Russell is a neighborhood immediately west of downtown Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville, Kentucky

Louisville is the largest city in the U.S. state of Kentucky, and the county seat of Jefferson County. Since 2003, the city's borders have been coterminous with those of the county because of a city-county merger. The city's population at the 2010 census was 741,096...

, USA. It was named for renowned African American educator and Bloomfield, Kentucky

Bloomfield, Kentucky

Bloomfield is a city in Nelson County, Kentucky, United States. The population was 855 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Bloomfield is located at ....

 native Harvey Clarence Russell Sr..

Development began in the 1870s as street car lines were extended to the area. The area was considered one of Louisville's most fashionable in its early years with many affluent white families building elegant mansion homes on Walnut, Chestnut Street, and Jefferson Streets, while working class blacks and whites lived in shotgun houses on adjacent streets. By the 1890s many white families began leaving the area for what would become Old Louisville

Old Louisville

Old Louisville is a historic district and neighborhood in central Louisville, Kentucky, USA. It is the third largest such district in the United States, and the largest preservation district featuring almost entirely Victorian architecture...

 and the east end, and both middle and working class blacks quickly moved into the area.

By the 1940s Russell had become "Louisville's Harlem" as African American theaters, restaurants, and night clubs lined area streets. However, in the years following World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

 many of the middle class blacks left for newly integrated neighborhoods on the south and east ends. Urban renewal

Urban renewal

Urban renewal is a program of land redevelopment in areas of moderate to high density urban land use. Renewal has had both successes and failures. Its modern incarnation began in the late 19th century in developed nations and experienced an intense phase in the late 1940s – under the rubric of...

 efforts in the 1960s had the area's business districts razed and many public housing units built.

Its boundaries are West Market Street, 9th Street, West Broadway and I-264

Interstate 264 (Kentucky)

The Henry Watterson Expressway, also known as the Georgia Davis Powers/Shawnee Expressway west of US 31W, is one of two Interstate Highways in the United States designated as Interstate 264 . It is 22.93 miles in length, and runs an open circle around central Louisville, Kentucky...

.

America's first public library

Public library

A public library is a library that is accessible by the public and is generally funded from public sources and operated by civil servants. There are five fundamental characteristics shared by public libraries...

 open to African-Americans is in Russell. The Western Branch of the Louisville Free Public Library, on 10th Street off Chestnut, opened in 1908 but the building is now vacant.

As of 2000, the population of Russell was 9,060 .

External links

• Street map of Russell
• http://digital.library.louisville.edu/cdm4/results.php?CISORESTMP=results.php&CISOVIEWTMP=item_viewer.php&CISOMODE=grid&CISOGRID=thumbnail,A,1;title,A,1;descri,200,0;none,200,0;none,A,0;20;title,none,none,none,none&CISOBIB=title,A,1,N;subjec,A,0,N;descri,200,0,N;none,A,0,N;none,A,0,N;20;title,none,none,none,none&CISOTHUMB=20%20(4x5);title,none,none,none,none&CISOTITLE=20;title,none,none,none,none&CISOHIERA=20;subjec,title,none,none,none&CISOSUPPRESS=0&CISOTYPE=link&CISOOP1=exact&CISOFIELD1=title&CISOBOX1=&CISOOP2=exact&CISOFIELD2=coveraa&CISOBOX2=Russell+%28Louisville%2C+Ky.%29&CISOOP3=exact&CISOFIELD3=descri&CISOBOX3=&CISOOP4=exact&CISOFIELD4=CISOSEARCHALL&CISOBOX4=&c=exact&CISOROOT=all Images of Russell (Louisville, Ky.) in the University of Louisville Libraries Digital Collections]
• "Russell: With Influential Institutions, Glamorous Homes, the Area Served as Testimony to Heights of Black Achievement" — Article by Betty Winston Baye of The Courier-Journal
  The Courier-Journal
  The Courier-Journal, locally called "The C-J", is the main newspaper for the city of Louisville, Kentucky, USA. According to the 1999 Editor & Publisher International Yearbook, the paper is the 48th largest daily paper in the United States and the single largest in Kentucky.- Origins :The...