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The Braille Monitor

April, 2002

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Making History in Louisville--Federation

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by

Lora J. Felty

From

the Editor: Lora Felty was a 1992 NFB scholarship winner. She now serves as

Secretary of the NFB of Kentucky and President of the affiliate's NAPUB Division.

She works as an itinerant VI teacher in Ashland, Kentucky. She clearly knows

a good deal about the history of the Bluegrass State. This is what she has to

say about the site of the 2002 convention:

Churchill

Downs

As

you already know, the 2002 annual convention of the National Federation of the

Blind will be held in Louisville, Kentucky, July 3 through 9. But before you

visit our wonderful city, here are a few interesting historical tidbits that

might encourage you to dig below the surface and learn more about Louisville.

First

of all, the site of our convention, the Galt House Hotel, has a rich history

of its own in the city of Louisville. The original Galt House was established

in 1834 on the northeast corner of Second and Main Streets and was Louisville's

best-known hostelry during the nineteenth century. This Galt House played host

to such notables as Charles Dickens and U.S. Generals Grant and Sherman. Dickens

wrote of his stay at the Galt House that he and his companions had been "as

handsomely lodged as though we had been in Paris." And it was at the Galt

House during the Civil War where Generals Sherman and Grant met to plan the

invasion that eventually led to the "March to the Sea." After being

host to such historic figures, the first Galt House was destroyed by fire in

1865 and was replaced in 1869 by an even larger and grander Galt House, located

at the northeast corner of First and Main. Due to financial difficulties, this

hotel closed in 1919. The building was demolished in 1921. Finally the third

Galt House, on Fourth Street and River Road, was built in 1973 as a part of

the Riverfront Urban Renewal Project. The Galt House East opened in 1984. These

two hotels make up our convention site.

Now

that you know the history of your outstanding accommodations in our city, let's

take a look at the city itself and some of its history. Louisville is currently

Kentucky's second largest metropolitan area. It was settled in 1778, prior to

Kentucky's statehood in 1792. During George Rogers Clark's exploration of the

territory northwest of the Ohio River, Clark and his men were accompanied by

a group of Kentucky settlers who traveled down the Ohio River from Pittsburgh.

The settlers stopped at the Falls of the Ohio, where they intended to make a

new life for themselves. So was born the city of Louisville. Its name, bestowed

in 1779, honors French King Louis XVI and his support of the American Colonies

in their struggles against England.

In

the beginning, growth of Louisville was slow, but the Louisiana Purchase of

1803, which created an open waterway to the mouth of the Mississippi, was the

catalyst for future growth of the area. This would be a natural outlet for the

agricultural products of Kentucky. Boats carrying cargo traveled down the Ohio

River to Louisville, where they had to be unloaded in order to navigate the

falls. Cargo was carried by wagon beyond the falls and then re-loaded onto the

boats.

By

1811 the arrival of the steamboat paved the way for Louisville to prosper further,

but with progress came certain civic difficulties. Due to increased river traffic,

Louisville became host to numerous rowdy boatmen. Gambling halls and brothels

flourished near the waterfront. Finally in 1828 Louisville was granted city

status. This allowed the city to establish local government and law enforcement

to control the bawdy activities of the thriving riverfront district. The Portland

Canal around the falls opened, making circumnavigation of the falls possible.

In

the mid-1800's transportation shifted from water to rail. Louisville played

an important role in this transition as well. Railways linked Louisville to

Kentucky's capital city, Frankfort, and Lexington, both east of Louisville;

however, it was the completion of the Louisville and Nashville Railroad in 1859

that connected Louisville with railroads to the Deep South. This link offered

new opportunities for transporting goods. It is ironic that only two years later

all transportation, both water and rail, was cut off to the South by the Civil

War.

Being

a border city in a slave state with strong commercial ties to both the North

and South made the years of the war difficult ones for Louisville. The city

attempted a neutral stance but could not maintain the status quo in the slavery

state of Kentucky. Since Union army recruits outnumbered those for the Confederate

army three to one, Louisville became a major military supply center, as well

as a base of operations for the Union army. Also Louisville was home to nineteen

military hospitals, one of which was located at the Kentucky School for the

Blind. Amazingly enough, though, Louisville survived the war unscathed and actually

prospered after the war.

