Jewish Neighborhood in Louisville (St. Matthews, Windy Hills: low income, apartments, condo)

[Rallison123]

I would like to find a Jewish neighborhood in Louisville with a good school system. Can you point me in the right direction?

[basinstblues]

I'd say the Highlands or St. Matthews.

[noland123]

I located a Jewish Synagogue in Saint Matthews on 2401 Woodbourne lane and another on U.S. HIGHWAY 42 just above the Windy Hills area.

[Rallison123]

Thanks very much!

[tomocox]

As a Baptist, I can only speak to common preception and skuttlebutt. It is my understanding that amongst Louisville Jews as with most denominations especially Baptists, the fellowships of the synagods are as unique as the number of congregations. I would recommend that you speak directly to members of each congregation rather than make a decision based on the many misconceptions of this thread.

Do not rule out N. Oldham County as it is only 5-10 minutes from "The Temple" near US 42 in NE Jefferson County. The schools are a great value.

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by Rallison123

I would like to find a Jewish neighborhood in Louisville with a good school system. Can you point me in the right direction?

http://www.jewishlouisville.org/

The highest concentration is along the river, near Glenview, and also in the Seneca Gardens area along Duthmans lane going past Shalom Towers and the Jewish Community Center of Louisville. Eliahu Academy was an excellent school there but I believe it closed. Check the above link for more information. For a "southern" city, Louisville has a surprisingly large Jewish community of around 10,000, including a Jewish mayor!

[missymomof3]

Originally Posted by stx12499

http://www.jewishlouisville.org/

The highest concentration is along the river, near Glenview, and also in the Seneca Gardens area along Duthmans lane going past Shalom Towers and the Jewish Community Center of Louisville. Eliahu Academy was an excellent school there but I believe it closed. Check the above link for more information. For a "southern" city, Louisville has a surprisingly large Jewish community of around 10,000, including a Jewish mayor!

Really? I had no idea there are so many! As far as Jewish mayors in the South I had posted a link a while back listing an organization just for that but I don't remember what it was called

[missymomof3]

Here it is : ISJL : Southern Jewish Mayors Throughout History

[JefferyT]

An interesting historic footnote is that there used to be an inner-city Jewish area like the old Maxwell Street in Chicago, on Preston Street near the Haymarket. The neighborhood was cleared out via urban renewal.

The sole survior was that little shopping strip that had the discount shoe places (oldtime Louisvillians will know what I'm talking about)

[Peter1948]

Originally Posted by JefferyT

An interesting historic footnote is that there used to be an inner-city Jewish area like the old Maxwell Street in Chicago, on Preston Street near the Haymarket. The neighborhood was cleared out via urban renewal.

The sole survior was that little shopping strip that had the discount shoe places (oldtime Louisvillians will know what I'm talking about)

Jeff, you are correct. In fact, the shoe stores on south preston are still there in what is now a mini gay district centered on Tryangles and the now defunct Sumshee House which hosted drag shows. This whole area will eventually be cleared for the 2 billion expansion of the UL medical center on what was the former Haymarket over the next 20 years. You are correct to say that this area was urban renewed away, as was the west side of downtown. Recent additions to the medical center and east market condo projects have given the area back some of its character, but the west side of downtown remains an urban renewal wasteland: A retro 60's Greyhound station surrounded by midrise low income apartments buildings with plazas, acres of surface parking, and a few givernment buildings that look like they belong in 1950s St Matthews by the Watterson.

From the history I have read, the Jewish "ghetto" of the 1920's in Louisville was actually more aligned with the area just south of Broadway, where Floyd and Preston meet College. Here was a very large Jewish Temple (I believe related to the one that moved to US 42 post war) that still stands today and is now a AA church called "Unity Louisville" that can be seen off I-65. There are still some lone Italianite homes surrounded by urban prairie in this area that is now known roughly as Smoketown. Louisville's small Italian ghetto was located on east Jefferson, and there they walked to the Haymarket and ran the docks along with the Jewish people living nearby. This was common in the large cities of the east coast and apparently fairly common in Louisville, which was still in the nation's top 30 largest cities in the 1920's.