Screen capture from Google Maps

So I would suppose most people know that there’s a wide array of towns bearing the name Louisville out there.  Wikipedia says there’s a Louisville not just in Kentucky but also in Alabama, California, Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Maryland, Mississippi, Nebraska, New York, Ohio, Tennessee, and Minnesota.  There’s even a Louisville in Tasmania, Australia and in Belize (not to mention an underwater mountain chain).  Seems like we have a pretty good franchise going on.

Our own beloved Louisville, however, is the only “big city” in the selection where the population range stretches from 209 souls to almost 19,000.  Why, then, doesn’t Louisville show up first in a Google map search?  It’s a minor complaint, I suppose, but imagine someone unfamiliar with our city unwittingly thinking our town is some rural enclave?

The problem arises when you type in a search like “Main Street Louisville.”  Go ahead and try it (or follow this link).  Turns out that “Main Street Louisville” is in rural Alabama, population 612.  Sure, you could tack on “KY” at the end of the search, but should that really be necessary?

And it’s not foolproof.  Sometimes, a similar search for First Street or Shelby Street will land you in good old Louisville, KY, but the former shows a trailer park off Preston Highway outside the Snyder and the latter takes you to a subdivision in Fern Creek.

It’s endearing to think that Louisville is a little off the national radar, but this seems a tiny bit absurd.  Anyone else encountered this issue?  Do you find it annoying or should it just be ignored?

Louisville, NE does have one edge on our fair city, however; it has a higher population density at 2,038 people per square mile compared to our county rate of 1,866 per square mile.

Click through for a few more examples.

A tipster wrote in this morning to report about some breaking news on Alta Vista Road off Lexington Road and now we need your help to verify the destruction.  Apparently, the Kool Aid guy has had a little trouble with a brick wall.  From our tipster:

“The Presbyterian Seminary on Alta Vista has a brick screen wall along the road.  A rather large portion of the wall has fallen or been knock down.  It has been like that for a month or two with yellow caution tape around it.  This morning I noticed that someone has positioned a large, seemingly hand-made, stuffed Kool-Aid guy atop the broken portion of wall with a big sign that says “Oh Yeah!”"

Now I hope it’s obvious a photo is required to illustrate this event.  Anyone going to be in the area today?  Send in a photo and I’ll post it here.  It doesn’t have to be fancy, a cell phone pic will do.  Send your photos, reports of other Kool Aid guy sitings, or anything else interesting to tips@brokensidewalk.com.  This must be preserved for posterity.

Strange Columns on Fourth Street

Louisville is no stranger to the weird side of life.  That’s certainly the case with two sets of columns spotted on Fourth Street and Frankfort Avenue.  It seems that Louisville has invented two new orders of architecture that incorporate street light and bird bath inspirations.

The first example seen above is at 640 Fourth Street between Chestnut and Broadway.  Some time ago, the original storefront was removed and a modern one installed set back from the building facade.  Well, something had to hold the building up, and plain steel posts apparently just wouldn’t do.  The solution?  Add a couple decorative street lamp bases and call it a day.  What makes this example glaringly obvious is the presence of a street light with a nearly identical base sitting adjacent to the facade.

Strange Columns on Fourth Street

It gets even sillier heading down Frankfort Avenue.  An old Victorian house now features two columns half comprised of bird bath bases.  The photo below shows three columns on the house’s front porch, two of which feature the latest innovation in architectural columnity (calamity?) holding up the front stoop.  All of the columns are replacement columns, and apparently two needed a little extra support.

In classical architecture, the column is a work of art unto itself.  A column is divided into three parts, the base, the shaft, and the capital, each taking into account the proportional system of the structure.  Each of these segments can then be divided into component segments and detailed almost to no end.  While these buildings never were intended to follow the main orders of architecture (think of the intricate columns on City Hall or its annex), the original structures are influenced by classical design principles.  These principles have been largely forgotten or at least watered down today and I would venture few people in the city could point out, design, or even care about true column design.

So what do you think of Louisville’s architectural innovations?  Does it represent the latest trend in weird architecture or does it lack column sense?  Are they examples of fine creativity or a little bit columnsy?

Strange Columns on Frankfort Avenue