During

the pre-Civil War era the bleak educational opportunities for blind children

in Kentucky began to change for the better. At the request of Bryce M. Patton,

Dr. Samuel Gridley Howe of the Perkins Institute for the Blind in Massachusetts

visited Kentucky to demonstrate effective ways to teach blind children. Mr.

Patton's brother Otis had been a student of Mr. Howe's. They presented a proposal

for a school for blind children to the state legislature, and as a result the

Kentucky School for the Blind (KSB) was established in 1842. KSB was the sixth

school for the blind established in the United States and the third publicly

funded school.

In

its early years the school moved to several locations in the city before arriving

at its present location on Frankfort Avenue in East Louisville in 1855. The

original KSB building was a prominent city landmark, designed in the Greek Revival

architectural style, which boasted a cupola on top. Later, in 1884 a separate

school for black children was established on the KSB campus, and in 1954 the

two schools were racially integrated. The first Boy Scout Troop for blind youth

was established at KSB in 1911 only one year after the beginning of the Boy

Scout movement in America. Also in 1945 KSB became the first school in Kentucky

to establish a wrestling team, and in 1961 KSB won the first Kentucky Invitational

Wrestling Tournament. In 1966 KSB was proud to win the state championship wrestling

tournament.

Finally,

in 1967, after standing for over 100 years, the original KSB structure was demolished

to make way for the modern campus that exists today. However, the cupola that

stood atop the original school building has been refurbished. It was dedicated

in May of 1999 and now holds a prominent position at the front of the KSB campus.

A

further historic development enriching the lives of the blind was the establishment

of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) in 1858 by trustees of the

Kentucky School for the Blind. These men recognized the importance of producing

materials locally, and they recognized the need for a central publishing house

for embossed materials for use by blind school children. This led the Kentucky

General Assembly to establish the American Printing House for the Blind as a

private, nonprofit institution. Originally it was located in rooms at the Kentucky

School for the Blind, but as the Civil War encroached, the school was commandeered

as a Union hospital. This slowed down the growth of the institution; however,

private funds kept it going from 1860 to 1865.

In

1879 grants from the U.S. government established the American Printing House

for the Blind as the largest producer in the world of educational materials

for blind children. In 1932 the official adoption of Braille as the standard

embossed code made production of materials more efficient because there was

no further need to produce materials in several different codes. Later APH added

a recording studio and in 1928 produced the Reader's Digest and in 1959

Newsweek in Talking-Book format. Other items such as writing utensils,

math aids, and various educational tools followed.

APH

is now located next door to the Kentucky School for the Blind on Frankfort Avenue.

Several additions to the facility have been made over the years. One of the

most recent additions is the APH Museum, which opened in October of 1994. The

museum houses educational materials for the blind and artifacts that span the

history of embossed printing.

In

addition to the developments regarding education for the blind during the latter

part of the nineteenth century, Louisville as a whole underwent substantial

growth in commerce and industry. In the twentieth century such companies as

General Electric, the Ford Motor Corporation, and United Parcel Service brought

further enterprise to Louisville. As the twentieth century drew to a close,

the workforce in the city began to shift from blue collar to white collar. Large

corporations located their headquarters in Louisville. Some of these include

Humana, Inc.; Capital Holding; and Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Now

that you have a general history of the city as well as the developments in Louisville

specific to the blind, it's important to learn a bit about Louisville's most

famous tradition. On the first Saturday in May the eyes of the world look to

Louisville's Churchill Downs for the world-renowned Run for the Roses, otherwise

known as the Kentucky Derby. This is one of the most famous horse races in the

world.

Churchill

Downs was established by Colonel M. Lewis Clark in 1875, and the first Kentucky

Derby was run on May 17 that year. Clark chose the track site three miles from

the city center because he could lease this land from his uncles, John and Henry

Churchill. In the 1890's a new grandstand was built on the western side of the

track. It was encompassed by the imposing twin spires that have come to symbolize

the Kentucky Derby, as well as Churchill Downs itself. The twentieth century

brought notoriety to Churchill Downs, and the Kentucky Derby grew into "the

greatest two minutes in sports."

This

is only a glimpse of the city of Louisville's vibrant history. We of the National

Federation of the Blind of Kentucky look forward to hosting you in 2002, when

we will continue to make our own history--Federation style.

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