L'ville population-what happened (Louisville, Okolona, Shively: low income, apartment complex, condo)

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by JMT

I'd like to know the same thing. The 1960 Census showed Louisville's population as 390,639. Louisville lost 1/3 of its population between 1960 and 1980 while most big cities, even Memphis, didn't start losing urban population until after 1980. What happened in Louisville?

http://www2.census.gov/prod2/decenni...a_kyABC-01.pdf

This is a VERY wrong statement. Some cities like STL and Detroit lost almost 70% of their peak population, so Louisville did not do too bad in that regard. Premerger Louisville was a TINY city geographically and among the densest in the SE. Certainly nothing in TN even remotely compares to it for reference.

[JMT]

Originally Posted by censusdata

Are you joking? Nearly all major cities in the Eastern Half of the US started losing populations by the 1950s, including Chicago, Detroit, Washington DC, Philadelphia, Cincinanti, St Louis, Milwaukee, and San Francisco in the West did as well.

San Fran did lose some population during that time frame, but not 1/3 of its residents. And what San Fran lost in residential areas was replaced with very expensive commercial development. You won't find swaths of boarded-up blocks in San Fran like you will in those other cities you mentioned.

At any rate, I guess you've answered the debate as to whether or not Louisville is Southern or Midwestern. For the most part, Southern cities grew during that time period. Midwestern cities didn't. It looks like Louisville has been following a more Midwestern pattern to its population shift than a Southern growth pattern.

Even though Louisville's land area increased by 50% between 1950-1970 and lost 1/3 of its population, it still had a denser population than big Southern cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, Charlotte, Birmingham, and Atlanta and was more in line with big Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Saint Louis. I guess I can see why a lot of people say Louisville is more Midwestern than Southern.

[missymomof3]

I know that most people here in the 50's moved to the suburbs, my grandparents moved to Shively and never left.

[censusdata]

To answer the losing 1/3 question... drive through some older Louisville neighborhoods and look at the sea of concrete and parking lots. Downtown used to be surrounded by houses and even in the CBD there was a lot of single family homes.

Old Louisville had over 35,000 residents in 1950, by half of it was reduced to rubble so today it only has 14,000 residents. Even a large section of the Original Highlands was flattened so Kindred Hospital could add more parking

Today the number of housing units in the Old City is increasing. The population loss now comes 90% from predominantly Black neighborhoods on the West End and just east of Downtown. If you view that as people moving to safer areas it is actually a good thing

[Toxic Toast]

Nevermind

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by censusdata

To answer the losing 1/3 question... drive through some older Louisville neighborhoods and look at the sea of concrete and parking lots. Downtown used to be surrounded by houses and even in the CBD there was a lot of single family homes.

Old Louisville had over 35,000 residents in 1950, by half of it was reduced to rubble so today it only has 14,000 residents. Even a large section of the Original Highlands was flattened so Kindred Hospital could add more parking

Today the number of housing units in the Old City is increasing. The population loss now comes 90% from predominantly Black neighborhoods on the West End and just east of Downtown. If you view that as people moving to safer areas it is actually a good thing

I think that alot of people don't understand that alot of people moved to suburbs within Jefferson county and out of the inner city.

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

I think that alot of people don't understand that alot of people moved to suburbs within Jefferson county and out of the inner city.

That was true from the 1950s to 1980s, but now many suburban areas are losing population as fast as urban neighborhoods are. Okolona, PRP, Buechel, Highview, and St Dennis all lost population from 1990 to 2000, some by 10%+. The area along the Gene Snyder from Beulah Church Road to Prospect is growing rapidly enough to more than offset the loss in the other areas

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by JMT

San Fran did lose some population during that time frame, but not 1/3 of its residents. And what San Fran lost in residential areas was replaced with very expensive commercial development. You won't find swaths of boarded-up blocks in San Fran like you will in those other cities you mentioned.

At any rate, I guess you've answered the debate as to whether or not Louisville is Southern or Midwestern. For the most part, Southern cities grew during that time period. Midwestern cities didn't. It looks like Louisville has been following a more Midwestern pattern to its population shift than a Southern growth pattern.

Even though Louisville's land area increased by 50% between 1950-1970 and lost 1/3 of its population, it still had a denser population than big Southern cities such as Memphis, New Orleans, Charlotte, Birmingham, and Atlanta and was more in line with big Midwestern cities such as Milwaukee, Pittsburgh, Cleveland, Detroit, and Saint Louis. I guess I can see why a lot of people say Louisville is more Midwestern than Southern.

Cities where the city limits include most suburb areas can't accurately be compared with a city where the city limits only includes older areas. Comparing a newly merged Louisville with the smaller city limits of Cincinnati wouldn't be accurate or fair; neither is comparing a non merged Louisville in the 1970s with a merged government of Indy

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by censusdata

That was true from the 1950s to 1980s, but now many suburban areas are losing population as fast as urban neighborhoods are. Okolona, PRP, Buechel, Highview, and St Dennis all lost population from 1990 to 2000, some by 10%+. The area along the Gene Snyder from Beulah Church Road to Prospect is growing rapidly enough to more than offset the loss in the other areas

Why is that?

[censusdata]

Originally Posted by missymomof3

Why is that?

What's going on in Shively, PRP, St Dennis, Buechel, and Okolona is that middle class White residents are leaving in droves for new developments off the Gene Snyder and also to Bullitt and Spencer Counties. These people are replaced by middle class Blacks, with Hispanics moving in to the area's apartment complexes. Other than PRP, all of those areas I mentioned lost more than 10% of their White population just from 1990 to 2000. (I did a class project on this subject in a class last semester)

By comparison, the large amount of young professionals moving into the inner East End makes the White population in The Highlands, Downtown, Old Louisville, and Crescent Hill stable, so a moderate rise in minority population gives these areas a net increase in population.

One thing to remember is that the average household size today is MUCH smaller than it used to be, so you need more houses built just to house the same amount of people.