO., H.M. KESSLER, PRESIDENT

STATE BANK & TRUST COMPANY, RICHMOND

THOMAS INDUSTRIES INC./TIP TOP COAL CO., INC.

MARY L. WISS, M.D./YOUNGER WOMANS CLUB OF ST. MATTHEWS

CITIES IN THE COMMONWEALTH

Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky

ALLEN J. SHARE

Copyright 1982 by The University Press of Kentucky

Paperback edition 2009

The University Press of Kentucky

Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University,

Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University,

The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical

Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State

University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University,

University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky

University.

All rights reserved.

Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky

663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008

www.kentuckypress.com

Cover illustration: View of Main Street, Louisville, in 1846

Frontispiece: Downtown Louisville, 1981

Photo credits

Cover: Lewis Collins, Historical Sketches of Kentucky (1847) (National Archives); frontispiece: Billy Davis, in C. Thomas Hardin, ed., Over Kentucky: 40 Years of Aerial Photography by Billy Davis (1981); p. x: Dunn Collection, Kentucky Historical Society Library; : Billy Davis, 1971.

Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available from

the Library of Congress.

ISBN 978-0-8131-9280-2 (pbk: acid-free paper)

This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting

the requirements of the American National Standard

for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials.

Manufactured in the United States of America.

Member of the Association of
American University Presses

Contents

To RUTH SHARE and to the memory of OSCAR SHARE

Preface

SEVERAL YEARS AGO the University Press of Kentucky asked me to prepare an essay on urban Kentucky for inclusion in its Bicentennial Bookshelf series. Accepting this invitation, I had to develop a concept to govern the work as a whole, since no model existed for writing the urban history of a single state, and to devise a way to handle a very broad topic within the confines of a book of modest proportions.

Rather than attempt to survey the entire subject lightly, I decided to write in some detail about several themes central to the process of urbanization and to the character of city life: promotion or boosterism and rivalry, urban problems and services, cultural life, and the black urban experience. I used these themes to structure each of the chapters, which I planned as more or less independent interpretive essays, and to guide my selection of evidence and my choice of illustrative examples.

I further decided to focus the essays primarily upon episodes in the history of Lexington and Louisville. The Bluegrass city was the largest urban center in Kentucky from the late eighteenth century until the 1820s, while after 1830 Louisville reigned as the premier city in the state. As the largest cities in the Commonwealth during the pioneer and modern periods, Lexington and Louisville were also the most important. They were, for example, the only cities to have attained the necessary size, wealth, and talent to produce significant cultural achievements. In other areas of urban life, moreover, cities had tended to follow similar patterns, and it seemed appropriate in a concise work to concentrate on the course of events in Kentuckys major cities and to allude to related developments in other communities.

One writer defined an essay as a piece of writing principally for reflection and the recharging of the brain. Another suggested that a series of essays should be put together like organizing a meal. The various dishes must be so arranged as to rouse the appetite and renew the pleasure with each course. If this volume of essays measures up to such standards of the genre, it will have fulfilled one of its primary objectives. It will have fulfilled another if the individual essays raise at least as many questions as they answer, provide some guidelines for further investigation, and encourage others to explore the rich yet neglected urban history of Kentucky.

In any piece of historical writing, one accumulates a number of debts to ones colleagues. In a work of synthesis, the extent of those debts is far greater than usual. I have indicated in the Bibliographical Note the authors to whom I am most deeply indebted, but it is impossible to acknowledge adequately the many colleagues and scholars upon whose work I have drawn and relied. Without the careful labors of my fellow historians the present work could never have been written.

The following historians kindly permitted me to read their unpublished manuscripts and work in progress: Leonard P. Curry of the University of Louisville, Nancy Schrom Dye of the University of Kentucky, Judith Walzer Leavitt of the University of Wisconsin, Lee Shai Weissbach of the University of Louisville, and George C. Wright of the University of Texas. Robert S. Whitney, conductor emeritus of the Louisville Orchestra, allowed me to read the drafts of his unpublished history of the orchestra.

Next page

1234567...41

Light

Font size:

↓

↑

Georgia Tahoma Arial Verdana

Reset

Interval:

↓

↑

Bookmark:

Make

Similar books «Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky»

Look at similar books to Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky. We have selected literature similar in name and meaning in the hope of providing readers with more options to find new, interesting, not yet read works.

HaeRan Shin

The Cultural Politics of Urban Development in South Korea: Art, Memory and Urban Boosterism in Gwangju

Noah J. Toly

Cities of Tomorrow and the City to Come: A Theology of Urban Life

Douglas Kelbaugh

The Urban Fix: Resilient Cities in the War Against Climate Change, Heat Islands and Overpopulation

Asian Development Bank

Inclusive Cities: Urban Area Guidelines

William W. Philliber

The Invisible Minority: Urban Appalachians

Julian Dobson

Urban Crisis, Urban Hope: A Policy Agenda for UK Cities

Noel A. Cazenave

The Urban Racial State: Managing Race Relations in American Cities

Goran Therborn

Cities of Power - The Urban, The National, The Popular, The Global

Peter Clark

The Oxford Handbook of Cities in World History

Jon C. Teaford

The Metropolitan Revolution: The Rise of Post-Urban America

Fran Tonkiss

Cities by Design: The Social Life of Urban Form

David R. Goldfield

Region, Race and Cities: Interpreting the Urban South

Discussion, reviews of the book Cities in the Commonwealth: Two Centuries of Urban Life in Kentucky and just readers' own opinions. Leave your comments, write what you think about the work, its meaning or the main characters. Specify what exactly you liked and what you didn't like, and why you think so.