Russell Neighborhood, Bounded by Congress & Esquire Alley, Fifteenth & Twenty-first Streets, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY

Significance: Founded by German and Irish immigrants, the west Louisville area was expanded by African Americans after the Civil War.

The significance of the Russell neighborhood lies in its rich history as an early residential enclave that developed in the second half of the 1800s. Initially, the area was populated predominantly by German and Irish immigrants. However, by the early 1900s the shift in home ownership and occupancy was to African Americans. The existing late Victorian building stock in the Russell Historic District, which ranges from modest to opulent in style and scale, is tangible evidence of the evolution of this area of western Louisville as it pertains to the settlement of these distinct ethnic groups.
Survey number: HABS KY-230
Building/structure dates: 1850 Initial Construction
Building/structure dates: 1993 Subsequent Work
Building/structure dates: ca. 1880