1779, the settlement at this time being known as "the Falls of the
Ohio." On the 14th of May 1780, the legislature of Virginia, in response
to a petition of the inhabitants, declared that Connolly had forfeited
his title, and incorporated the settlement under the name of Louisville,
in recognition of the assistance given to the colonies in the War of
Independence by Louis XVI. of France. In 1828 Louisville was chartered
as a city; in 1851 it received a second city charter; in 1870, a third;
and in 1893, a fourth. The city's growth was greatly promoted by the
introduction of successful steam navigation on the Ohio in 1811 and
still further by the opening of the canal around the rapids (generally
called the "Falls of the Ohio"). This canal, which is 2½ m. in length
and is known as the Louisville and Portland canal, was authorized by the
legislature in 1825 and was opened in December 1830; between 1855 and
1872 Congress made appropriations for enlarging it, and in 1874 it
passed entirely under Federal control. The first railway to serve the
city, the Louisville & Frankfort, was completed in 1851. The 6th of
August is locally known as "Bloody Monday"; on this day in 1855 some
members of the Know Nothing Party incited a riot that resulted in the
loss of several lives and of considerable property. In March 1890 a
tornado caused great loss in life and property in the city. General
Clark made his home in Louisville and the vicinity after his return from
the Illinois country in 1779. Louisville was also the early home of the
actress Mary Anderson; John James Audubon lived here in 1808-1812; and 5
m. E. of the city are the old home and the grave (with a monument) of
Zachary Taylor.
See Reuben T. Durrett, _The Centenary of Louisville_ (Louisville,
1893), being No. 8 of the Filson Club Publications; J. S. Johnston
(ed.), _Memorial History of Louisville_ (Chicago, 1896); and L. V.
Rule, "Louisville, the Gateway City to the South," in L. P. Powell's
_Historic Towns of the Southern States_ (New York, 1900).
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Louisville cement, one of the best-known varieties of natural
cement, was first manufactured in Shipping Port, a suburb of
Louisville, in 1829 for the construction of the Louisville & Portland
Canal; the name is now applied to all cement made in the Louisville
District in Kentucky and Indiana. There is a large Portland cement
factory just outside the city.
[2] Captain Thomas Bullitt (1730-1778), a Virginian, commanded a
company under Washington at Great Meadows (July 4, 1754), was in
Braddock's disastrous expedition in 1755, and after the defeat of
Major James Grant in 1758 saved his disorganized army by a cleverly
planned attack upon the pursuers. He became Adjutant-General of
Virginia after the peace of 1763, and took part in the movements
which forced Lord Dunmore to leave Norfolk. Subsequently he served in
South Carolina under Colonel Lee.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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